[RE-wrenches] [EXTERNAL] Solark-Fortress Com? (was Fortress Battery Heater)

Fri Feb 10 05:15:45 PST 2023

Ray,

I can’t speak to the Fortress product, but Discover will do what they call “dynamic charging” in closed-loop installations. Basically, the BMS will tell the power electronics how to charge the battery, which will lead to a better charging cycle. For example, if the batteries are discharged, and their cell temperature is low, the BMS will push the charging voltage above what the recommended setting would be in an open loop setup.

I saw David Norman give a presentation about this topic at the NABCEP conference last year. It was very insightful.

Here’s a short article about it: https://blog.discoverbattery.com/benefits-of-closed-loop-charging-with-lynk

Thanks,
Will

From: RE-wrenches <re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org> On Behalf Of Ray Walters via RE-wrenches
Sent: Thursday, February 9, 2023 5:35 PM
To: re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org
Cc: Ray Walters <ray at solarray.com>
Subject: [EXTERNAL] [RE-wrenches] Solark-Fortress Com? (was Fortress Battery Heater)

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Hi Chris;

That's not for the eVault.  Other Wrenches have mentioned using a pet heating pad with a 120 vac plug in thermostat.  I'm going to try that, I'll report back to the list what I find.

Secondly, I am having issues figuring out how to do the closed loop coms.  The Fortress instructions contradict themselves on how to even make up the proper CANbus cable, as apparently MODbus is not stable anymore, after the latest Solark firmware upgrades.  I'm about to just apply the KISSbus,  which is to blow off the closed loop com all together, and Keep It Simple S#@$%!, otherwise known as No Coms at all.

I've screwed with Com stuff since the 90s, but usually been disappointed, to downright horrified with the final results.  Somebody explain to me like a 2 year old again, why closed loop is so much better?  Think off grid, where reliability is 10 times more important than squeezing an extra 5% capacity out of the battery.... Notes in the online instructions such as "Failure to properly upgrade the firmware may cause the battery to stop working!",   are not making we want to push ahead with closed loop either.

Ray
On 2/9/2023 11:01 AM, Chris Schaefer via RE-wrenches wrote:
Ray,

I'd suggest reaching out to the Fortress techie's as they just introduced a heater product for their enclosure products. While I don't believe they have a unit specif to the eVault but you should be able to make it work.

Christopher

On Wed, Feb 8, 2023 at 6:43 PM Jerry Shafer via RE-wrenches <re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org<mailto:re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org>> wrote:
Pet heater have worked for me, I air gap a sealed heater box under the battery, thermostat inside the top of the battery.  It's slow and low power but does the trick
Fun times

On Wed, Feb 8, 2023, 3:05 PM Ray Walters via RE-wrenches <re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org<mailto:re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org>> wrote:
Hi All;

I have a fresh Fortress Evault installation with a Solark inverter.  The
batteries are indoors in the center of the house, but the customer is
not there full time, so the battery is unfortunately going below
freezing.  What are the best options for setting up a heating system for
the E Vault?

Here are ideas that I have not tried, but am considering:
1) add a 240 v, 1000 w baseboard heater in the room near the battery
that is wired to only run off the generator.  Run the generator until
the heat comes up, and then hopefully after 30 minutes, the battery
would begin accepting a charge.

2) Add an 120 vac heating blanket under the evault that would be wired
to a thermostat, but also have a relay control from the PV system, so
that the heater would only operate when the sun was out, and the battery
was below 50F.   I don't quite know how to set this up with the Solark's
load controls.

I've considered some DC options, but they don't make much sense, since
the inverter has to be on to charge from PV anyway.

The long term plan is for the client to finish the insulation, and sheet
rock, and add a gas wall heater in there as needed.

Thanks,

Ray Walters
Remote Solar
in the Colorado mountain cold.....

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