I have installed and operated a mostly Victron Lithium system on my sailboat for a little over a year now. The system components are described at the bottom of the post. Apologies in advance as I am not an engineer. From the beginning, I have had trouble getting two problems solved, both related to the Ve.Bus BMS:
(1) Load disconnect - I tried to use the Victron BP220 but it melted within a week. The boat draws far more current than the BP220 can handle and moreover, the original wiring is such that it would take me many many many hours to separate the "power supply" wires from the "control circuit" wires.
I have been searching for a possible solution, but Victron does not provide a bi-stable relay that can handle the currents required by my boat's electrical system.
I have located the Blue Sea ML Solenoid (500 amps continuous) and would like some input on whether it's the right product and if so, ways to wire it correctly.
https://www.bluesea.com/products/7703/ML_Solenoid_-_24V_DC_500A
Instructions are below
http://assets.bluesea.com/files/resources/instructions/990180170.pdf
My understanding is that it's a bi-stable relay that includes a switch that applies +ve momentarily to one terminal to close the solenoid and +ve to a different terminal to open the solenoid.
The VE.Bus BMS load disconnect, however, is normally high (roughly supply voltage minus 1v) and goes open circuit (zero volts) when load needs to be disconnected.
Is there a way to integrate the Blue Sea relay into my system? Or is there a Victron product out there to enable load disconnect that I didn't see?
(2) Charge disconnect - The VE.BMS Charge Disconnect wire is controlling the Bluesolar MPPT 150/35 and the Skylla-i 24/80 (3) using the appropriate Victron wires. This appears to work properly so that if I unplug the Charge Disconnect wire from the VE.BMS, charging instantly stops on both the Bluesolar and the Skylla.
We also need this Charge Disconnect (CD) to control the Mastervolt Alpha Pro II, the regulator for our Mastervolt Alpha 24/110 alternator. The Mastervolt Alpha Pro II charge controller has a “reg-on” wire that switches the controller on if there is “high” voltage and switches it off if there is open circuit. Normally, in a standard installation that does not include any Victron components, a relay controlled by the engine ignition circuit connects/disconnects the reg-on wire to battery positive. Knowing that the current limit on the Charge Disconnect wire is 10 mA, we used a Hella 24v 10/20A relay instead of connecting the CD wire directly to the Mastervolt Alpha Pro II. A multimeter indicates that the Hella relay draws 7mA. However, the Charge Disconnect does not seem to provide enough current to power the relay, even when Bluesolar and Skylla are disconnected from the circuit. When we try to power the relay with the Charge Disconnect wire, the voltage on the CD wire drops to a little over 3 volts (it’s normally around 26.3v). I believe this indicates the Ve.BUS BMS isn't providing enough current to trigger the Hella relay. I even tried a 12v relay - didn't work.
We do not have the negative wire attached to the VE-BMS per Victron recommendations to prevent ground loops and we have connected, via RJ-45 to the Quattro.
Can I use a Victron Cyrix Li-CT to connect/disconnect this Mastervolt Reg-On wire? In other words, can I wire the VE.Bus BMS charge disconnect wire to terminal 85 on the Cyrix Li-CT and terminal 30 to the Lifepo4 batteries and the Mastervolt Reg-On wire to terminal 87?
Instructions for the Alpha Pro II, relevant page is 12
https://productimageserver.com/literature/ownersManual/69993OM.pdf
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Currently the system on my sailboat includes the following components:
Batteries: SIX Victron Smart 12.8v/150ah batteries, serial to create 24v and parallel to create 450ah.
BMS: VE.Bus BMS
Inverter/Charger: Quattro 24/5000/120
Battery Monitor: BMV-712