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Patrick avatar image
Patrick asked

Can the EG4 24V V1 work with the Cerbo GX?

Is anyone successfully using V1 EG4-LL 24V batteries with a Cerbo-GX?

I am trying to determine if my plan to use a Wakespeed regulator and CerboGX means I will also need to add a Version 2 EG4 battery to my setup.

I'm having a chat with the kind folks at American Power (alternator) about adding a 24v Alternator to my Ford Transit 350 EcoBoost and this concern was expressed:
"Will again emphasize the need for not just CAN but the ability of the BMS to communicate outbound so to be able to have the alternator disconnect prior to an emergency cutoff of charge should it occur. Without that ability you will have a large voltage spike occur when the alternator would lose the 24V battery sense and try to recreate it in a flash. The large voltage spike will likely take out the alternator and/or regulator that would not be covered by warranty."

It seems like I might be able to use the Modbus path or use the Louisvdw/dbus-serialbattery plugin with a V1, but I'm unclear if that will get me there with the functionality required to protect the Alternator.

Thanks!

cerbo gx
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3 Answers
z-zk-z avatar image
z-zk-z answered ·

Is anyone successfully using V1 EG4-LL 24V batteries with a Cerbo-GX? NO but I have three V1 with screen, EG4-LL 48V and I updated their firmware to Victron and using a homemade CAN-bus cable (also available from SS) from batteries to Cerbo GX. The Cerbo is seeing the three batteries and it seems the communication is working. However, I am getting high voltage warnings (which clear themselves) when the SOC gets close to 100%. I am trying to figure out what is going on. The warnings go away, if I lower the absorption voltage (default 56.8 volt) to 54 which results to the batteries to charge to 99% instead of 100%. It seems, my three batteries aren't charging at the same rate and the first one that gets to SOC of 100% starts to generate warnings (or get unbalanced individual cells). I am monitoring the batteries using the BMS-TOOLS software. I also updated my MPPT to 150/45. I don't know if I was getting those warnings before updating the firmware because there was no battery communication in the past. I will post when I find out more...


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Patrick avatar image
Patrick answered ·

I want to close out this thread and support the answer from @z_zk_z.

In much back and forth with EG4, no you can not use the V1 with the Cerbo. You can as @z_zk_z points out use the V2 as the connection to the Cerbo and have v1s and or v2s talking to that battery ID 1 (master) V2 battery.

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z-zk-z avatar image
z-zk-z answered ·

I probably wasn't clear. First you need to update the EG4-LL V1 firmware ( https://youtu.be/p5AkytbGUlE ) and use a CAN-BUS cable to connect the batteries to Cerbo-GX. You can either use all EG4-LL V1 or a combination of EG4-LL V1 and V2 (with V2 acting as master in the chain https://youtu.be/elHLWUkTVX8 ). My problem wasn't with the communication as you can see from my post (https://diysolarforum.com/threads/please-help-eg4-ll-v1-with-updated-victron-firmware-generating-cell-over-voltage-at-100-soc.58723/#post-730447). I have been using 55V for bulk and 54.4V for float in my Victron MPPT. I don't know anything about the alternator stuff you are trying to do but see if this or similar videos would help https://youtu.be/myx7vc5Omm4

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Patrick avatar image Patrick commented ·
NOTE: There is no updated firmware for a 24V v1 battery. I know, I bricked my BMS thinking the firmware on the site which said 48V was for both.


@z_zk_z be sure to mention you have a 48V system. They're different products.


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z-zk-z avatar image z-zk-z Patrick commented ·
Okay, I mentioned about the 48V in my original post but it is good to know about different firmware updates. I also noticed either 12 or 24-Volt EG4-LL V1 not having the circuit breaker as they have in the 48V. The EG4 Electronics and their Signature Solar (SS) vendor need to get their act together. I provided the data SS tech support wanted about my problem and never heard back. They also keep posting YouTube videos showing how their products work with Victron and as far as I know, EG4-LL batteries are not on the approved list of batteries published by Victron.
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