On-grid domestic battery storage

Solarchaser

Just to update the seller has been very regularly in communication,  I'm absolutely convinced it was sold to me in good faith, but for the moment it is still dead.

I eventually got round to making up the cable, but found I only had rj45 connections not rj11, tried to run it on the rs485 for about an hour and a half back and forward, no go, so I thought stuff it and ordered the ebay pylontech cable.
I wanted to check out my 2 originals stacks anyway, as I'm loosing a bit on one of my stacks. 

Seller offered full refund, but decided to half the cost instead, I'll retain the battery and try and get it running, and I'm refunded half of what I paid.

mickyduck55

Good luck if you do resurrect it you have a real bargain ...

Solarchaser

EVandPV said:

Solarchaser said:

So it's not looking good for the battery.
Connected 2 of my 50% charged pylons at 49v, all good.

As soon as I switch on the 3000, both the originals go to fault mode and battery drops to 12v odds declining until its under a volt.

I've left them for 10 mins, no difference. 
It's less than a volt on its own, I reckon its went short circuit.

But gonna search for any ways to revive the battery. 

That really doesn't look great. Really sorry to hear this SC, I feel bad having flagged it up on here in the first place.
Can't think why someone would try and sell it knowing there was a problem though, bound to come back to bite them ??
If you can get hold of a serial cable, the software might at least tell you if it's just one or two bad cells, or worse.
What voltage does it read on it's own ?

Hey Scott, as part of searching t'internet I found your post on navitron essentially with the same issue in a battery you got last year, you had said with the battery app and pylontech help you were able to resolve, could you elaborate?

Solarchaser

mickyduck55 said:

Good luck if you do resurrect it you have a real bargain ...

Yeah I figured even if I can save one or two of the packs to replace the one that's likely down on my current stack, it's still cheaper than buying another 2.4

EVandPV

Solarchaser said:

EVandPV said:

Solarchaser said:

So it's not looking good for the battery.
Connected 2 of my 50% charged pylons at 49v, all good.

As soon as I switch on the 3000, both the originals go to fault mode and battery drops to 12v odds declining until its under a volt.

I've left them for 10 mins, no difference. 
It's less than a volt on its own, I reckon its went short circuit.

But gonna search for any ways to revive the battery. 

That really doesn't look great. Really sorry to hear this SC, I feel bad having flagged it up on here in the first place.
Can't think why someone would try and sell it knowing there was a problem though, bound to come back to bite them ??
If you can get hold of a serial cable, the software might at least tell you if it's just one or two bad cells, or worse.
What voltage does it read on it's own ?

Hey Scott, as part of searching t'internet I found your post on navitron essentially with the same issue in a battery you got last year, you had said with the battery app and pylontech help you were able to resolve, could you elaborate?

My problem wasn't quite as severe as yours in that the battery I bought was working but wasn't staying in sync with the other 2, probably due to the different firmware version. Using the Batteryview app, I could see it was getting to about 80% charge when the other 2 were at 100% and would be down at 20% when the other 2 were still at 50%. 
So after much farting about, I just left them hooked up and after about a week, the BMS gradually sorted itself out and fell perfectly in sync with the other 2. It's been fine ever since.
Without the Batteryview app, I wouldn't have had a clue what was going on so it's definitely worth having a look at it. It also displays any errors that are reported by the Pylontechs (see screenshot). 
Here's v3 ..... https://www.dropbox.com/s/vacsk4v3icnjhg8/BatteryView 3.zip?dl=0

And v2 ..... https://www.dropbox.com/s/d2lopix9jqghofq/Batteryview v2.rar?dl=0
I find v2 a bit easier to use. With v3, click the tab with (L) at the end then click the 2nd option in the dropdown to change the text to English.

I was going to PM you as I came across a post on another forum about reviving dead lithium batts, not a Pylontech but may be worth a go as last resort.
The guy said he hooked it up to a charger and trickle charged it at 1 or 2 amps and after a few hours the voltage recovered enough for his inverter to charge it properly. 
Like I say, if the seller is saying it had 40% a few weeks ago, I'd be really surprised if it was completely dead. Hopefully, the BMS is just a bit out of whack as it was with mine.
Good luck mate, hope you get a result.

gabitzul

Hi, I grabbed one of the two untested £350 US3000 from the same seller, have to admit - really great person. Was a bit dubious about the whole affair so drove over to Luton on Sun night (65 miles one way) to see the batt myself. He was waiting for me outside, battery at the ready and boxed. Mine was able to start there and then, with green Go light blinking but no charge indication, so decided to accept the sale. The seller even refunded me the postage (£10) next day, as I collected it.

Now, the fun started. Connected it on Mon with my other two 2.4 units, no joy at all, the Sofar went to fault mode straight away, but the other 2 batteries were fine, did not register fault etc. But for the life of me, was not able to set the US3000 as a master, as per the doc.

Left them to balance themselves offline (see youtube for a video on this) and next day tried again, no joy - error 52 on Sofar - unavble to talk to BMS. DAMN. But the US3000 had some charge at this point, from the smaller sisters.

Then had an idea, connected one of the US2000 units as master and now it works that way, no errors since. Thinking will leave it to see if it sorts itself out over a week or two and try again to set the US3000 as master....

Starfrog

do these batteries have firmwares that may need updated or refreshed ? I remember reading that some battery types sold as a kit have specific firmware and are not always compatible with the same battery used in a different setup due to the firmware ... I maybe completely wrong about it but thought it was worth a mention 

gabitzul

Yes, did hear something about this and I think BatteryView can also be used for this, but have not read any reports of someone actually doing this. Plus, firmware does not seem to be available readily.

Have also crimped an old serial cable as per the link earlier and downloaded BatteryView, but then found that neither of my old usb to serial adaptors works with Windows 10. What a pain... Now installing WIn 7 on an old laptop lying around... Fun!

Starfrog

just use a VM on your win10 machine and drive it that way ?

EVandPV

Starfrog said:

do these batteries have firmwares that may need updated or refreshed ? I remember reading that some battery types sold as a kit have specific firmware and are not always compatible with the same battery used in a different setup due to the firmware ... I maybe completely wrong about it but thought it was worth a mention 

You'd be lucky to get hold of a firmware update for the batteries, it can be hard enough getting one for the inverters.
Can't say I've had any need to update mine in the year or so I've had them. They work fine so wouldn't want to mess with a firmware update to be honest.