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paulmarinas avatar image
paulmarinas asked

Victron VRM ESS consumption data is not matching meter readings for 3 phase system after firmware update

hello,

i have a Victron installation with 3 quattros 10k, grid connected with PV connected on AC out; i have 2 energy meters one connected on Grid and the other on on PV; Everything was ok for about half year and 2 weeks ago ive decided to upgrade quattros via VRM to v487 around the time ive made the update the VRM started showing bad data for Grid, consumption, PV output.

Im checking daily the data from metters and it shows around x2 more than vrm; as an example yesterday ive consumed 96kw from grid but vrm shows 46; keep in mind this is data from victron metter connected to the system, and this worked ok for months.


thank you

P.

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4 Answers
mvader (Victron Energy) avatar image
mvader (Victron Energy) answered ·

Hi,

This was solved by doing a firmware update of the EM24 meters. Firmware for that is available on Victron Professional.

That fw. update solved what looked like to be continuous rebooting of that meter, or at least its network stack.

And once the GX device had a stable connection, the kWh data was good again.



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mvader (Victron Energy) avatar image mvader (Victron Energy) ♦♦ commented ·

Ps, so, quite unexpected, also to me!, the solutions was in the basics: firmware updates, checking connections (the vrm advanced download showed the connections to the meters being unstable), etc. And, apparently, even the meters need to be taken into account wrt checking fw version.

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Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) avatar image
Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) answered ·

Hi @paul.marinas@gmail.com,

The first thing I would check is the configuration of the energy meters on the GX device to make sure that they are still correctly configured there. That changing would result in what you are describing.

It is also possible that doing the firmware update affected the configuration of the ESS assistant, so I'd check to make sure that is also looking correctly configured.

Did you make the firmware update for a particular reason? It is not required to keep your Victron equipment updated to the latest firmware version. Stable systems should be left with their current firmware. It may be advised to revert it back if those don't resolve it.

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paulmarinas avatar image paulmarinas commented ·

hi,

meters are configured correctly, ive double checked.

ive just downloaded the conf from quattor's and checked ess assistant configuration and it looks good.

about the update itself, no, i work in IT and usually its best to keep your infra up2date.. i guess its just a habit. ill try to rollback and see if that solves it.

I do have a question about this, how would a quattro update would generate this? i thought the mechanics of it are in the color control and i have meters as source of truth not the inverters.


thank you

P.


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Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) avatar image Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) ♦♦ paulmarinas commented ·

Hi @paul.marinas,

I just remembered another recent change to ESS which might explain what you're seeing, the way multiphase compensation is calculated was changed.

I will ask for more specific information (in the mean time, you might like to try adjusting the Multiphase regulation setting in the ESS menu of the GX device to see if it makes any difference).


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mvader (Victron Energy) avatar image
mvader (Victron Energy) answered ·

Hi @paul.marinas@gmail.com , I'll send you an email.


Two things I noticed that need fixing before looking further into the kWhs are that (1) the connection both your ethernet-connected EM24 energy meters (grid & pv) is not stable. Those meters are all the time being disconnected and then reconnected again. The GX device itself seems to be connected via ethernet (not wifi) and that ethernet connection is stable.


And (2) the CPU load of the GX device is high and/or too high. But lets start with fixing the above. This connection issue increases CPU load a lot.



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paulmarinas avatar image paulmarinas commented ·

it would be odd to be ethernet, just because it seems to be /2 every day; i have replaced the switch today to see if this continues; will try to add monitoring on em24's for network availability.

i think your second observation is probably the culprit; its strange that the cpu is very high as im not doing anything fancy with the system. ill check that out also.


thank you

P.

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paulmarinas avatar image
paulmarinas answered ·

thank you for all your help, this was a very positive experience.

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