11. Troubleshooting and Support
Consult this chapter in case of unexpected behaviour or if you suspect a product fault.
The correct troubleshooting and support process is to first consult the common issues as described in this chapter.
Should this fail to resolve the issue, contact the point of purchase for technical support. If the point of purchase is unknown, refer to the Victron Energy Support webpage.
11.1. Cabling issues
Cables heat up
This can be caused by a wiring or connection issue. Check the following:
Check if all cable connections are tightened with a torque moment of 14Nm.
Check if all fuse connections are tightened with a torque moment of 14Nm.
Check if the surface area of the cable core is large enough for the current through that cable.
Check if all cable lugs have been crimped correctly and are tight enough.
Other cabling issues
For additional information about issues that can arise from bad or incorrect cabling, cable connections or wiring of battery banks refer to the Wiring Unlimited Book.
11.2. Main fuse issues
For additional information about issue that can arise from an incorrect fuse rating or type refer to the Wiring Unlimited Book.
Fuse blows as soon as a new fuse is installed
Check the DC circuit that is attached to the fuse for the following:
Check if there is a short circuit.
Check if there is a malfunctioning load.
Check if the current in the circuit Is not larger than the fuse rating.
11.3. Battery monitor issues
11.3.1. Charge and discharge current are inverted
The charge current should be shown as a positive value. For example: 1.45A.
The discharge current should be shown as a negative value. For example: -1.45A.
If the charge and discharge currents are reversed, the negative power cables on the battery monitor must be swapped.
11.3.2. Incomplete current reading
The negatives of all the loads and the charge sources in the system must be connected to the system minus side of the shunt.
If the negative of a load or a charge source is connected directly to the negative battery terminal or the “battery minus” side on the shunt, their current will not flow through the battery monitor and will be excluded from the overall current reading and the state of charge reading.
The battery monitor will display a higher state of charge than the actual state of charge of the battery.
11.3.3. There is a current reading while no current flows
If there is a current reading while no current is flowing through the battery monitor, perform a zero current calibration while all loads are turned off or set the current threshold.
11.3.4. Incorrect state of charge reading
An incorrect state of charge can be caused by a variety of reasons.
Incorrect battery settings
The following parameter(s) will have an effect on the state of charge calculations if they have been set up incorrectly:
Battery capacity.
Peukert exponent.
Charge efficiency factor.
Incorrect state of charge due to a synchronisation issue:
The state of charge is a calculated value and will need to be reset (synchronised) every now and then.
The synchronisation process is automatic and is performed each time the battery is fully charged. The battery monitor determines that the battery is fully charged when all 3 "charged" conditions have been met. The "charged" conditions are:
Charged voltage (Voltage).
Tail current (% of battery capacity).
Charge detection time (minutes).
A practical example of the conditions that need to be met before a synchronisation will take place:
The battery voltage has to be above 13.8V.
The charge current has to be less than 0.04 x battery capacity (Ah). For a 200Ah battery, this is 0.04 x 200 = 8A.
Both above conditions have to be stable for 3 minutes.
If the battery is not fully charged or if the automatic synchronisation does not happen, the state of charge value will start to drift and will eventually not represent the actual state of charge of the battery.
The following parameter(s) will have an effect on automatic synchronisation if they have been set incorrectly:
Charged voltage.
Tail current.
Charged detection time.
Not occasionally fully charging the battery.
For more information on these parameters see the chapter: "Battery settings".
Incorrect state of charge due to incorrect current reading:
The state of charge is calculated by looking at how much current flows in and out of the battery. If the current reading is incorrect, the state of charge will also be incorrect. See paragraph Incomplete current reading.
11.3.5. State of charge always shows 100%
One reason could be that the negative cables going in and out of the battery monitor have been wired the wrong way around, see Charge and discharge current are inverted.
11.3.6. State of charge does not reach 100%
The battery monitor will automatically synchronise and reset the state of charge to 100% as soon as the battery has been fully charged. In case the battery monitor does not reach a 100% sate of charge, do the following:
Fully charge the battery and check if the battery monitor correctly detects if the battery is fully charged.
If the battery monitor does not detect that the battery has been fully charged you will need to check or adjust the charged voltage, tail current and/or charged time settings. For more information see Automatic synchronisation.
11.3.7. State of charge does not increase fast enough or too fast when charging
This can happen when the battery monitor thinks the battery is bigger or smaller than in reality. Check if the battery capacity has been set correctly.
11.3.8. State of charge is missing
This means that the battery monitor is in an unsynchronised state. This can occur when the battery monitor has just been installed or after it has been unpowered for some time and is being powered up again.
To fix this, fully charge the battery. Once the battery is close to a full charge, the battery monitor should synchronise automatically. If that doesn't work, review the synchronisation settings.
11.3.9. Synchronisation issues
If the battery monitor does not synchronise automatically, one possibility could be that the battery never reaches a fully charged state. Fully charge the battery and see if the state of charge eventually indicates 100%.
Another possibility is that the charged voltage setting should be lowered and/or the tail current setting should be increased.
It is also possible that the battery monitor synchronises too early. This can happen in solar systems or in systems that have fluctuating charge currents. If this is the case change the following settings:
Increase the “charged voltage" to slightly below the absorption charge voltage. For example: 14.2V in case of 14.4V absorption voltage (for a 12V battery).
Increase the “charged detection time” and/or decrease the "tail current" to prevent an early reset due to passing clouds.
11.4. GX device issues
This chapter only describes the most common issues. If this chapter does not solve your issue, consult the manual of the GX device.
Incorrect CAN-bus profile selected
Check that VE.Can is set to use the correct CAN-bus profile. Navigate to settings/services/VE.Can port and check if it is set to "VE.Can and Lynx Smart BMS 250kb.
RJ45 terminator or cable issue
VE.Can devices connect in "daisy chain" to each other and a RJ45 terminator needs to be used with the first and last device in the chain.
When connecting VE.Can device always use "manufactured" RJ45 UTP cables. Do not manufacture these cables yourself. Many communication and other seemingly unrelated product issues are caused by faulty home made cables.