Trophy Batteries and Victron

[Horsefly]

I'm looking at Trophy batteries for a friend as part of an all-Victron system. His cabin (a half mile or so from mine) is at almost 9000 ft elevation, so winter cold is a concern. Trophy seems to be the only one of the new generation of 48V LiFePO4 batteries with a built in heater.

The Trophy documents seem to indicate that the batteries will communicate via CAN to the VE.CAN on the Cerbo GX. Has anyone successfully implemented Trophy with Victron and connected them via CAN?

 

[houseofancients]

I'm looking at Trophy batteries for a friend as part of an all-Victron system. His cabin (a half mile or so from mine) is at almost 9000 ft elevation, so winter cold is a concern. Trophy seems to be the only one of the new generation of 48V LiFePO4 batteries with a built in heater.

The Trophy documents seem to indicate that the batteries will communicate via CAN to the VE.CAN on the Cerbo GX. Has anyone successfully implemented Trophy with Victron and connected them via CAN?

Depending on the version of the trophy , they contain a seplos BMS..
Andy ( off-grid garage) did a whole series on seplos and Victron, the good, the bad and the ugly.

Not sure what BMS is in the newer trophy's

Hope it helps

 

[Tomthumb62]

at almost 9000 ft elevation

How cold does it get there? Coldest recorded ever?

People often equate higher elevation with colder temps. But depending upon location, it might not be as extreme as you might think.

 

[Horsefly]

How cold does it get there? Coldest recorded ever?

People often equate higher elevation with colder temps. But depending upon location, it might not be as extreme as you might think.

There are not any recorded temperatures anywhere close to us. When I was designing for the maximum panel Voc I used the coldest recorded at Telluride, which was -36°F. I'm certain that Telluride (about 18 miles away, higher, and in a cold box canyon) would be colder than us, but I wouldn't be surprised if the temp CAN get down between -20°F and -15°F. I've thought of putting my temperature logger outside, but I currently use it to log the temperature in our equipment room where my own LFP batteries are.

 

[Horsefly]

I should add a couple of details: This neighbor wants to put all the equipment and the batteries on the second floor of his very well insulated cabin. I thought he was going to put them in the crawl space (below grade, so probably stays warmer), but the snow melt flooded the crawl space this past spring. He seems to believe that stuff won't freeze due to the passive solar warming the cabin during the day, but I still think warming the batteries to keep them above freezing is a good idea.

 

[mvonw]

I got through a moderately cold winter (some stretches of -18F) last winter with my Trophy batteries. Even though they have heaters, I still have them in a small insulated closet I build for them out of 2x4's and insulation foam. I ran a small 200watt thermostatically controlled heater in the closet and they made it through winter at a steady 72F. These batteries have been fantastic for a year and half. I would not trust the built-in heater in that kind of cold.

 

[Horsefly]

Well, I helped my friend put the 2 Trophy batteries in. We put them in a modified kitchen base cabinet, with 2" XPS foam on all sides. I put in 4 12V 12W silicone heating pads just like I put into my two 24V batteries (discussed here and here). He is very likely to use the cabin during the winter via snowmobile, so we will know soon enough if this plan works.

epending on the version of the trophy , they contain a seplos BMS..
Andy ( off-grid garage) did a whole series on seplos and Victron, the good, the bad and the ugly.

Not sure what BMS is in the newer trophy's

When I spoke to Dan (owner of Trophy, and an incredibly nice guy) he said that the model we got (48V100E-2UL) uses a different BMS now, but I don't remember what type it was. Seems like the BMS name started with a T?

 

[mvonw]

With all the YouTube videos reviewing batteries it's amazing to me that I haven't seen one that evaluates heated batteries in winter, and how they really perform in real world situations. Everyone seems to be living in Texas or Nevada...

 

[Horsefly]

I got some details of the Trophy heating circuits from Dan when I called him. Their approach seems a bit flawed, but better than nothing. What happens is if the battery gets to a freezing level it will cut off charging and turn on the heating pads built into the case. HOWEVER, the heating pads are not self powered. They will only warm up if power is applied to the battery externally, like from solar or an inverter/charger. So if there is no solar (at night or with no generator) the batteries just stay cold.

So even more so, I'm hoping my little thermostatically controlled silicone heating pads keep them warm enough to not get to the point that the built-in circuits get used.

 

[mvonw]

I got some details of the Trophy heating circuits from Dan when I called him. Their approach seems a bit flawed, but better than nothing. What happens is if the battery gets to a freezing level it will cut off charging and turn on the heating pads built into the case. HOWEVER, the heating pads are not self powered. They will only warm up if power is applied to the battery externally, like from solar or an inverter/charger. So if there is no solar (at night or with no generator) the batteries just stay cold.

So even more so, I'm hoping my little thermostatically controlled silicone heating pads keep them warm enough to not get to the point that the built-in circuits get used.

Yes, he told me that too, and I think all the heated batteries work this way (as best I know). It would be nice if you could program it to work either way. This is why i like to see some real world tests. For example, leave a battery out in -30F for a night, then see how long it would take to get the battery up to charging temperature. .

 

[Emeryd]

When I spoke to Dan (owner of Trophy, and an incredibly nice guy) he said that the model we got (48V100E-2UL) uses a different BMS now, but I don't remember what type it was. Seems like the BMS name started with a T?

My recently purchased Trophy 48V100E-2UL reports itself as a Pylontech battery to my Victron system.