6. Troubleshooting, support and warranty
Consult this chapter in case of unexpected battery behaviour or if you suspect a battery fault.
The troubleshooting and support process is to first consult the common battery issues as described in this chapter. Should this fail to resolve the issue, follow the advice in the technical support paragraph.
6.1. Troubleshooting
6.1.1. VictronConnect issues
Cannot connect with the VictronConnect app to the battery
It is highly unlikely that the Bluetooth interface is faulty. Check these possible causes before seeking support:
Is the product a "Smart" product? Non-Smart products do not support Bluetooth.
Is the battery voltage still high enough? The Bluetooth module is turned off as a precaution as soon as the battery terminal voltage drops below 8V or when one of the cells drop below 2V. The Bluetooth module will power up again once the battery is charged. When recharging the battery after a low voltage event, use the low voltage charge procedure as described in paragraph: “Battery very low terminal voltage”.
Is there already another phone or tablet connected to the product? Only one phone or tablet can be connected at any given time. Make sure no other devices are connected and try again.
Are you close enough to the product? In open space the maximum distance is about 20 meters.
Are you using the Windows version of the VictronConnect app? The Windows version cannot use Bluetooth. Use an Android, iOS or macOS device instead.
Has Bluetooth been disabled in the battery product settings?
IMPORTANT: Disabling Bluetooth is an irreversible process. Once Bluetooth has been disabled, it can never be re-enabled.
Does the VictronConnect app have an issue? Try to connect to another Victron Energy product, does this work? If that also does not work, then there probably is an issue with the phone or tablet. Refer to the troubleshooting section of the VictronConnect manual.
PIN code lost
If you have lost the PIN code, you will need to reset the PIN code to its default PIN code. This is done in the VictronConnect app.
Navigate to the device list of the VictronConnect app. Click on the option symbol
next to the product listing.A new window will open which allows you to reset the PIN code back to its default: 000000.
Enter the batteries unique PUK code as printed on the product information sticker on the product.
More information and specific instructions can be found in the VictronConnect manual.
Interrupted firmware update
This is recoverable, just try to update the firmware again.
6.1.2. Battery issues
Cell imbalance
How to recognize cell imbalance
The BMS frequently disables the charger
This is an indication that the battery is imbalanced. The charger will never be disabled by the BMS if the battery is well balanced. Even when fully charged, the BMS will leave the charger enabled.
The battery capacity seems to be less than before
If the BMS is disabling loads much sooner than it used to do, even while the overall battery voltage still looks OK, this is an indication that the battery is imbalanced.
There is a noticeable difference between the individual cell voltages during absorption stage
When the charger is in the absorption stage, all cell voltages should be equal and between 3.50V and 3.60V. If this is not the case, this is an indication that the battery is imbalanced.
A cell slowly drops in voltage when the battery is not used
This is not imbalance, although it might look like it. A typical example of this is when the battery cells initially all have equal voltages, but when the battery is not used after a day or so, one of the cells has dropped 0.1 to 0.2V below the other cells. This cannot be fixed by rebalancing and the cell is considered to be defective.
How to recover an imbalanced battery
Charge the battery using a charger that is configured for lithium and is controlled by the BMS.
Be aware that cell balancing only takes place during the absorption stage. It will be necessary to manually restart the charger each time the charger has gone to float. Rebalancing can take a long time (up to a few days) and it will require many manual charger restarts.
Be aware that during cell balancing it might look like nothing is happening. The cell voltages can remain the same for a long time and the lithium BMS will repeatedly turn the charger on and off. This is all normal.
Balancing is taking place when the charge current is at or above 1.8A or when the BMS has temporarily disabled the charger.
Balancing is almost finished when the charge current drops below 1.5A and the cell voltages are close to 3.55V.
The rebalancing process is complete when the charge current has dropped even further, and all cells are 3.55V.
Warning
Be 100% sure that the charger is controlled by the BMS, dangerous cell overvoltage can occur if it is not. Check this by monitoring the cell voltages using the VictronConnect app. The voltage of the fully charged cells will slowly creep up until 3.7V has been reached. At this point the BMS will disable the charger and the cell voltages will drop again. This process will continuously repeat until balance is restored.
Background information on cell balancing
What causes cell imbalance or a variation in cell voltages:
The battery has not spent enough time in the absorption charge stage.
This can, for example, happen in a system where there is not enough solar power to fully charge the battery, or in systems where the generator is not running long or often enough. During normal operation of a lithium battery, small difference between cell voltages occur all the time. These are caused by slight differences between the internal resistance and self-discharge rates of each cell. The absorption charge stage fixes these small differences. We recommend a minimum absorption time of 2 hours per month for lightly operated systems, such as backup or UPS applications and 4 to 8 hours per month for heavy used (off-grid type) systems.
The battery charger never reaches the storage (or float) stage.
The storage (or float) stage follows the absorption stage. During this stage, the charge voltage drops to 13.5V and the battery can be considered full. If the charger never enters this stage, it might be a sign that the absorption stage has not been completed (see previous point). The charger should be allowed to reach this stage at least once a month. This is also needed for battery monitor SoC (state of charge) synchronization.
The battery has been discharged too deeply.
During a very deep discharge, one or more cells in the battery can drop well below their low voltage thresholds. The battery might be recoverable by rebalancing, but there is also a realistic chance that one or more cells are defective, and that rebalancing will not be successful. Consider the cell to be defective. This is not covered by warranty.
The battery is old and is near to its maximum cycle life.
When the battery is close to its maximum cycle life, one or more battery cells will start to deteriorate, and the cell voltage will be lower than the other cell voltages. This is not imbalance, although it might look like it is. This cannot be fixed by rebalancing. Consider the cell defective. This is not covered by warranty.
The battery has a defective battery cell.
A cell can become defective after a very deep discharge, when it is at the end of its cycle life or because of a manufacturing fault. A defective cell is not unbalance (although it might look like it is). It cannot be fixed by rebalancing. Consider the cell defective. Very deep discharge and end of cycle life are not covered by warranty.
Calculation example of time required to restore a heavily imbalanced battery:
For this example, imagine a 12.8V, 200Ah battery with one heavily undercharged (discharged) cell.
A 12.8V battery contains 4 cells, each is 3.2V. And they are connected in series. Hence, 3.2 x 4 = 12.8V. Just like the battery, each cell has a capacity of 200Ah.
Let's say that the imbalanced cell is only at 50% of its capacity, while the other cells are fully charged. To restore the balance, the rebalancing process will need to add 100Ah to that cell.
The balancing current, which is a given fact, as per the specifications of the battery, is 1.8A. It will take at least 100/1.8 = 55 hours to rebalance the cell.
Balancing only takes place when the charger is in the absorption stage. If a 2-hour lithium charge algorithm is used, the charger will need to be manually restarted 55/2=27 times during the rebalancing process. If the charger is not restarted immediately, the balancing process will be delayed, and this will add to the total balancing time.
Tip
A tip for Victron Energy distributors and professional users: To avoid having to restart the charger continuously, use the following trick. Set the float voltage at 14.2, this will have the same effect as the absorption stage. Also make sure to disable the storage stage, and/or set that to 14.2V as well. Or alternatively set the absorption time to a very long time. What matters is that the charger maintains a continuous 14.2V charge voltage during the rebalancing process. After the battery has been rebalanced, make sure to set the charger back to the normal lithium charge algorithm. Never leave a charger connected like this in a running system. Keeping the battery at such a high voltage will decrease the lifetime of the battery.
Less capacity than expected
If the battery capacity is less than its rated capacity these are the possible reasons for that:
The battery has a cell imbalance, causing premature low voltage alarms, which in turn causes the BMS to turn loads off. Please refer to paragraph “Charge battery before use”.
The battery is old and is near its maximum cycle life. Check how long the system has been in operation, check how many cycles the battery has gone through and to what average depth of discharge the battery has been discharged? A way to find this information is to look at the history of a battery monitor (if available).
The battery bas been discharged too far and one or more cells in the battery are permanently damaged. These bad cells will have a low cell voltage faster than the other cells and this will cause the BMS to turn loads off prematurely. Has the battery perhaps been through a very deep discharge event?
Battery very low terminal voltage
If the battery has been discharged too far, the voltage will fall well below 12V (24V). If the battery has a voltage of less than 10V (20V) or if one of the battery cells has a cell voltage below 2.5V, the battery will have permanent damage. This will invalidate the warranty. The lower the battery or cell voltage is, the bigger the damage to the battery will be.
If the voltage has dropped below 8V, the battery will not communicate via Bluetooth anymore. The Bluetooth module is turned off when the battery terminal voltage drops below 8V or if a cell voltage drops below 2V.
You can try to recover the battery by using the below low voltage recharge procedure. Be aware that this is not a guaranteed process, recovery might be unsuccessful and there is a realistic chance that the battery has permanent cell damage resulting in a moderate to severe capacity loss after the battery has been recovered.
Charge procedure for recovery after low voltage event:
This recovery charge procedure is performed on an individual battery. If the system contains multiple batteries, repeat this procedure for each individual battery.
Warning
This process can be risky. A supervisor must be present at all times.
Set a charger or power supply to 13.8V (27.6V).
In case any of the cell voltages is below 2.0V, charge the battery with 0.1A until the voltage of the lowest cell increases to 2.5V. A supervisor must monitor the battery and stop the charger as soon as the battery is getting hot or is bulging. If this is the case the battery is unrecoverable damaged.
Once the voltage of the lowest cell has increased above 2.5V, increase the charge current to 0.1C. For a 100Ah battery this is a charge current of 10A.
Connect the battery to a BMS and ensure that the BMS has control over the battery charger.
Make note of the initial battery terminal voltage and battery cell voltages.
Start the charger.
The BMS might turn the charger off, then on again for a short time and then off again. This can occur many times over and is normal behaviour in case there is a significant cell imbalance.
Make note of the voltages at regular intervals.
The cell voltages should increase during the first part of the charge process. If the voltage of any of the cells does not increase in the first half hour, consider the battery as unrecoverable and abort the charge procedure.
Check the battery temperature at regular intervals. If you see a sharp increase of temperature, consider the battery as unrecoverable and abort the charge procedure.
Once the battery has reached 13.8V (27.6) increase the charge voltage to 14.2V (28.4V) and increase the charge current to 0.5C. For a 100Ah battery this is a charge current of 50A.
The cell voltages will increase more slowly, this is normal during the middle part of the charge process.
Leave the charger connected for 6 hours.
Check the cell voltages, they should all be within 0.1V of each other. If one or more cells has a much bigger voltage difference, consider the battery as damaged.
Let the battery rest for a few hours.
Check the voltage of the battery. It should comfortably sit above 12.8V (25.6V) like 13.2V (26.4V) or higher. And the cell voltages should still be within 0.1V of each other.
Let the battery rest for 24 hours.
Measure the voltages again. If the battery voltage is below 12.8V (25.6V) or if there is a noticeable cell imbalance, the battery is unrecoverable damaged.
Battery is close to end of cycle life or has been misused
As a battery ages, its capacity will reduce and eventually one or more battery cells will become faulty. Battery age is related to how many charge/discharge cycles the battery has been through.
The battery can also have a reduced capacity or faulty cells if the battery has been misused, for example when the battery was discharged too far.
To determine what could have caused a battery issue, start by checking the battery history by looking at the history of a battery monitor or a Lynx Smart BMS.
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VictronConnect battery history
To check if the battery is close to its cycle life:
Find out how many charge/discharge cycles the battery has been subjected to. Battery lifetime is related to the number of cycles.
How deep has the battery been discharged on average? The battery will last for less cycles if deeply discharged, compared to more cycles if discharged less deep.
For more info on the life cycle see chapter Technical data.
To check if the battery has been misused:
Is the BMS connected and functional? Not using the battery with a Victron Energy approved BMS voids the warranty.
Is there mechanical damage to the battery, its terminals or the BMS cables? Mechanical damage voids the warranty.
Has the battery been mounted upright? The battery can only be used in an upright position.
Check the “allowed to charge minimum temperature” setting in VictronConnect? Also check if the battery temperature offset has not been set to an unrealistic value. Charging the battery below 5°C voids the warranty.
Is the battery wet? The battery is not waterproof and is not suitable for outdoor use.
Is there an indication that the battery has been totally discharged? Look at the battery monitor settings or VRM. Inspect the deepest discharge, minimum battery voltage and number of full discharges in the battery monitor. Total and very deep discharge voids the warranty.
Is there an indication the battery has been charged with a too high voltage? Check the maximum battery voltage and the high voltage alarms in the battery monitor.
How many synchronisations were there? Each time the battery is fully charged, the battery monitor will synchronise. This can be used to check if the battery is receiving a regular full charge.
What was the time since last full charge? The battery needs to be at least fully charged once a month.
6.1.3. BMS issues
The BMS frequently disables the battery charger
A well-balanced battery does not disable the charger, even when the batteries are fully charged. But when the BMS frequently disables the charger, this is an indication of cell imbalance.
In case of moderate or large cell imbalance it is an expected behaviour that BMS frequently disables the battery charger. This is the mechanism behind this behaviour:
As soon as one cell reaches 3.75V the BMS disables the charger. Whilst the charger is disabled the cell balancing process still continues, moving energy from the highest cell into adjacent cells. The highest cell voltage will drop, and once it has fallen below 3.6V the charger will be enabled again. This cycling typically takes between one and three minutes. The voltage of the highest cell will rise again quickly (this can be in a matter of seconds) after which, the charger will be disabled again, and so forth. This does not indicate a problem with the battery or the cells. It will continue with this behaviour until all cells are fully charged and balanced. This process might take several hours. It depends on the level of imbalance. In case of serious imbalance this process can take up to 12 hours. Balancing will continue throughout this process and balancing even takes place when the charger is disabled. The continued enabling and disabling of the charger can appear strange but rest assured that there is no problem. The BMS is merely protecting the cells from over voltage.
The BMS is prematurely turning chargers off
This could be because of a cell imbalance. One cell in the battery has a cell voltage above 3.75V. Check the cell voltages of all the batteries that are connected to the BMS.
The BMS is prematurely turning loads off
This could be because of a cell imbalance.
If a cell has a cell voltage below the "Allowed to Discharge" setting in the battery the BMS will turn the load off. The "Allowed to Discharge" level can be set between 2.6V and 2.8V. The default is 2.8V.
Check the cell voltages of all the batteries that are connected to the BMS using the VictronConnect app. Also check if all batteries have the same "Allowed to Discharge" settings.
Once the loads have been turned off due to low cell voltage, the cell voltage of all cells needs to be 3.2V or higher before the BMS will turn the loads back on.
The pre-alarm setting is missing in VictronConnect
Pre-alarm is only available if the battery supports it. The current battery models all support it, but older batteries do not have the hardware necessary for the pre-alarm feature.
BMS is displaying alarm while all cell voltages are within range
A possible cause is a loose or damaged BMS cable or connector. Check all BMS cables and their connections.
First rule out that the cell voltages and temperature of all connected batteries are in range. If they are all in range, then follow one of the following procedures.
Also consider that once there has been a cell under voltage alarm, the cell voltage of all cells need to be increased to 3.2V before the battery clears the under voltage alarm.
A way to rule out if a fault is originating from a faulty BMS or from a faulty battery, is to check the BMS using one of the following BMS test procedures:
Single battery and BMS check:
Disconnect both BMS cables from the BMS.
Connect a single BMS extension cable between both BMS cable connectors. The BMS cable should be connected in a loop, as in below diagram. The loop tricks the BMS in thinking that there is a battery connected without any alarms.
If the alarm is still active after the loop has been placed, the BMS is faulty.
If the BMS has cleared the alarm after the loop has been placed the battery is faulty and the BMS is not faulty.
Testing a Lynx Smart BMS by connecting a single BMS extension cable to both BMS cable connections
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Testing a Small BMS by connecting a single BMS extension cable to both BMS cable connections
Multiple batteries and BMS check:
Bypass one of the batteries by disconnecting both its BMS cables
Connect the BMS cables of the neighbouring batteries (or battery and BMS) to each other, effectively bypassing the battery.
Check if the BMS has cleared its alarm.
If the alarm has not been cleared, repeat this for the next battery.
If the alarm is still active after all batteries have been bypassed, the BMS is faulty.
If the BMS cleared its alarm when a particular battery was bypassed, that particular battery is faulty.
Eliminating a BMS error by bypassing a suspect battery
How to test if the BMS is functional
To test if the BMS is functional, disconnect one of the battery BMS cables and see if the BMS will go into alarm mode.
Check BMS functionality by deliberately loosening a BMS cable
6.2. Technical support
For technical support contact the point of purchase. If the point of purchase is unknown, refer to the Victron Energy Support web page.
6.3. Warranty
This product has a 3-year limited warranty. This limited warranty covers defects in materials and workmanship in this product and lasts for three years from the date of original purchase of this product. To claim warranty the customer must return the product together with the receipt of purchase to the point of purchase.
This limited warranty does not cover damage, deterioration or malfunction resulting from alteration, modification, improper or unreasonable use or misuse, neglect, exposure to excess moisture, fire, improper packing, lightning, power surges, or other acts of nature.
This limited warranty does not cover damage, deterioration or malfunction resulting from repairs attempted by anyone unauthorized by Victron Energy to make such repairs.
Non-compliance with the instructions in this manual will render the warranty void.
Victron Energy is not liable for any consequential damages arising from the use of this product. The maximum liability of Victron Energy under this limited warranty shall not exceed the actual purchase price of the product.