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I am planning a system around the Cerbo GX that includes:
I would like to interface with the Wakespeed WS500 alternator regulator that accepts VE.Can data to adjust charge rates/voltages.
Does the CerboGX VE.Can port output battery parameters (charge voltage, current limitation, battery current, etc)? Or does the CerboGX only listen on the VE.Can ports?
You ever find anything on this? I am looking at adding a Nations second alternator to my Victron system in my Sprinter.
I was not able to determine that all of the parameters needed by the Wakespeed would be available on the CerboGX Ve.Can outputs. Even if they were, as bathnm describes, it seems like the system would be dependent on the state of various components to provide all the needed parameters.
Wakespeed still has some great functionality using their standard, non-Canbus Victron configuration.
I have the same setup, 4 x 12,8/200 Smart Lithiums in a 24v/400A bank. I do not yet have the Wakespeed connected to the CAN bus. I do however have my Cerbo VE.Can port connected to my NMEA 2000 bus and my Raymarine Axiom chart plotter is displaying voltage and current from the Cerbo / BMV 712 and Smart Shunt I have connected.
Something to think about. While the Wakespeed will pick up voltage and current from NMEA 2000 I am not sure it will get a charge disconnect through. Do you want a critical shut down control on charge disconnect to maybe get through and be dependant on the Cerbo being operational! I have wired the Feature In cable to the BMS Charge Disconnect; I also connected the shunt inputs off the Wakespeed to the BMV 712 shunt on the Lithium bank and the voltage detection to the positive and negative of the lithium bank. I would rather the Wakespeed continue to work, rather than be dependant on the Cerbo doing a protocol translation to get the data through. I have already had one situation where the Wakespeed reacted to the Charge Disconnect event, but other devices didn't react and the charge voltage got a little too high for comfort. The only reason I know the BMS worked was due to the Wakespeed logs I was pulling at the time!
I do plan on connecting my Wakespeed to the BMS.Can port of the Cerbo, it will be more for monitoring the Wakespeed than the Wakespeed picking up voltage or current data.
There are a few changes to the default Victron Smart Lithium configuration on the Wakespeed site that are required to get the charge disconnect/feature in working, shunt and power matching when there is a load on the Lithium bank and float is being maintained. If you need any details please do make contact.
To answer your specific question of "Does the CerboGX VE.Can port output battery parameters (charge voltage, current limitation, battery current, etc)? Or does the CerboGX only listen on the VE.Can ports?". Yes it does as if you have a Victron MPPT that supports VE.Can it can be controlled and get information related to Voltage, Current and Charge Disconnect over the VE.Can port. Please not I have not yet tested as that part of my install is not yet complete. Again however I have taken the Charge Disconnect of the BMS direct to the units remote on/off so that it is not dependant on the information it receives over VE.Can. I am just using VE.Can to adjust for voltage drop in the line and to synchronise charging between the two MPPTs..
One thing to note, which I have found out during this week and can be found in various threads within this community. The Cerbo will get charge and load disconnect over the VE.Bus, but not direct from the VE.Bus BMS. It requires that your MultiPlus or Quatro be on and working, if it happens to be off the information will not get through. See this post and its associated links to other posts, I am also considering moving away from the VE.Bus BMS to smallBMS.
Take a look at this training information as it will highlight a few things that need to be considered.
@Bathnm , is there another thread where you outline the system to monitor BMS disconnect without going through the Cerbo GX? I'd like know more about that approach.
Or maybe this is something one can get from the MODBUS output from a battery... In my EG4 docs, I see:
| Address |
Content |
Comment |
| 0022 |
Max charging Current |
-- |
| 0025 |
Status |
0x0000:Inactive/Stand by 0x0001:Inactive/Charging 0x0002:Inactive/Discharging 0x0004:Inactive/Protect 0x0008:Inactive/Charging Lmt 0x8000:Active/Stand by 0x8001:Active/Charging 0x8002:Active/Discharging 0x8004:Active/Protect 0x8008:Active/Charging Lmt Front Byte 0x00: Heat State-Off Front B yte 0x80：Heat State-On |
| 0026 |
Warning |
0x0001：Pack OV 0x0002：Cell OV 0x0004：Pack UV 0x0008：Cell UV 0x0010：Charge OC 0x0020：Discharge OC 0x0040:Abnormal Ambient Temp 0x0080: MOS Overheating 0x0100：Charge OT 0x0200：Discharge OT 0x0400：Charge UT 0x0800：Discharge UT 0x1000：Low capacity 0x2000: Float Stoped 0x4000: |
| 0027 |
Protection |
0x0001：Pack OV 0x0002：Cell OV 0x0004：Pack UV 0x0008：Cell UV 0x0010：Charge OC 0x0020：Discharge OC 0x0040: Abnormal Ambient Temp 0x0080: MOS Overheating 0x0100：Charge OT 0x0200：Discharge OT 0x0400：Charge UT 0x0800：Discharge UT 0x1000：Low capacity 0x2000：Discharge SC 0028 Error |
Have a look at the batteries and bms from MG energy systems. They have integrated the wakespeed and victron with their bms over the can bus. Their bms (master lv) combines the functions bms/ shunt/ tempsense/ hvc&lvs relay and D.C. distribution for 4 connections.
As an update on this thread. If you use the Lynx Smart BMS, the Wakespeed will take CVL (Charge Vintage) and CCL(Charge Current) data from the Lynx Smart BMS. At present there is no means for the Wakespeed to take this from the Cerbo GX. One day maybe.
I am disapointed to hear this. Just purchased a WS500, an while I didn't expect full charge control - I had hoped that the WS <> Cerbo xover cable would send current/voltage/temp data back to the WS500. Oh well. @Bathnm , do you happen to know, without the Lynx BMS, will the xover connectio to cerbo at least display data from the alternator on the Cerbo & VRM?
My setup ... VE.Bus BMS (v2), CerboGX/ with GXTouch50 display, 4x VE 200ah 12v SmartLithium, Multiplus 12/3000/120, Balmar X250, along with the usual load & charge disconnects.
The data you will get is all the normal data, namely current, voltage, field drive, mode, RPM, alternator temperature, etc. The current will depend on where you have wired the shunt and how you have then configured the WS500. It will run its own charge algorithm, just like the multiples and any connected MPPT controllers.
One day DVCC might be built into the WS500 and that would allow the Cerbo GX to send current targets, but with a VE.Bus BMS V2 you will never get the same level of integration as a Lynx Smart BMS
