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sydasssy asked

LiFePO4 200Ah 25.6v v1.27 to v1.28 firmware update failed at 4%

Yesterday tried to access my batteries, which I check regularly while on board, in order to monitor if the cells are balanced, and whether the temperature is appropriate

Had a notification of obligation to upgrade, which I started, and 2 out of the 6 batteries I did upgrade [remains 4 I didn't dare to go on], failed to update when reaching 4%, and had the BMS shut down all systems.

There is no way to find the battery through Bluetooth anymore, as if it's system shut down or is offline,

Tried deleting it from paired list,

Tried using other phone, and still the same.

No way to find these 2 batteries in the victron connect app or through BT.

As I am a floating boat, I cannot stay without power, had to skip the BMS cables of these 2 batteries until I find what shall be done.


Any way to reset the Bluetooth processor of the batteries to default or factory so I could communicate again and restart the firmware update?

Or shall I remove the batteries from the banks and send them for service? (Which is a big mess btw)


Your help is highly appreciated

Lithium BatteryVictronConnectfirmware update
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3 Answers
Stefanie (Victron Energy Staff) avatar image
Stefanie (Victron Energy Staff) answered ·

@SyDasssy

Unfortunately, firmware version 1.27 has a bug that can cause the update to 1.28 (which will fix the problem) to fail.

If all goes well, the batteries will come back. But it may take a day or two. Until then, it's best to isolate the batteries so you can keep the system running.

However, it is recommended to also update the other batteries and if they also fail to do the same as the first one, isolate.

I did an update today on a system with 4 batteries and everything went fine, while another system also had a battery failure. It took 18 hours for the battery to reappear.

If the batteries doesn't come back within 1 or 2 day then you need to call your distributor and get it repaired/replaced under warranty.

Please keep us updated how it went.

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sydasssy avatar image
sydasssy answered ·

Thank you @Stefanie for your swift reply.

Is it too risky to just isolate the BMS cable of the batteries as I did and keep them connected in the banks?

It's a 10 battery bank connected together through a busbar,

I have to remove all 10 to be able to isolate these 2.

Since always, I never had any voltage nor temperature variation between any of the cells nor the batteries in the whole bank,

I am monitoring not to discharge below 30% and not to charge above 90% until I get them back. What do you think?

If it's a matter of 2 days max to know whether they would reappear or not.

In the meantime I had followed the troubleshooting steps and removed them from my list of components inside the victron connect app.

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Stefanie (Victron Energy Staff) avatar image Stefanie (Victron Energy Staff) ♦♦ commented ·

@SyDasssy

Without BMS there is no protection against any problems that may arise, e.g. low/high cell voltage. Furthermore, I assume that the BTV module in the battery (which does the balancing and report any issues to the BMS) also fails until the battery comes back.

Sorry for the inconvenience, but I think it's best to electrically isolate the batteries or shut down the system (if possible) for now until it resolves itself (fingers crossed!).

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sydasssy avatar image
sydasssy answered ·

Just to update anyone that comes through this thread later,in our system, we had 6 units of the 25.6//200Ah Smart, and we newly added 4 units of the 25.6/200Ah Smart-a (our aim was for 4 of the same units, but seems they were discontinued, thats another issue)

anyways, as per @Stefanie recomendation, i went on with updating the rest of the batteries,

in total 4 units of the 10 failed, all failed at 4% of the update, ordering the general BMS to switch off loads and disconnect charger, which is a disaster on the boat,
out of the 4 units that failed, 3 units were of smart model, and 1 unit of the newly smart-a model,

bypassed the BMS cables of these 4 units, and disconnected them from the bank

@Stefanie recomended to wait a couple of days, maybe the BMS inside of the bateries will wake up again, meanwhile she coordinated with Victron to have 4 inside battery BMS being sent to our location,

the new model smart-a woke up again after about 48 hrs, and i was able to update it again, and it is now working fine with the rest of the units.

as for the 3 other smart units, they never woke up, Victron managed to send 3 BMS that are inside the batteries in a swift period, and managed to have a Victron service come on board and change the 3 units inside BMS,

I really thank @Stefanie and Victron CEO and Staff, and Akupalma team specifically Antonio who came on board for the support and assitance i received form them,

keep up the good work. we love your systems.

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