Victron connect problem

pthomas745

Well....GREAT.  Now...why in the world did this reset the controller and the bluetooth, but pulling the fuse didn't?  I made the comment about the fuse early this morning remembering saying something to some one on the FB page about pulling out the wire to the battery to reset the controller. (The bluetooth was working, but the controller was "stuck", and the fuse made no difference.

I'd always figured the controller was fused to protect it from power from the battery?  Or, maybe that is wrong, and the fuse protects the controller from the solar input?

And, an edit for this post.  Looking over the Victron Forums.  At the link below, an owner was asking about where to fuse the cables for the battery, solar, etc.

https://community.victronenergy.com/questions/60986/should-i-add-extra-fuse-to-smartmppt7515.html

Victron answered with this:

"Hi ,  the fuse in the Smart 75/15, as detailed in the user manual, exists only as a reverse battery polarity protection: it does not protect the battery positive circuit, nor the PV input, nor the load-out ports.

As such, yes, you absolutely must have a fuse or breaker as close to the battery as possible that protects the circuit from the controller to battery; you absolutely must have a fuse or breaker on the positive circuit of the load-out port (as close as possible to the controller) and you should have a fuse or breaker on the PV input to the controller, if for no other reason that you need to be able to isolate the controller from PV power if you need to, without either waiting until dark or climbing up and covering your panels."

I found the manual, and it doesn't specifically say the "only" function of the fuse is reverse polarity from the battery. This "restart" procedure indicates the wiring and the fuse from the battery or the panel must be pulled. Paragraph 6.5 of the manual. The controller seems to always have power when "the PV and/or the battery terminals are powered." The controller is "always active" when either the battery or solar is connected.

6.5. Shutdown and restart procedure
The solar charger is always active when the PV and/or the battery terminals are powered. The solar charger does not have an on/off switch.
To shut down the solar charger, perform these steps in the prescribed order:
1. Disconnect the PV supply to the solar charger by switching the PV supply off or by removing the fuse(s).
2. Disconnect the battery supply to the solar charger by switching the battery supply off or by removing the fuse(s).
To restart the solar charger after it was shutdown, perform these steps in the prescribed order:
1. Connect the battery supply to the solar charger by switching the battery supply on or by inserting the fuse(s).
2. Reconnect the PV supply to the solar charger by switching the PV supply on or by inserting the fuse(s).

In your case of the "blanket on the panel" it seems the controller was still attached to the battery, however.  Still, this is good stuff to find out.

Here is the newer version of the Victron Controller manual.  Seems they made a decent effort to clean it up a bit recently.

https://www.victronenergy.com/upload/documents/Manual_SmartSolar_MPPT_75-10_up_to_100-20/29694-MPPT_solar_charger_manual-pdf-en.pdf

Dana

Wow, this is all so complicated!  I shut off victron charge through the app on my phone (android) last fall, pulled the cable from batteries.  Did not pull fuse from  but wrapped electrical tape around it. Took a picture of it all before hand.  Hope to just do it all in reverse if I can dig out my Tab from a Gunnison winter.  I did locate the Victron controller after all this convo, just in case.  If it doesn't charge, or if app can't find it, I was first going to wait and see if it updates itself. If it still doesn't charge, I plan to remove the Victron app on phone and re-install. If that doesn't work.....I'll take it to the dealer!  Best of luck.

GregChris

Apparently the controller draws power from both the battery and the panel. I tried this because of a post that mentioned doing it after dark. Anyway it did work. I'm not the best at figuring out all this new technology. I get easily frustrated and quit trying. I did take the controller out and turn it upside down. The fuse wasn't accessable the way it was mounted, and It seems like this will have to be done again sometime.

pthomas745

@GregChris this was an interesting thing to learn.  Your experiment has advanced Tab Science!

Dana

I should clarify my above comment.....my concern is not being able to find the app, rather that solar will not work after I re-install batteries and hook everything back up.  

But then I worry too much.

Nevertheless, if there is an issue this forum is most useful.

pthomas745

@Dana the "I forgot how to wire my battery" post is one of the markers of spring across all the trailer groups.  On the FB page the last couple of days, there is a long post about an owner who let the dealer take their double lithium battery setup out of a 2023...and of course no body can figure out what wire goes where.  There are now solar cables, battery cables, battery heating cables, cable cables, bus bars, etc.

But, you did the exact correct thing: you took a picture. 

There is also the question of "why did you take the battery out" or pull the cables in the first place...but that question is for the fall, as a marker of winter!

Dana

@pthomas745 I pulled the batteries because I don't have shore power and Gunnison gets below 0 in the winter (especially this one, but the skiing was great! Ha) I just pulled cables off battery but didn't remove the fuses.  So.....I guess we'll see when the snow melts enough for me to get to it easily.

GregChris

I have always pulled my battery for winter. Going back 30 years ago, it's what was recomended. With all of those fancy 2,3, or 4 battery setups I imagine that wouldn't be possible. I'm still old school, 1battery - flooded l/a.

pthomas745

A "fully charged" lead acid battery will not freeze until the temp reaches -80F.  (I know how cold Gunnison gets!)  But, unless your local airport has had the jet fuel freeze, your battery should be fine.  The danger would be the battery losing charge: as the charge lowers, the temp the battery will freeze moves "up" significantly.  With solar on the trailers, and the ability to monitor it with the Apps, etc, it is much easier to manage the battery in the cold.

GregChris

Not too much worried about freezing, in Akron, Oh we only get below "0" 1 or 2 times per season. And only about 5 below. I was always told to take the battery out, set it on a piece of 2x6 wood in the garage, and put a tender/maintainer on it. As a good little boy, I always do what I told. Also with our cover on the trailer the solar doesn't work. When I finally do upgrade the battery, I probably go with a single 100 amp/hr agm. I have never boondocked, and when dry camping I only need the battery to last 12 to 18 hrs, until I can turn on my gen or the solar kicks in.

Dana

@pthomas745 Trust me, I would rather not mess with removing the batteries and having to hook it all up again come spring.  Considering the pretty consistent blue sky in Colorado I may try leaving the batteries in next year.  Last year after I bought it (only used 3 times but my son took it to hunting camp for a week after I winterized) the solar kept the batteries fully charged.  My cover got ripped up in a Gunnison squall so not doing that again. Something to consider for next year.

Dana

@pthomas745 I have seen you make the same comment on other threads also.  Makes me even more inclined to make next year easier on myself by letting the solar do its thing.  I think people are inclined to do the old school train of thought out of habit.  I've seen mixed reviews on the subject in the forum.  I know the 400 battery is not so easy to get to, unlike mine.  Thinking about putting out a little survey on schools of thought here!

GregChris

When I bought my pre owned 320s, it came with an All-Pro cover. It has survived 3 storms with over 50mph winds this winter. Doesn't even get loose. It's funny how these threads change over time. Started talling about Victron app, then batteries, now covers.

kmweise

Happened to us as well.  I ended up disconnecting the wires from the Victron unit so it had absolutely no power from any source.  Let it sit for over a minute, while disconnected I also deleted the app from my phone.  Connected back up the Victron unit, reinstalled the app and luckily it worked.    Running into the same problem again this year but hopefully won't be as frustrated this year spending a considerable amount troubleshooting and contacting Victron.   

pthomas745

I'm going to throw some more info on this thread, since the need to "reset" a non-responsive Victron when has come up a couple of time recently.  In the last couple of days, an owner, with the aid of a trusty multimeter, was able to show his controller was actually charging the battery, but the Bluetooth would not connect.  So, the troubleshooting items in this thread was repeated with no response from the bluetooth part of the controller.

An owner posted this link to a Boating forum that has a video of a guy talking about this, who also makes the same comment about "just pulling the fuse on the controller".  But, we see in other comments in this thread this may not really  work.  But he does say (at the 3 minute mark) to "make sure the solar panel is not outputting" by using a blanket on the panel or waiting until dark. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xI22zOpyIQE

So, it seems that yes, the solar panel needs to be cut off, and suggestions in the comments suggest putting a fuse on the input cables from the solar panel that would be easier to access. 

So, it would seem: the only real way to "reset" a solar controller ( or at least the bluetooth function) would be to remove all power from the controller.  Pull the fuse at the battery for the controller, and cover the panel.  (Or, disconnect the positive wire from the panel to the controller.

If there is a better "electrical" process for this, please let me know.

Beebee

Firstly thanks to all for their advice. We had the same problem with our MPPT not being seen by the app. Tried everything and even went  through the new Shutdown and restart procedure (sect 6.5)in the new version of the manual. Still nothing. I was getting all the correct LED indicators so knew there seemed no issue with the Smart solar. Out of complete frustration, I went through the whole shutdown and restart procedure again, but this time I removed the app from my phone. Restarted the smart solar, waited for it to go through its start up and then I downloaded the app, opened it and finally found the Smart solar. There was a firmware update which I completed and everything worked fine. So just one more step that may help solve the problem.

pthomas745

@BeeBee, thank you for the info, everything helps.  And, welcome to the Forums!

skyote

Whew!  I had this same "Device not found" issue and have gone through every single thing mentioned in this thread.  It wasnt until I got to Paul's pthomas745 post with the proper shutdown/restart procedure, that I was able to solve my problem.  It was sooooo easy.  Pull the 30a fuse at the battery, pull the 30a extrnal PV fuse at the controller, replace the fuse at the battery FIRST, then the PV fuse.  So simple.  This needs to go at the top of the thread somehow, so others won't go through the 50 frustrating steps that I did. THANKS PAUL!