[RE-wrenches] Fortress

[Eric Smiley]

The BMS in the eVault Classic has been a headache.
Fortunately, we were able to convince Fortress to let us proactively
replace the BMS in some of our systems - especially the remote off-grid
systems. We are still having problems with weird SOC readings on many of
the batteries. Apparently the SOC reading can get stuck at 100% and
Fortress is aware of the bug. It is frustrating because the owners rely on
the SOC reading rather than voltage.
This experience did convince me that Li-Ion in off-grid applications is not
a reliable solution unless there are multiple independent batteries with
their own BMS. The battery itself may be robust (how long have these
actually been in the field in real-world applications) but the BMS is a
complicated piece of electronics on which the entire system is dependent.
Li-Ion violates the KISS principle. So we talk our off-grid clients out of
using Li-Ion.
IMHO relying on firmware and circuit boards to keep your system running and
protect it from catastrophic failure is not sustainable.

*Eric Smiley,* Design Manager

eric at vecoop.ca
T: 250.703.6004 <+12507036004>
T: 888.386.0116 <+18883860116>
*VIRIDIANENERGY.CA <https://viridianenergy.ca/>*

* <https://viridianenergy.ca/>*


On Wed, 14 Feb 2024 at 06:47, Peter Giroux via RE-wrenches <
re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:

> Good morning my fellow wrenchers. While I see the comments on SunPower and
> the challenges, are any of you having similar issues with Fortress? Their
> bms boards from the early classics have not held up and even after
> replacement there are still issues ( parallel batteries and stand alone not
> showing accurate #’s,  ). While support has been, well supportive, the
> issues persist. Any thoughts or fixes you have come up with?? I just had a
> customer unplug the coms cable from their sol-ark and bring their readings
> to volts VS %% and it is starting to work a bit better. Any and all help or
> ideas appreciated.
>
>
>
> Thx
> peter Giroux
>
> American Solar
>
> Norcross Ga
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