Not using full solar potential

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koossch asked Apr 4, '24

Not using full solar potential

Hello, First of all, thank you to anyone reading in to this!

For context, this is my setup:

This has been running for weeks now. I was not yet finished with the configuration.
The main thing that worked was Solar power being generated and send to the Grid.

This was 3 days ago, a fairly sunny day. Having power peaks of 2.5 kWh from solar

So far, so good.

Yesterday I had a frend with more Victron knowledge then me and we went through the setup togeather. And we foud a few 'errors' that we corrected. I will try to sum them up;

1. The Carlo Gavazzi was not yet connected via TCP Modbus, we added this in the Venus GX

2. The Venus GX was not yet monitoring the battery correct, so we corrected that:

3. I ran a Firmware update on the Venus GX. I failed to note the old firmware but I think it was as old as early 2023. We updated to the latest version

Now the problem we both cannot get our heads arrond:

Today, all day long, the setup has been producing ~200 to ~300 watt and is trying to keep L1 at abount 0 Amps.

Show here, you can se my RS 48/6000/100 is producing 268 watt and feeding this back to L1.

What I expected it to do was more like it used to be in the past (like 3 days ago).
Whenever the sun is shining, It sould be 'pushing out' all it's solar power to L1.

So my theory is that either 1 of the 3 following changes altered the working of the setup:

1. Carlo Gavazzi Grid monitor enabled
2. BMS battery monitoring enabled
3. Firmware update of the GX

I tried to ''fix" it by reversing my changes. So I removed the Carlo Gavazzi Grid monitor from the modbusTCP, rebooted the Venus GX but to no success.

Then I removed my BMS monitoring, but also no success.

Now I considder running an older firmware for the GX, but I feel like I am missing out on some thing very obvious here...

Any suggestions would be very welkom, and again thanks for sharing your thoughts!

Venus GX - VGX Multi RS

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nickdb answered · Apr 04 at 02:46 PM

Change the release to "official release" not beta. See if your issue persists.

You're also using an unsupported BMS and DVCC has been set with no management. If you're using the serial driver, rather enable that and if it still has issues, enable SVS in DVCC (DVCC should be enabled).

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Answer 1 · 2024-04-04T14:38:10Z

Duivert NL answered · Apr 04 at 02:38 PM

hi you are running a test version of venus os, maybe thats the problem?

latest offical is V3.30

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koossch commented · Apr 04 at 02:47 PM

could be, I'm not sure.. wil have a double check.

The previous owner of this Venus GX w as a real expert, I would not be suprised if this is true.

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nickdb ♦♦ koossch commented · Apr 04 at 02:50 PM

It is true, that version is only a beta: the ~ and revision number is the giveaway.

On old firmware, the beta was marked as "latest version", which made many people accidentally load it.

If you look now, you will see that has changed to "official release" and beta release.

Change your setting back to Official, click on check for updates, then click on install.

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Answer 2 · 2024-04-04T17:42:26Z

Alex Pescaru answered · Apr 04 at 05:42 PM

Hi @Koossch

....Whenever the sun is shining, It sould be 'pushing out' all it's solar power to L1.......

Sorry to burst your bubble, but if the RS you are using is the one in the picture, with the serial being HQ23253EK7A, then that RS is an Multi RS Solar and that equipment is NOT able to feed-in... yet.

So NO "pushing out"...

Surprised that no one noticed this small detail...

Alex

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nickdb ♦♦ commented · Apr 04 at 06:06 PM

Well spotted

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Answer 3 · 2024-04-04T18:34:26Z

koossch answered · Apr 04 at 06:34 PM

Thanks again for your help! I wil try to awnser all of your questions/suggestions at once.

First I downgraded the firmware to production instead of Beta.

Then I was albe to catch the last bit of sunlight today.
So there is a bit more power produced after I downgraded the firmware, and changed the DVCC settings as @nickdb suggested. Now tomorrow will confirm if it's really fixed or of there was just not enough sunlight left to generate more power. I will report back tomorrw!

This graph looks promicing! (Red arrow is the downgrade / DVCC changes)

@Alex Pescaru Thank you for your insight. You are right that is the serial number.
If you are right, and this device is not able to feed back to the Grid (yet, will it be possible?)
How come that this device was pushing all it's solar power to the grid the past 4 days and stopped doing so after the changes I made yesterday?

Please see this printscreen:

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Alex Pescaru commented · Apr 04 at 08:26 PM

@Koossch

PV Yield means indeed the power produced from the solar array.

But in the case of Multi RS Solar, that power can't be feed to grid.

Instead, depending on how the system is configured, during solar production, the Multi RS will power the AC Loads from solar with priority. Probably, what you've shown us on April 1-3, is the solar production that was consumed by the AC loads.

Also take into account that the Multi RS has its own means of measuring the AC Input and AC Output power and doesn't necessary need a power meter through a GX device...

Maybe there are some conflicts because of this combination of Gavazzi/GX and Multi RS...

Maybe someone from Victron will shed some light on this...

Alex

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koossch Alex Pescaru commented · Apr 04 at 08:28 PM

uhm well, AC Loads has nothing connected... It's only connected to AC in at the moment.

I feel like I might have had an unsupported setup, it's just so interesting it used to work;)

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Alex Pescaru koossch commented · Apr 04 at 08:46 PM

Then, with no AC loads connected, it's really strange that in the VRM printscreen from first post, there are 228W consumed from L1...

Or maybe that is the power measured by Gavazzi power meter, conflicting with the Multi RS power meter, both (?) sent to VRM...

Indeed, maybe an unsupported setup....

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koossch Alex Pescaru commented · Apr 05 at 07:05 AM

you are right, that printscreen in the first post is from the Carlo Gavazzi, not from the Multi RS.

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delf67 commented · Apr 04 at 08:49 PM

Do you have AC input current & voltage chart or AC input power chart to show?

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Answer 4 · 2024-04-05T07:37:31Z

bmr answered · Apr 05 at 07:37 AM

Dear all, I have read this discussion, but in my case the PV power of my 3 Multi RS units is also send to the grid if I like.

DVCC max charge current now at 1A, Optimized without battery life, as you can see it is possible.

This is in the morning, but it can deliver more than 10kW.

Even if my battery is full it drops the power automatic to the grid.

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Alex Pescaru commented · Apr 05 at 08:07 AM

Did you checked with your power company and it really feeds-in?

Meaning it really records a power grid injection?

Because that VRM info can be a "computed" one, and there could be no grid injection...

Or maybe there is a real grid injection and the Multi RS could really inject to grid, but there is no official acknowledge for this...

Please @Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) , can you help on this with some real facts?

Thank you!

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bmr Alex Pescaru commented · Apr 05 at 01:37 PM

@Alex Pescaru Please check. It think it is possible to push power to the grid from a Multi RS.

Only the solar trackers of Multi RS #3 (L3), DVCC max charge current at 10A

ESS mode Keep Batteries Charged (Optimized without battery live works, but is less stable)

PV inverter of Solaredge off (see upper right) so alone the 3rd Multi RS with tracker no 2 is delivering 2043W: loading 391W to battery, 778W to acload at acout1 and 718W to grid.

Please mind the AC total (screenshot made later) of 634W:

Please let me know if this is correct. I am a newbee, but already busy with this for 5 months....

Another view with the same settings in HA:

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Alex Pescaru bmr commented · Apr 05 at 02:26 PM

Hi @bmr

Could you please tell us the complete equipment's list in your system?

Something doesn't add up as until now Victron kept telling us that Multi RS is unable, with the current firmware, to feed into grid...

Thanks,

Alex

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bmr Alex Pescaru commented · Apr 05 at 08:28 AM

At the grid I placed an enery meter VM-3P75CT, This is what you see in VRM. But I also can show in Homeassistant.

If the sun is shining I will make a printscreen of the VM-3P75CT data.

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2024-04-05-10-26-16-history-home-assistant-work-mi.png (50.3 KiB)

bmr Alex Pescaru commented · Apr 05 at 08:33 AM

Another thing is to mention I have a solaredge on ACOUT1 at this moment.

Maybe this is the solution......

So I have to make a printscreen when the tracker at the Multi RS is giving more power than the AC load at ACOUT1.

Or what I can do is shut down the solar edge for testing this.....

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Alex Pescaru bmr commented · Apr 05 at 08:45 AM

Wait a minute... You have another PV inverter connected to ACOUT1...

The Multi RS, by design, it's almost "passthrough" form ACIN to ACOUT.

What you measure as grid injection may come from the PV inverter connected on AC OUT...

For reference, the below schematic is an approximation of how the Multi RS is inside.

Maybe a simpler topology, but almost the same.

So you can see that OUT is pretty straight forward to IN.

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high-frequency-solar-inverters-block-diagram.jpg (121.9 KiB)

bmr Alex Pescaru commented · Apr 05 at 08:57 AM

Yes, sorry, I had to say that (but did not realize at that moment!), but it was and is very important to know :-)

Question stays for @Koossch why it does send to grid as at his site only the Multi RS is giving solar power to the grid

If my solar power on the tracker is enough to send to grid I will give it a try again.....

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Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) ♦♦ Alex Pescaru commented · Apr 08 at 03:54 AM

Hi @Alex Pescaru,

You seem to have it all correct to me.

The current Multi RS does not support grid export from its own internal MPPTs. It will allow passthrough from an AC PV inverter, but I'd say also at this stage that this behaviour isn't yet 'supported', even if it works. Once grid codes are officially enabled then this configuration will also get better documented.

If there are any instances where a Multi RS is exporting from its own MPPTs and the customer does not want that, and does not expect that, then I would like to know about it, as it might be a bug and shouldn't happen. In those cases first isolate any other PV production except for the Multi RS to rule out a misreading of the energy flows.

Energy meter support is not quite there yet either with Multi RS, though it is being worked on as a priority, so expect that shortly. Any bugs related to systems with Multi RS and energy meters should at least wait until the upcoming firmware where they are officially supported.

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Answer 5 · 2024-04-05T15:12:56Z

koossch answered · Apr 05 at 03:12 PM

I am vary happy to announce that the changes we made yesterday fixed my problems!

1. Solar power is being generated as mutch as possible.

2. Power is being send to the grid. (Carlo Gavazzi Grid monitor)

L1. is going negative, power being send to the grid!

To sumerise, firmware downgrade to non-beta and the correct DVCC settings made the difference. Thanks for your help guys!

@Alex Pescaru would you like more information from my setup or more details from @bmr his setup?

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Alex Pescaru commented · Apr 05 at 03:17 PM

Hi @Koossch

Yes, yes... please, please... All... :-)))

Alex

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Answer 6 · 2024-04-05T19:10:36Z

koossch answered · Apr 05 at 07:10 PM

@Alex Pescaru a new drawing with more detail and some updates, this is my setup

What works

1. PV Power from the Multi RS is being send to the Grid.

2a. PV Power from the MPPT RS is charging the battery.
2b. If needed, Multi RS can charge the battery as well.

What I would love to build

1. Drain battery slowly over night to reduce energie used from the Grid.
2. If the battery is charged and the sun is still shining; I would like to dump the extra power from MPPT to the Multi RS (via the 48v bar).

I hope this helps, if you have any quinstion please let me know.
And again, all of you thanks for your contribution!

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Alex Pescaru commented · Apr 05 at 10:35 PM

Which version of firmware do you use on Multi RS ?

Also, can you save the current Multi RS configuration from inside VictronConnect and post it here ?

Many thanks!

Alex

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Answer 7 · 2024-04-06T19:47:47Z

koossch answered · Apr 06 at 07:47 PM

@Alex Pescaru the firmware was 1.16 the latest if I'm correct.
Attached you wil find a copy of the configuration.

Today the sun was shining :)

The Multi RS was pushing power back to the grid like I hoped.
The AC Load graph on the righd hand side is a bit misleading I guess.

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Answer 8 · 2024-04-08T06:56:25Z

koossch answered · Apr 08 at 06:56 AM

20240406 Multi RS Config.vcsf.txt@Alex Pescaru sorry forgotten the con20240406 Multi RS Config.vcsf.txtfig, I atteched it to this comment

Please remove the .txt extention from the file, I could not upload the file with the default extention.

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Alex Pescaru commented · Apr 08 at 07:34 AM

Thank you!

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