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jterrag avatar image
jterrag asked

Are Cerbos with serial starting with HQ224 safe to use with 48V systems?

Hi.

In the original technote from Victron the faulty Cerbos (i.e. the ones which would fail on 48V systems) were said to be the ones with S/N starting between HQ2201 and HQ2220 included.

Are Cerbos with S/N starting with HQ224 unequivocally safe to use on 48V systems?

I'm asking because there could have been subsequent technotes on the subject, widening the range of "unsafe" S/N.

Thanks




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

Hi @jterrag

I can confirm that adding the external capacitor is no longer needed for units built after HQ2221

The HQ224... units are safe to use in 48V systems.

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jterrag avatar image jterrag commented ·
Great! Thank you.
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hvalentim avatar image
hvalentim answered ·

Now. This is a surprise. I have purchased a Cerbo recently which turns out has a HQ2216 serial number. By pure chance/luck I have it temporarily plugged to a separate 12V battery while I settle the details for a main system upgrade, where in the end I was planning to plug it directly.

Should I have not - by pure chance, mind you - read this, I now find out that I would have been playing lottery, risking a burned device.

Something is very wrong in the way this issue has (not) been communicated...

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Matthias Lange - DE avatar image Matthias Lange - DE ♦ commented ·
It's not directly Victrons fault, the seller from whom you bought it should have known that and inform you.

All official Victron distributors got an email about that issues and how to handle it.

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jterrag avatar image jterrag Matthias Lange - DE ♦ commented ·
Sorry but being on the list of approved distributors does not guarantee anything.


My other cerbo was bought from an approved distributor and they did not advice me of the problem. Victron seems to think that only serious and competent professionals are included in their approved distributor list. That's not true, for example the distributor in question didn't know the difference between an automatic circuit breaker and a battery disconnector...I'm not kidding.


As I already said in another post, Victron should really release that kind of technotes publicly. Maybe they think that only a limited audience of diy'ers would read them. But even if that were the case, doing public releases does not cost anything to them and would save a lot of grief to people that may be more or less completely reliant on their system (and hence on their cerbo) for powering their house.


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hvalentim avatar image hvalentim jterrag commented ·

At the bare minimum, to keep up with brand expectations, Victron ought to ship free of charge, upon demand and against proof of purchase, a cable with the fix already in place.

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hvalentim avatar image hvalentim Matthias Lange - DE ♦ commented ·

The seller does not show up in Victron's "Where to buy" list. It probably bought it through another seller, and the info got lost on the way. Not to mention that sellers have no real interest in admitting they are selling (perceptibly outdated) models with known issues...

Victron ought to make the info known in support documentation.

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Matthias Lange - DE avatar image Matthias Lange - DE ♦ hvalentim commented ·
That's the difference between a good seller who cares about his customer and what he sells and a seller who just wants to make profits.
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jjbond avatar image
jjbond answered ·

SAY WATT?????? I purchased my Cerbo from the Victron Energy Store on Amazon and this is the first I've heard of this/seen this issue and I'm running 48V.... if buying direct from Victron's Amazon site doesn't get us on the notification list for things like this, what does?

My unit is HQ2048 do I need to be concerned @Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) (I purchased it after seeing the great 2 part video you did with Glen Morris of the Smart Energy Lab, he's a crack up eh.

Jen

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hvalentim avatar image hvalentim commented ·

The issue is said to affect Cerbos with serial numbers: HQ2201xxxxx to HQ2220xxxx (inclusive). Your's is not affected.

I am assuming the first two numbers in the code are the year of manufacture, the second pair the week*. This would mean, devices manufactured in 2022 up to May.

* Convention info supplied by Cerbo manual: "To find the year/week number of your model, look for the serial number which is printed on a label on its back. For example number HQ1309DER4F means 2013, week 09"

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Matthias Lange - DE avatar image Matthias Lange - DE ♦ commented ·

1. Your unit is not affected.

2. Victron doesn't sell directly to the end user not on amazon or anywhere else.
Victron only sells to it's distributors and they might sell it on amazon.

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