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pmikep avatar image
pmikep asked

Feature Request (Victon Connect with Smart Solar) - or is there a way - To see who is Master?

It would be nice to see (in VictronConnect) which Smart Solar is "Master," and when looking at the others to see that they're "Slaves" when networked. An "M" or "S" by the Network icon when they're networked?

Or does this Feature already exist?

(From the documentation on the website, the Smart Solars negotiate on start up who is going to be Master. So I presume that their assignment is not constant and can change over time.)

While I'm thinking about it, is there any advantage to letting the User select which Smart Solar he wants to assign as Master?

MPPT SmartSolarVictronConnect
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2 Answers
Thiemo van Engelen (Victron Energy staff) avatar image
Thiemo van Engelen (Victron Energy staff) answered ·

Hi @pmikep

Thank you for posting this idea.

We however see no advantage in knowing which MPPT is master and/or selecting which one is master. During the charge process everything that is needed to continue the charge cycle is distributed between the MPPTs. So when the current master is removed, another MPPT will take over as master and continue the charge cycle in exactly the same way. So there is one master MPPT for technical reasons, but the choice is completely arbitrary and it does now matter which one it is.

Kind regards,

Thiemo van Engelen


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pmikep answered ·

Thanks @Thiemo van Engelen (Victron Energy staff) for the reply.

Okay, barring manually setting up Master and Slave(s), I am wondering if there is any "Sanity Checking" in VictronConnect to make sure that users have set up their multiple MPPT's to be the same?

As I understand it (from the documentation that I read about sync-ing multiple MPPT's), all the charging parameters are supposed to be the same. (Absorption voltage, float voltage, etc. Maybe even Tail Current, if enabled.)

But what happens if they aren't? (You know how some of us users are.) If I make a mistake and set Absorption for 14.4 V on one MPPT, but only 14.0 V on another, does the Master win and override the slaves? Or suppose I set LiFePO4 for a battery type in one MPPT, but left it at FLA in another. (Which is a rather deep level of error.)

Does the network not work at all?

I know, from experience, that when I tweak Absorption Voltage on one MPPT (by a few tenths of a Volt), it doesn't seem to break the Network during the time that I haven't tweaked the other MPPT.

Is there - or does there need to be - some kind of Input Checking on VC's part to alert the users that the settings across multiple MPPT's are not the same?

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Thiemo van Engelen (Victron Energy staff) avatar image Thiemo van Engelen (Victron Energy staff) ♦ commented ·

Hi @pmikep

The only sanity checking that occurs is that the base voltage of the battery system is the same (12V, 24V, 48V). The other settings is not shared or checked. At this moment, it is up to the user to make sure that each MPPT has the correct settings.

Kind regards,

Thiemo van Engelen

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