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clifwlkr avatar image
clifwlkr asked

Self Heating Batteries and Victron Smart Solar Charge Controller 150 70A Tr

Does anyone know if the above charge controller will work with self heating batteries when the cold weather disconnect kicks in? So scenario is that the batteries get so cold at night that the BMS shuts of the discharge of the batteries so voltage is zero to the charge controller. The sun comes up, and the batteries will still be off, but require amperage to the terminals to engage the heaters that are internal to the battery.

If this controller is compatible, the amperage from the solar array would be routed into the heaters, warm up the batteries, and raise them hot enough to start charging again, then the batteries automatically reroute the power into charging. I have an older charge controller that does not do this, and another cheap one I use in my truck that does. Just trying to figure out if the Victron will work in this scenario.

It seems like it may as it says it supports zero volt battery charging, but curious if anyone has gotten this to work in the real world.

Thanks in advance!

charge controller compatibility
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2 Answers
clifwlkr avatar image
clifwlkr answered ·

Well I never got an answer on this and went ahead and bought it given the fact that from the specs I believed it should work.... Well now just left my cabin for the season and the first few days have been below zero F. I can report that in fact the victron controller works just fine with self heating batteries. I have a bank of six in 2s3P format. Each battery starts to heat, and when one when hits temp and starts taking a charge, it only takes the charge at the rate of the draw of the heater of the neighbor, and when both hit temp, it starts to take a full charge.

So anyone contemplating self heating batteries, the Victron does in fact deliver!

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rock2ya avatar image rock2ya commented ·
may i ask, which batteries you have - just to get an image what we are talking about
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mmc avatar image
mmc answered ·

I would like to add a few more questions to the question about support for self-heating batteries:


Which MPPT controllers are compatible with which self-heating LiFePO4 batteries?

Which battery data interfaces of which Self Heating LiFePO4 batteries are directly supported by the current victron MPPT chargers? (without, for example, using a Cerbo GX with a Node-RED based control program, which would extremely increase the complexity of such a system)

Is there or will there be a self-heating battery from Victron in the near future that is compatible with Victron MPPT chargers?

If a self-heating battery does not have a separate data interface or it cannot be connected directly to the MPPT: What firmware is at least required so that the victron MPPT controllers recognize the heating process before charging begins? (The MPPT firmware or its parameterization would have to recognize the heating process of the respective LiFePO4 battery models based on the characteristic current-voltage curve and not incorrectly interpret and evaluate this as a charging current)

Is there a best practice for parameterizing the MPPT controllers for use with self-heating LiPFePO4 batteries?

It may be the only alternative, even though a self-heating battery is used for safety reasons, to also set up an external battery heater for such a battery.

Are there already best practice examples for this with Cerbo GX?

How much power does the victron Cerbo GX need for itself (idle mode and maximum)? (I couldn't find anything about this in the data sheet)

Many thanks in advance for a detailed answer to the questions asked!

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