Felicity IVEM5048 BMS and WiFi conflict

[Hexados]

Hello again everyone,

I hope you're all doing well.

I have a client for whom I've installed a Felicity IVEM5048 and coupled it with a Felicity 48V170Ah, LPBA48 8.7 KWH battery. Everything from configuration settings to priority, etc., are all good and I've personally tested them out. There is one problem, however, that is very peculiar and can't help but think that it is firmware related.

You see, when I plugged in the BMS, it showed me that everything is connected and is able to read the battery accordingly (I was seeing the percentage on the Inverter's screen, as well as that tiny "C" letter next to the battery indicating that the Inverter is successfully communicating with the battery in question). Note that due to some of the manuals that I've read, and to avoid all possible conflicts, I've set the address on the battery to "0100" (in reverse, so 0010, meaning "2" in binary). So far, so good. Then, I went about to configure the WiFi dongle to the client, and came across a very strange bug. The WiFi dongle just refused to communicate with the inverter. The application on which I was testing this out was SmartESS. I made sure that the configuration was correct, and noticed that the "Net" and "SRV" lights were lit, indicating communication with the server, and that internet connection was OK. The "COM" light, however, was acting crazy. In the first 5 minutes or so, it would act just fine, but then it would turn off. All communication between the dongle and inverter is cut off for some reason. After a couple of hours of trial and error, I decided that maybe the cable is faulty, and decided to try out a new dongle and cable (RJ45 to RS485). The WiFi dongle is a WiFi Plug Pro Rev 03. I got another one, but reacted the same way (and don't worry, I know better than to blindly link those things to accounts without making sure that they are working properly). I tried with a WiFi Plug Pro Rev 05 just in case, despite knowing that their pinouts are different, but the dongle wouldn't even turn on then. So, as I was about to give up, I decided to remove the BMS cable, and convert everything manually to user-defined, with proper Absorption and Floating voltages. Wouldn't you know, the WiFi Dongle suddenly started working! I tested it for a good 30 minutes to make sure, and it was reporting everything as it should at long last. When I connected the BMS cable back in, WiFi dongle became unresponsive again, as in the COM light turned off, and it was as if there was no longer communication between the inverter and dongle.

From what I've noticed, the pins connected on the RJ45 for the WiFi Dongle communication are: 1, 2, 4(or 5, can't remember exactly) and 8.
The RJ45 to RJ45 connector between the Inverter and the battery was your basic IEEE standard cable that followed the color code (on both sides): WO, O, WG, B, WB, G, WBr, Br.

What could the problem be exactly? Do I need to prepare my own cable with only pins 5 and 6 connected so that there are no other conflicts during the BMS communication? Because in another application, I noticed that pins 5 and 6 (and 7 or 3 for GND, again can't remember exactly) are enough for a BMS communication on the battery to any other inverter, so long as the pinouts on the latter are defined (and yes, I've successfully tested this on a Growatt Inverter with Felicity LiFePo4).

Please do let me know what course of action to take, and thank you again.

 

[Quattrohead]

The manual for the inverter does not tell us the pinout of the connector but does say the cable comes with the battery.
I don't think you can use a standard network cable.

 

[Hexados]

The manual for the inverter does not tell us the pinout of the connector but does say the cable comes with the battery.
I don't think you can use a standard network cable.

Strange... that's what the inverter came with. A standard ethernet cable RJ45 to RJ45 with all pinouts 1 though 8, one-to-one matching. And like I said, when I communicated with the battery alone (without the WiFi Dongle plugged into the inverter yet), it worked just fine. This is why I'm perplexed about this.

 

[Hexados]

There is something I didn't mention yesterday that was very important. Given my experience with Felicity batteries when trying to connect them other inverter brands (i.e. Growatt), I've noticed that the pinouts are WRONG. The manual with which the Felicity batteries come are wrong when it comes to pinouts. I've tested many times the pinouts, until I decided to manually what could the matching pins be. In the case of Growatt to Felicity, for example, it was 1 and 2 to 5 and 6 respectively, as opposed to whatever was written in that manual. Considering this, I can at least tell that pins 5 and 6 are most to be used for communication on the battery. But what's causing the inverter's dongle to act out the way it did when I had both BMS and WiFi Dongle connected to the Felicity Inverter? I'm still open to suggestions. Maybe a firmware update is necessary?

 

[Hexados]

Sorry for the bump. Was anyone able to get the pinouts on the inverter itself? I keep checking the pinouts on the Felicity battery, and 5-6 pins are the ones to be used in case of RS485, or 7-8 in case of CAN. This much is established. But I need to know the exact pinout on the inverter itself, as in which pins the RS485 uses, and what the CAN (BMS) uses. I really feel like there is a huge conflict of data between the WiFi dongle and the BMS cable that is causing it to completely disable the communication between the dongle and the inverter itself. The cable that was provided for this communication was the standard IEEE 802.3 (if I'm not mistaken) connection WO-O-WG-B-WB-G-WBr-Br. I feel like this is the main culprit. The thing is that the BMS does technically work, but I feel like it's overriding the data packets of the WiFi dongle, potentially removing the communication between it and the inverter.

 

[Hexados]

I wanted some answers on this particular issue, but it is understandable that sometimes others are also in the dark about many matters.
So, I decided to do my own tests and see what gives exactly, and thankfully, it was a success.
This is happening with SOME Felicity inverters, not all of them, and I can't tell exactly why, but here is my solution to the matter.
So, at the very start, do NOT connect any BMS cables between battery and inverter. Not yet.
If you have only one battery pack, like in my system, then raise make sure that pins 1 and 5 are raised. You'll find those pins right next to the COMM ports of the battery, under "SW". There should be a black rubber cap there. Simply remove it.
Now, when connecting the LiFePo4 to the Inverter, make sure that everything else is turned off so that only the battery is feeding the inverter. No AC input, no PV input, no load output. Just battery.
Next, put it as "USE2" setting and make sure that the voltages do not exceed the maximum allowed voltage for the LiFePo4. I personally put the Bulk charge as 54.4V and the float charge as 53.6V. In some cases, however, it would immediately pick up the float charge, and disregard the bulk charge voltage, in which case I just put both equal to each other at 54.4V. Cut off is 48V.
There is a reason for all of this, and it's to test and see if the WiFi dongle will properly pick up everything. Now, slowly insert the AC input, PV input and finally give a light load on the output. Monitor the activity on the application (SmartESS in this case). If everything is good, then we can go to the next step.
Take any data cable, and ONLY combine pins 5 and 6 from both ends. Do NOT connect any other pins like the standard IEEE 802.3 cables. In other words:
Battery side (pins 5 and 6, RJ45) <--------------------------------------------------> Inverter side (pins 5 and 6, RJ45).
Finally, after connecting the battery and inverter together, go back to Inverter settings and change the battery type to Lithium ("LiB").
Your system should now start picking everything up properly without having the dongle and BMS interfere with each other. I tested this out, a couple of times on the same system, to make sure that the step-by-step procedure is correct, and in both times, the tests were successful. You can now see everything, including battery percentage, consumption, etc., on the SmartESS application.

 

[AlikA]

Thank you for the detailed info.

I have installed the same felicity inverter and Felicity battery. I didn't connect the bms cable, i set the battery type to user and entered the bulk and floating and cutoff values as per the manual of the battery. 57.4/57.4/48 respectively.
On another note, i connected the wifi pro 03 and the configuration was succesful, but i am not being able to see the device inverter when i open the Smartess App, as if it is still offline. Any idea what could be the reason and possible solution?

 

[Mikael Gleerup]

Thank you for the detailed info.

I have installed the same felicity inverter and Felicity battery. I didn't connect the bms cable, i set the battery type to user and entered the bulk and floating and cutoff values as per the manual of the battery. 57.4/57.4/48 respectively.
On another note, i connected the wifi pro 03 and the configuration was succesful, but i am not being able to see the device inverter when i open the Smartess App, as if it is still offline. Any idea what could be the reason and possible solution?

Hello AlikA. I have no battery but face the same problems like you, I have configured the wifi pro 3 with not only SmartESS app but also Felicity webbrower interface, I can only enter data is both when I am connected to the internet. When I switch to the plug nothing happens. It seem tha many has this problem. I see one thing different than the router and that is the plugs security settings. Maybe the error is that phone and/or router security is to tough and reject to comm with the plug? has any one had that in mind and solved the problem by loosen up the security for the plug so it is accepted?

 

[Hexados]

Hello AlikA. I have no battery but face the same problems like you, I have configured the wifi pro 3 with not only SmartESS app but also Felicity webbrower interface, I can only enter data is both when I am connected to the internet. When I switch to the plug nothing happens. It seem tha many has this problem. I see one thing different than the router and that is the plugs security settings. Maybe the error is that phone and/or router security is to tough and reject to comm with the plug? has any one had that in mind and solved the problem by loosen up the security for the plug so it is accepted?

Oh, this thread is still active! Strange that I got no additional notification. Guys, have you tried changing to Felicity specific WiFi Plug Pro? Sometimes, I have noticed that it is the case. Personally it's that or you have to use WiFi Plug Pro Rev 05, instead of 03. There are some incompatibility issues.

 

[jtruono123]

I'm using the wifi pro 5 & get no lights, not power or anything.but the dongle works in my old inverter, applegreen. I had to replace it because the fans stopped working & couldn't get the fans. Wifi works fine on the old one. Actually I have 2 wifi dongles that work on the old one & not on the new one. Going to try removing all other cables & see if that makes a difference.

 

[anschluss]

I gave up using the Felicity provided WiFi Plugs and moved to Solar Assistant. I think for locations like developing countries it is a better suited concept because it keeps storing data even when the internet connection is interrupted, and does not depend on a cloud server for storage. My quibble is that it underreports SOC compared to the LEDs integrated into the battery. And one older Felicity low frequency inverter gives incorrect readings when connected to utility - I will have to ask support about this. But even with the false values, Solar Assistant is working better for me than the Wifi dongles that I simply couldn't get to work with this inverter, whereas as Raspberry Pi and a USB-Serial cable was up and running in a matter of minutes.

 

[jtruono123]

I gave up using the Felicity provided WiFi Plugs and moved to Solar Assistant. I think for locations like developing countries it is a better suited concept because it keeps storing data even when the internet connection is interrupted, and does not depend on a cloud server for storage. My quibble is that it underreports SOC compared to the LEDs integrated into the battery. And one older Felicity low frequency inverter gives incorrect readings when connected to utility - I will have to ask support about this. But even with the false values, Solar Assistant is working better for me than the Wifi dongles that I simply couldn't get to work with this inverter, whereas as Raspberry Pi and a USB-Serial cable was up and running in a matter of minutes.

I guess my only concern is I know nothing about Raspberries. I had the wifi adapters working on other inverters & thought it would be the same plug & play. Guess I was wrong. I found out that vcc is missing on this inverter. I was even thinking of adding it myself from a low power supply I have. I guess I have to learn Raspberry PI. Any place I should start in your opinion?
Thanks

 

[anschluss]

I guess my only concern is I know nothing about Raspberries. I had the wifi adapters working on other inverters & thought it would be the same plug & play. Guess I was wrong. I found out that vcc is missing on this inverter. I was even thinking of adding it myself from a low power supply I have. I guess I have to learn Raspberry PI. Any place I should start in your opinion?
Thanks

One great thing about the Solar Assistant is that you really don't need to know anything about the Raspberry Pi apart from putting it in a case and providing it with power. You simply download the software from their server, copy it to an Micro SD card (e.g. using the free BalenaEtcher application), insert the card into the Raspberry Pi, power it up, connect it via Ethernet and start configuring it via the embedded web page. If you cannot use an Ethernet cable, it is also possible to set up via WLAN which involves a few extra steps. However, you don't need to have any particular experience programming or otherwise tinkering with the device apart from inserting the card. SolarAssistant sell their own USB-Serial cables and warn about non-working "clones". However, an AliExpress product also worked fine daisy chained to the cable that was included with the Wifi Plug.

 

[jtruono123]

Which PI do you like.i see quite a few model's. Does the pi have a serial port? Many things are hard to get in thailand. I can get a pi I know Lazada (like Amazon) has them. Solar Assist has this orange pi. I guess a vanilla pi is best if I ever need support or assistant from the forums. Whats your thoughts?

 

[jtruono123]

One great thing about the Solar Assistant is that you really don't need to know anything about the Raspberry Pi apart from putting it in a case and providing it with power. You simply download the software from their server, copy it to an Micro SD card (e.g. using the free BalenaEtcher application), insert the card into the Raspberry Pi, power it up, connect it via Ethernet and start configuring it via the embedded web page. If you cannot use an Ethernet cable, it is also possible to set up via WLAN which involves a few extra steps. However, you don't need to have any particular experience programming or otherwise tinkering with the device apart from inserting the card. SolarAssistant sell their own USB-Serial cables and warn about non-working "clones". However, an AliExpress product also worked fine daisy chained to the cable that was included with the Wifi Plug.

Just purchased PI 5 & SA. Can't get the wifi 5g to work and SA wasn't very helpful. I was able to get 2.4g working so I'm thinking the data from serial doesn't really need 5Ghz. I'll be trying the inverter today. Fingers crossed
Thanks for the recommendation.
Have a great day

 

[anschluss]

Just purchased PI 5 & SA. Can't get the wifi 5g to work and SA wasn't very helpful. I was able to get 2.4g working so I'm thinking the data from serial doesn't really need 5Ghz. I'll be trying the inverter today. Fingers crossed
Thanks for the recommendation.
Have a great day

Sorry to hear that you didn't get good help from SA. However, I wouldn't worry about the speed of the WLAN. It is not involved in the logging since this the captured data written directly to the storage medium. Unless you are using MQTT to transfer the data to another device, the speed of the network connection is practically irrelevant.