Program every charge source to these settings, including Victron equipment, so charging stays correct if CAN communication is lost:
- Charger type: Lithium (LiFePO4) compatible, CC/CV
- Bulk / absorption voltage: 28.4V
- Absorption time: 15 minutes per battery in the bank (for example, 60 minutes for four batteries)
- Float voltage: 27.0V
- Re-bulk voltage: 26.6V
- Equalization: Disabled
- Temperature compensation: Disabled (0 mV/°C)
- Charge current: 110A per battery maximum continuous; size every charge source, and the total of all sources, to stay within it. The user guide lists 200A as the maximum for short periods; the BMS charge over-current protection acts at 200A after 5 seconds.
- BMS high-voltage cutoff: 29.2V. Never charge above 29.2V, and do not use lead-acid equalization, desulfation or repair modes.
- Charging temperature: 0°C to 55°C (32°F to 131°F) cell temperature; with self-heating, charging is supported from -30°C (-22°F) ambient. Below freezing the heater, powered by the charge source, warms the cells first, so expect a delay before charge current flows; charging resumes when the cells reach 5°C (41°F).
- Alternators: use a DC-DC charger, or an alternator regulator set up for lithium, and follow the alternator manufacturer's guidance.
Victron GX setup:
- Set the DIP switches on every battery (see the user manual).
- Fit the harness plug with the waterproof bung into the Master battery's blue port.
- For a bank, run an RJ45 cable from the Master's black port to Slave 1's blue port, then from Slave 1's black port to Slave 2's blue port, and so on, up to 16 batteries in parallel.
- Plug the harness's grey RJ45 plug into the GX device's BMS-CAN port (Cerbo GX or Ekrano GX). On a Cerbo GX Mk2, use VE.Can 1 or VE.Can 2.
- If you use a VE.Can port, open Settings > Services > VE.Can on the GX device and set the port speed to 500 kbit/s.
- Switch on the batteries.
- On the GX device, turn on DVCC, set the controlling BMS to Epoch and set the battery monitor to Epoch.
- Check that the Epoch battery appears in the device list, that the number of modules online equals the number of batteries installed, and that the installed capacity (Ah) equals the bank capacity, for example 920Ah for four batteries.
- While charging (not while inverting), the inverter tile shows External control. Under DVCC the system charges to 28.4V, holds absorption for at least about 15 minutes per battery, then floats at 27.0V.
- Manually program the MultiPlus, Quattro and every other charge source to the settings above as a fallback.