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bierchen asked

Alarm Rules not "really" working

I run a Multi 2 with a 48v Battery System on my RV between grid input and the factory 230v installation. Main use is to have plenty of Lithium power in the garage if the RV is stationary and there are no hookups present. I have no bus connected BMS, the Multi just sees voltage and temp via sensors and charges according to configured curve.

Everything works like a charm, i can run huge loads hust as if on a normal 16A Grid hookup and i have no problems whatsoever. From initial ve.config to finetuning and first months of usage all is just as expected and i am super happy with it.

Now the only issue i cannot tackle is the alarm rules in VRM.

All typical issues i have sorted out - email is correct, test notifications are being received. I started setting up a ve bus soc alarm rule for 95% and discharged the batteries with a heater. No alarms were generated. I then set up a rule for the multi switch to alert when set to on, invert or charger only. That one worked one time, but not again. I feel like my alarm rules are simple as can be but the system just does not react accordingly. I do wait for more than 60s for the alarm to trigger and am taking my time, at least i do not expect everything to be like real time or so.

To be sure i did not mess up something, i just deleted all rules and created a new one to alert below 99% SOC. Discharged to 98,5% and again, no alarm. There is no smart shunt or anything but the multi 2 GX.

Same goes for ve.bus state like bulk, absorption. Worked one time but never again.

I have not found anything when going thru threads here and elsewhere. Do those rules need time to sink in? Does the GX card need to be rebooted once alarms are set?

Thx for any help with this!

Multiplus-II
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harold avatar image harold commented ·
Note your VRM update rate is probably set at 15 minutes, so as an update has just happend, it will at least take 15 minutes agian.
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bierchen avatar image bierchen harold commented ·
wow, where is that setting or update rate coming from? Never seen or heard about it. Curious for the next 30mins here, toggling switches.
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seb71 avatar image seb71 bierchen commented ·
"Log interval" in GX device's VRM settings.
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bierchen avatar image bierchen harold commented ·
Sadly nothing happening here :-( ...i haven't changed the alarms and none are triggered when i switch from on to inverter and vice versa. Of course, with a good Minute or two between actions.
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3 Answers
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bierchen answered ·

Ok, so i guess this is sorted after i took the entire system down this night which was okay for me but makes me think if this is intended, surely not every installation can be disconnected for maintenance just because such a 1st world problem like the notifications is not working ;-)

For all of the folks out there struggling aswell or maybe wondering in the future:

- Each Type of Alarm Rule, say, ve.bus state, may only have one condition if you would like to have it cleared after this triggering condition clears.

What sounds super obvious when looking at it right now means: If more than one condition is set, say, float, bulk and absorption, assist and inverting, you will get an alarm once for your current condition like maybe "float". But when this changes to "inverting" because maybe your Installation has no grid power for a few hours, the alarm does not go off again as it has already been triggered.

In a nutshell: You need to choose wisely which state of a Alarm Rule Type you want to have as your only trigger. You will get the alarm notification once it is triggered and when it clears.

Wishlist to Victron: Include the option to get notified if the condition for an Alarm Rule Type changes. That way more combinations or triggers for an Alarm Rule would be possible and people like me who want to have every notification and then drill down to what is critical can save a lot of time.

I hope this will be helpful for anyone in the future.

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Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) avatar image Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) ♦♦ commented ·
Hi @Bierchen,


Happy to see you’ve found an explanation for the behaviour.

Regarding the suggestion, have you looked into NodeRED? I think that might provide the flexibility you’re looking for.

It’s on the roadmap to review the VRM alarm rules UI, however nodeRED controls are already available today.

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bierchen answered ·

Just wanted to provide a quick update, i can not trigger any alarm condition in VRM whether it is an Alarm i created for the multi's Switch, charger state or SOC. It is just like if the alarms would not be there at all and i feel like a total idiot.

GX Card rebooted of course and the entire System is working perfectly, notification test emails are coming in fast aswell.

What am i missing?

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bierchen answered ·

So i shut down the entire installation tonight and now at least the ve.bus state alarms and SOC alarms i have configured do successfully trigger alarms and thus emails are sent.

However, the Switch Position alarms do not work yet. They have once yesterday when playing around, but then all alarms stopped working as described earlier.

Any ideas? At this point in time i am happy to see progress here :-)

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