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tkcrow asked

Cerbo GX synching 2x SmartSolars and I don't want that...

Hi there,

TL;DR, Cerbo GX is synching charing on two SmartSolars together even though they're charging different batteries. Can I stop that?

We bought a property with a house bus on it about 3 years ago. We nickel and dimed our way to an off-grid system while we were still recovering from the initial outlay of our property. We're finally recovering from that and I decided to update our system with a couple of drop-in LiFePO4s. Initially I had them paralleled with our AGMs for a very happy little system. But when I started spending, well, the flood gates opened and we bought some higher draw appliances and then some Victron gear. Right now we have two systems trying to make the most of the old gear and the new:

First system:
6x 240W panels of one make
250/100 SmartSolar
2x 200Ah LiFePO4 drop-ins
SmartShunt
Cerbo GX
MultiPlus II 12/3000

Second system:
4x 240W panels too distinct to connect in one array with first set
150/70 SmartSolar
2x 200Ah AGMs
SmartShunt
Same Cerbo GX as above
2000W Inverter feeding into Line-In in above MultiPlus to give a bit of extra oomph when the oven is running.

My big problem is when they're both plugged into the Cerbo GX via VE.Can it decides that they must be charging one battery bank and synchronises their charging cycle. Not that there's a good way for that to happen in our setup but it's decided that our AGMs, which stay full pretty much all the time always, must be the metric to go off of and so right now our 250/100 is in Float even though our LiFePO4s are only 71% charged and it's 10:45AM here on sunny day for New Zealand.

I had all the possible things SmartNetworked. Decided that might be the problem so broke the LiFePO4 SmartSolar and SmartShunt into one SmartNetwork and the AGM SmartSolar and SmartShunt into another network. That didn't help. I tried turning off SmartNetworking all together, that didn't help. The only thing that helps is if I unplug the LiFePO4 SmartSolar from the Cerbo GX, flip the breaker for the solar panels going into that CC, then turn them back on.

I tried to do a factory reset but neither do I have the USB cable, nor do I have a microSD card hanging around and we're at least an hour away from any store where I might be able to buy one.

I hadn't realised that I needed to buy VE.Direct cables for the SmartShunts when I bought the rest of the gear since they, well, have VE.Direct cables attached (side note, I LOVE this gear and the level of reporting. I can't believe I waited so long to get a proper system. It also annoys me to no end that I had to buy additional gear to plug the SmartShunts into the Cerbo GX). I ordered those cables and thought I'd wait for them to come in and see if that helped somehow. They came in today and, well, it just didn't help (which, of course, but I was hoping).

Perhaps this is functioning exactly like it's supposed to and to get what I want I need to buy another Cerbo GX, but before I give up I figured I best ask you people who are much smarter than me.

Is there a way to make the Cerbo stop connecting the SmartSolars?

cerbo gxMPPT SmartSolar
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Alexandra avatar image Alexandra ♦ commented ·

@TKCrow

The Cerbo is designed to control.one system only. It assumes everything connected to it is for one system and the battery is to be protected.

You will need another Cerbo/GX.

Also you should.not.mix the smart network and the Cerbo in a system. It is in the smart network manual as a limitation.

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tkcrow avatar image tkcrow Alexandra ♦ commented ·

Thanks, I read that too.

But the manual is very specific about what that limitation involves - the Cerbo controlling chargers like in an ESS system. At this point, I'm using the Cerbo for data logging - an action the manual states is compatible with SmartNetworking.

As mentioned above, changing the instance of one of my SCCs has solved my problem. I'm getting the reporting I need on my primary battery bank on the dashboard, I can easily find the information I occasionally want for my secondary battery bank, and the charge controllers are working independently.

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tkcrow answered ·

Right -

Instead of deleting, I'm going to respond for the case anyone else is dealing with the same issue.

Going through all the settings in the Remote Console I stumbled across the ability to change device instances and, after some quick reading, figured that was worth a try. Apparently in other situations one largely wants to leave instances as they are so this isn't a recommendation that everyone go in and mess around with their device #s.

Under the main Settings -> Services -> VE.Can Port -> Devices it should show the, well, devices you have connected on your VE.Can ports. Mine were:

Cerbo GX - Device #0
AGM MPPT - Device #0
LiFePO4 MPPT - Device #0

Which seemed to suggest that they should all integrate together.

Figuring my AGM MPPT was the least important (both because we barely touch those batteries, and because should I ruin something it's a lot cheaper to replace a 150/70 than a 250/100, I changed that to Device #1 and now the Cerbo GX seems to be reporting on the AGM system but not integrating it with the LiFePO4 system - which is exactly what I want.

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