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amidships asked

EasyPlus, VE.Bus Smart Dongle, SmartShunt 500 Temperature Sensing confusion

Hello,

I am playing in my lab with my new setup to be installed in a campervan. The setup is as follow (questions listed later):

200Ah LiFeP04 battery:

EasyPlus Compact 12/1600/70:

- Temperature sensing cable connected to battery minus pole

VE.Bus Smart Dongle:

- RJ45 connected to EasyPlus

- B- connected to battery minus pole

- B+ and T- connected to battery plus pole using cable "Temperature Sensor for BVM-702/712

SmartShunt 500A:

- Aux and Vbatt+ connected to battery plus pole using cable "Temperature Sensor for BVM-702/712

Interface MK3-USB:

- RJ45 connected to EasyPlus

Questions:

1) Temperature is being read in three places (EasyPlus,Ve.Bus Smart Dongle, and SmartShunt)

Can I simplify the cabling by removing some of the temperature sensors? I.e. can EasyPlus Compact use the temperature readings from either VE.Bus Smart Dongle or SmartShunt 500A? Please note that I will also add a SmartSolar MPPT75/15 and that one for sure will need either the SmartShunt 500A or the VE.Bus Smart Dongle for temperature sensing (using VE.Smart Network)

2) How come that the temperature cable from the EasyPlus has to be mounted on the negative pole whole the ones from VE.Bus Smart Dongle and SmartShunt 500A goes on the positive pole? Can I attach it to the positive pole as well. Since I am using the shunt, I rather not attach anything between the shunt "To battery minus" and the battery minus pole

3) on VE.Bus Smart Dongle the B- should be connected to battery minus pole (according to documentation)

Could I attach it on the side "To system minus" of the shunt? Again to avoid (as best practices) having anything between the shunt and the battery minus pole.

4) can EasyPlus Compact 12/1600/70 read from the attached VE.Bus Smart Dongle or SmartShunt 500A (using VE.Smart Network) to get temperature information and battery monitor status? I know I can enable "Enable battery monitor" in the EasyPlus, but how does it play with the other components? In general, can EasyPlus pull information from other components?

Thanks!



SmartShuntTemperature SensorVE.BusEasyPlus
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Mike Dorsett answered ·

Whatever you do DON'T attach the temp sensor from the EasyPlus to anything but a negative terminal!! Last time I did that, it blew the control board in the EasySolar, despite the manual saying that these sensors are isolated!!

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amidships avatar image amidships commented ·

Thanks for the heads up @Mike Dorsett.

I was actually thinking of entirely removing the temp sensor. But it's unclear to me if:

a) The easyplus will then use the VE.Bus Smart Dongle for temperature sensing

b) If I need a temp sensor at all given that I have a lithium battery (when configuring the easyplus for lithium, I get a message that temp sensor is not use during charge)


Any idea?

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Matthias Lange - DE avatar image Matthias Lange - DE ♦ amidships commented ·
It's "b" with lithium batteries the EasyPlus won't use the temperature.

If you have a GX device it might be interested to see the temperature in the VRM portal.

https://www.victronenergy.com/live/temperature_sensors

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Mike Dorsett avatar image Mike Dorsett amidships commented ·
I've not worked with the smart dongle, but the multiplus can use temperature on the VE bus. With lithium, temp sensing is not needed for vharge voltage adjustment, but is required for low temperature protection of the batteries, where the charge and discharge currents are very limited at low temperatures. In the tropics, where I am, this isn't a problem, but you also can benefit from temperature sensors in the battery pack to detect an unusual rise in temperature - usually indicating that a cell is going down. What are you using for a BMS? It is usually the BMS function to control the temperature and voltage related issues with the Lithium battery.
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Related Resources

Victron temperature sensor disambiguation table - which product supports which sensor


Additional resources still need to be added for this topic

What is VE.Bus?