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wolfandy avatar image
wolfandy asked

How to connect Victron Smart Battery Sense on Pylontechs?

Hi all

I am currently contemplating of adding a 2nd Victron MPPT to my system. As I am not using a GX in my system (using Axperts as inverters), I am looking to use a Smart Battery Sense to create a VE.Smart Network to synchronise the charging of the 2 MPPTs.

But I now have 2 practical questions, which I hope someone might be able to help with:

  1. I understand that the Smart Battery Sense is supposed to be connected directly to the battery's terminals. But how do I best do that for Pylons - given their non-standard terminals? Or do I connect the Smart Battery Sense to the end of the Pylon connection cable (where it connects to my DC busbar)?
  2. I am currently having 4x Pylons connected via a single Pylon connection cable (120A). As with the 2nd MPPT I might in theory be producing up to 135A, I thought it would be safer to add another Pylon connection cable (even though I don't think that the full 135A would ever be pushed into the Pylons as my load also still needs to be supplied). How would I connect the Smart Battery Sense when using 2 sets of Pylon connection cables?

Thanks in advance for inputs

PylontechSmart Battery SenseVE.Smart Network
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wolfandy avatar image wolfandy commented ·

Anyone with ideas?

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Paul B avatar image
Paul B answered ·

Connect it to the bus bar as this is the point that you want to measure the voltage thats going to both batteries.

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wolfandy avatar image wolfandy commented ·

Thanks

And I take it that the voltage will be the same everywhere across the bus bar - so connecting a 2nd set of Pylon connections cables will not cause any complications (having 2 Pylons connected via the 1st set and the other 2 Pylons via the 2nd set). Correct?

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Jack Peters avatar image
Jack Peters answered ·

The correct way to do this would be to add a GX device to the system. Leave the Axpert inverter connected to the battery RS485 port and connect a GX device such as a Venus GX to the battery CAN port and the two MPPTs.

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wolfandy avatar image wolfandy commented ·

Thanks for the idea, Jack

But I've got 2 questions:

  1. I am currently using a software called ICC on a Raspberry Pi to control and monitor my system. It connects to the Pylons for accurate data readings and switches my Axperts based on that data. It also reads data from the Victron MPPT (via VE.Direct to USB cable) to give me a complete picture of my whole system. If I add a GX device to the mix, I would lose the ability to have all data consolidated in a single place (because the MPPT would now be connected to the GX via VE.Direct). Or is it possible to also read out data from the GX via VE.Direct to USB?
  2. What significant benefit would I get from the GX and being able to also connect it to my Pylons? I have manually set the charging parameters in the MPPT and my system is running well without the MPPT and Pylons being able to communicate. What would justify spending about 5x more on a Venus GX than for a Smart Battery Sense?
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Related Resources

Victron Pylontech battery compatibility guide

Additional resources still need to be added for this topic

Smart Battery Sense Product Page

Smart Battery Sense Manual



Additional resources still need to be added for this topic

VE.Smart Networking Manual