question

zack-golenia avatar image
zack-golenia asked

Can multiple MPPT solar chargers be displayed on VRM dashboard?

Can the VRM dashboard display the breakdown of 2 (or more) MPPT solar chargers?


Further system details:

Venus GX

Quattro Inverter

BMV-712

Smartshunt

2 x SmartSolar MPPT 250/100 controllers (1 connected via VE.Direct and 1 via VE.CAN)

The dashboard is a little confusing at the moment as the "PV Charger" displays the total watts from both chargers but the volt and amps values are from one of the chargers.

Also what is the best/recommended way to connect the MPPT chargers to the Venus GX (the solar arrays are pointed in different directions and are of a different size etc.)?

VRM
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6 Answers
wkirby avatar image
wkirby answered ·

Good point about the summing of the PV Chargers. I have never noticed this before now. I also have a mixture of VE.Direct and VE.Can PV Chargers.
There isn't a way of having a separate tile for each PV Charger on the dashboard.

It shouldn't really matter how you conect the MPPT chargers to the VenusGX. I'm slightly confused why you have a SmartShunt and a BMV-712? These would use up both VE.Direct ports, then how is the one MPPT also using a VE.Direct port?
If you are out of VE.Direct ports, then it would be better to connect both MPPT chargers using VE.Can if they are both VE.Can models or course.

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daniel1957 avatar image daniel1957 commented ·
It was put incorrectly. Sorry!...We have a shunt as part of the BMV712.

One mppt is the older 250-100 the newer mppt is 250-100 can model.

In effect the dashboard is displaying incorrect data as it shows one 'tile' for PV charger with correct total W however inconsistent v & a


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daniel1957 avatar image daniel1957 daniel1957 commented ·
Therefore the VRM portal should either report the PV charger information correctly or provide separate dashboard tiles that report correctly - Come on Victron, please get it correct!
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mvader (Victron Energy) avatar image
mvader (Victron Energy) answered ·

Hi both,

Noted; we'll look into this. Thank you for reporting.


Matthijs

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daniel1957 avatar image daniel1957 commented ·
Thank you Matthijs
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daniel1957 avatar image daniel1957 commented ·
I may have an opportunity to onsell my old MPPT 250/100 and replace with a new MPPT 250/100 CAN and thus end up with 2 x MPPT 250/100 CAN .-.. will this help with the PV charger misreporting in VRM?
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daniel1957 avatar image daniel1957 commented ·

Thank you Matthijs


The new VRMscreenshot-20210817-135709.png dashboard version is great!


Daniel

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screenshot-20210817-135709.png (210.2 KiB)
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trip-tracks avatar image
trip-tracks answered ·

The dashboard is a little confusing at the moment as the "PV Charger" displays the total watts from both chargers but the volt and amps values are from one of the chargers.

I looked at an example I have with 2 MPPTs with different input voltages - the console and VRM only display the total wattage of the two - no display of the input voltage or current - so I see no conflict there.

I can see the individual inputs from each MPPT if I open the device list on the console. On VRM, I can see individual details in the Advanced tab and selecting the individual MPPT.

I don't understand the issue. Have I missed something?

I have running v2.72 on a Cerbo

Do you have any screen shots to clarify?


1627340168563.png


1627340259425.png


1627340168563.png (43.3 KiB)
1627340259425.png (47.6 KiB)
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daniel1957 avatar image daniel1957 commented · 
trip-tracks - unfortunately I  see some inconsistencies in your dashboard as well....your apparent soc is 44%.....
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klim8skeptic avatar image klim8skeptic ♦ daniel1957 commented ·

Vrm is acting odd today regarding~ time to go

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trip-tracks avatar image trip-tracks daniel1957 commented ·
@Daniel1957 , time to go will not show a value when the net charging value is positive. Correct, it shouldn't display 0 - it should be infinite.


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daniel1957 avatar image daniel1957 trip-tracks commented ·
I must be totally daft...your dashboard is showing 44% state of charge...ie it is less than half charge and the 49.3v proves that your battery is nowhere near full charge....so where do you get "positive net charging" conclusion from. ..whatever that means?
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trip-tracks avatar image trip-tracks daniel1957 commented ·
The battery is showing 4.2A charging.

Solar is showing 518W
Since it is not depleting the battery, a "time to go" estimate cannot be made.
If it was discharging, different story.

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daniel1957 avatar image
daniel1957 answered ·

See the screenshot the PV charger tile displays both mppt chargers but only the amps and watts from the non CAN mpptscreenshot-20210727-131709.png


screenshot-20210727-131709.png (219.7 KiB)
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trip-tracks avatar image trip-tracks commented ·
Thanks, @Daniel1957


I only see volts and amps on the installs where there is one solar controller. Where there is more than one only watts is displayed.
I do use ve.direct ports, so this appears to be an issue when mixing the ve.direct and can ports.

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daniel1957 avatar image
daniel1957 answered ·

@mvader

great thank you!


the new VRM dashboard now displays both MPPT chargers however there appears to be a programming glitch as in "realtime" the volts and amps for each is updating but the watts is 'locked' to the value at startup... Don't know why volts needs to be displayed to the nearest 0.01 v??

Also I have a new smart phone but the charge status (boost - absorption -float) does not display on the VRM dashboard. My son has another brand phone and his shows it??


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mvader (Victron Energy) avatar image mvader (Victron Energy) ♦♦ commented ·

Solved! Thank you for reporting


And wrt the 0.01V precision for PV voltage, that will be considered as well.



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daniel1957 avatar image
daniel1957 answered ·

a further update on the VRM dashboard


This morning the volts/amps and watts for each MPPT charger are correctly displaying - thank you.

Last night the "AC Loads" tile for the first time included a volts and amps display but that has now disappeared - that's a shame.

And the status of the battery charge state is now displaying (bulk/absorption/float) - great!!!!

It's so good to see a tech company being so responsive to customer feedback - I'm spreading the word that Victron is a company that should be supported!

Thank you very much @mvader (Victron Energy) - I love it!


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Ingo avatar image Ingo commented ·

I've refreshed my browser but see something strange. The power produced is correct but it's the total power from my RS450. MPPT #1 and MPPT #2 should be around 630W each but is displayed as the total only on MPPT #1.

1629351675557.png


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mvader (Victron Energy) avatar image mvader (Victron Energy) ♦♦ Ingo commented ·
Hi @Daniel1957 , good that mppts work well for you now; @Ingo we'll be checking that.


With regards to the AC volts, amps and later also frequencies: those will take a while to come back. To show the right values in all system configurations requires some changes in Venus OS first.

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Ingo avatar image Ingo mvader (Victron Energy) ♦♦ commented ·

@mvader (Victron Energy) I can confirm it now works correct using 2.73 albeit a bit 'wonky' as the second entry wraps around. Just make the display area a few pixels wider to compensate (or dynamic according to the string length).

1630417451246.png


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1630417451246.png (14.9 KiB)
mvader (Victron Energy) avatar image mvader (Victron Energy) ♦♦ Ingo commented ·
thanks @Ingo . We'll make it clip the too long text. What you can do on your system is put in custom names, for example Roof East, Shed, Roof West
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Ingo avatar image Ingo mvader (Victron Energy) ♦♦ commented ·
Perfect!
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mvader (Victron Energy) avatar image mvader (Victron Energy) ♦♦ Ingo commented ·
Hi again, it now clips the text when too long.



There are still more fixes and improvements coming for the dashboard btw.
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