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hummingbear avatar image
hummingbear asked

MPPT 150/100 High Temperature (Dimming) Relay Control

I'd like the fans in my battery box to turn on during high temperature's. The VictronConnect app as an option under the Relay selection called High Temperature (Dimming) - When looking this up in the manuals the only information shared is:

High temperature (Dimming). This option switches the relay ON when the charger output current is reduced due to high temperatures. Use this option to for example switch an external fan.

Does anyone have information? At what temperature does it consider high temperature? What does the "dimming" mean? To be honest I'm a little disappointed at the lack of documentation on this relay options.

chargerRelay
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2 Answers
Daniël Boekel (Victron Energy Staff) avatar image
Daniël Boekel (Victron Energy Staff) answered ·

Hi @hummingbear

there is not an exact temperature, but you can use this function to control a fan, and it will be turned on when the unit get's hot enough to de-rate it's output.

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hummingbear avatar image hummingbear commented ·

I wish there were more details on this in the manual. When you say: "when the unit get's hot enough"

do you mean a temperature sensor in the charge controller itself, or is it going off the SmartSense temperature sensor on my batteries?

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wkirby avatar image wkirby ♦♦ hummingbear commented ·

It is using a temperature sensor embedded in the controller it's self.
The absolute temperatures that the inbuilt sensor measures are not really meaningful to anyone using the controller, except for alerting a high internal temperature or activating a cooling mechanism.
The absolute internal temperature is likely quite different to the absolute ambient air temperature or absolute battery temperature which are more useful readings for the user.

It's like the temperature of the engine coolant in your car. You don't really care what the absolute temperature is. If it gets high a fan will switch on to cool it. If it still gets too hot, then the driver is alerted or the engine shuts off.

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sunnywell avatar image
sunnywell answered ·

Good day Victron support people,

To begin with, I do really think that you are doing a great job of educating people about your products and features. I am a renewable energy tech that doing lots of small-to-medium solar + BESS setups via this platform (https://www.upwork.com/freelancers/~0140631fe2d6f34633) and in most cases, I do use Victron parts! Mostly, I am using Victron where code-compliance is not an issue especially here in Canada.

Anyway, I have a small remote setup where the solar source is falling short and thus we are looking to make our loads consume less in order to make the setup the most energy-efficient. We have three fans that add some consumption per day, my question is how we can control the ON/OFF of the fans based on an ambient temp. Let's say instead of kicking in when the temp is 28 degrees it should kick in when the temp is 35 degrees. We do utilize Smart controller, Venus GX, and BP65.

Thank you for your assistance upfront.


Best regards,

Vlad

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