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simonnhardy avatar image
simonnhardy asked

Smart Battery Protect with Quattro 5000

We have Lifepo4 battery and the boat 12v load is via a smart battery protect. I set this to Li-ion mode but we don’t have a Victron BMS. The inverter is a Quattro 5000. All this is connected to a Cerbo GX and the remote for the SBP has its remote off connected to an REC-ABMS. The problem we have is that if the BMS shuts down the system it also shuts off the SBP. When we start the generator it comes on but the Quattro doesn’t go to charge mode, I am sure this is because the Cerbo GX isn’t powered up because it’s power comes from the boat 12v system which because the SBP has been turned off by the BMS doesn’t restart and thereafter tell the Quattro to resume charging ? Any ideas ?

BMSbattery protect
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Alexandra answered ·

@simonnhardy

You are correct, if the cerbo is not on, the quattro will not switch on.

Power the cerbo from a source that does not switch off. Like direct on the battery terminals or the quattro terminals.

The system should always be set to shut down before the battery's bms shuts itself down. That way it is always recoverable.

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simonnhardy avatar image simonnhardy commented ·
Sorry please see my response below above !
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simonnhardy answered ·

Thanks for your reply. If I power the Cerbo from the input to the 12v input to the Quattro, two scenarios exist. 1) won’t the Cerbo continue to deplete the batteries ? 2) if the BMS disconnects the Quattro from the Lifepo4 battery bank the Cerbo will loose power but when the generator comes online (we always get 240v) will the Quattro supply power to the 12v input/output even though it isn’t yet connected to the Lifepo4 bank until the Cerbo tells it to charge and hence power up the BMS so the system restarts ? Or am I missing something ?

it is the REC-ABMS that remotely tells the VSBP to disconnect ? This is set to Li ion mode ?

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Alexandra avatar image Alexandra ♦ commented ·

@simonnhardy

The Cerbo power consumption is 210mAh at 12v similar to Venus). So at most 6ah in 24 hours.

The fact is the Cerbo has to be on for the Quattro to respond and of course the battery must be on/ready to receive charge. That is why I stated the Cerbo needs to be powered from a source that does not switch off. (so where ever that is in your setup - usually it is direct to battery to to inverter terminals since the battery connects there). Otherwise you have what you are experiencing - a system lockout.

Your system should always shut down before the battery not wait for the battery shut itself down. (Unless there is an issue this is an undesirable setup).

You could always add a bit of solar then the system could self recover from a black start.

https://www.victronenergy.com/media/pg/Cerbo_GX/en/faq.html#UUID-3493048a-9336-dc12-4b39-6267d7a465c6

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simonnhardy avatar image simonnhardy Alexandra ♦ commented ·

Hello. Thanks again. I could throw a spanner in the works. We also still have AGM in our system. This is connected via the Emily & Clark Adventures BBMS ( https://www.emilyandclarksadventure.com/bankmanager ) So we could power the Cerbo GX from the Lead Acid side of our system which interestingly is always connected to the Quattro Inverter anyway, hence when the Cerbo GX or REC-ABMS requests a shut down of the VSBP the Cerbo will still be powered by the 300ah AGM. This morning we were still at 12v although the BMS had turned off the VSBT or Quattro or both (I’m not convinced which occurs first) I guess the Li dips below the REC-ABMS threshold which triggers a remote shutdown of the VSBP which causes the deadlock. I had considered removing the remote of from the VSBP relying on its own smart ability ? But would I chose li-ion mode or one of the presets ?

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Alexandra avatar image Alexandra ♦ simonnhardy commented ·

For the 12v system, that is flexible really and up to you.


The question is now, does the Quattro start up to charge with the cerbo remaining powered up, or is the rec bms preventing it from doing so?

Is the REC communicating with the Cerbo? And how is it shutting the Quattro down if the Quattro still has power from the AGM?

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