Victron ESS: New Features to Know

[@michaelmurray9940]

Thanks for the detailed explanation, nice to know how that side of the energy system works in Australia.

[@TheOffGridShop]

Thank you for the feedback. We will have more coming up about this content soon.

[@andyhodchild8]

Love your commitment to the bigger picture. I export 80% of my energy from my 11kWp on premises and ok I am on deemed 50% export payments from FIT scheme but I like to think I am green powering my neighbours.

[@TheOffGridShop]

Thank you. Yes, you would be green-powering your neighbors and you are lucky enough to be rewarded for that. Good choice on getting involved.

[@papabear8191]

Thank you very much for this overview ! Currently I have an issue with ESS. I have tried mode "keep battery charged" as well as Optimized with BatterySafe. Unfortunately, as soon as battery get charged by the DC string/mppt, my mppt stops producing, and stop feeding-in to grid, which drastically reduce my production. I have also an AC-coupled system that continue production and sends it to the grid, the DVCC is mostly based on my pylontech bms. WOuld love to hear if you have been able to properly setup grid feed-in with DC string when battery is full. Thank you in advance for your help

[@TheOffGridShop]

So you have feed excess DC to grid turned on? And depending where you are you might be require to change your country code.

[@sharetheadventure1]

What country code would you yous for NSW for feed in to work??@@TheOffGridShop

[@308parker]

Being in central Queensland, I don't think I can access the wholesale market. Still a regulated market here

[@jameswestcott4191]

What are the benefits of ESS over off grid with the grid connected to AC In just to top up the batteries?

[@TheOffGridShop]

Lots and lots, Mate. ESS has a lot of smarts around the price of energy, which is the best way to think about it. Charge and discharge at certain times, and so on.

[@jameswestcott4191]

thanks@@TheOffGridShop for the info. I've got mine set up as ESS so I know the feature set. What I don't know is what features I'll lose in off-grid mode. I have no interest in selling back to the grid, I just need the occasional top up. If I would lose scheduled charging it sounds like it's best to leave it in ESS mode and disable feed-in.

[@jl9678]

Thanks for making this video. I'm looking at a victron ess system and I have one question: if I have the pv inverter on the input side of the inverter. Ie in parallel, is the victron system smart enough to know when I'm exporting and start charging the battery then? Second question- say I'm grid tied and I have solar exporting 5kw to grid and powering loads of 5kw. If solar drops to say one kw can the victim be setup to pull the difference from battery instead of grid? My current inverter will pull the difference from the grid always if I'm connected to the grid. Thanks

[@TheOffGridShop]

Thank you for the feed back. Yes and yes and all you require is an energy metre. In your system. So have grid Energy metre. PV inveter. Victron inverter loads. And that will all just work.

[@jl9678]

Thanks! Can you make a video on the "other" grid code? I'm in the USA and we didn't have a grid code here but I'm told we can use "other" except I haven't found the settings anywhere. Thanks!

[@TheOffGridShop]

What are you wanting to do?

[@jl9678]

I currently have an sma sunny island system. It feeds the critical loads panel only. It doesn't feed the main panel loads. I'm hoping that with victron ess I can feed the critical loads panel but also send power back through the grid input to support the main panel loads day and night via battery.

[@jl9678]

Also do I even need a grid code if the pv inverter is on the input side of the victron?

[@petethebeat48]

Hi, Couple of questions. 1, What software version brings the “self consumption from battery” feature to the ess? I’m running V2.89 firmware but it’s not included. 2, you said at the start that you’d talk about what countries the “Dynamic ess” feature was available in. I live in the UK and would really like this feature, as I’m with Octopus for my energy supply and am on the “agile “ tariff. It’s a right pain to remember to check the following days half hour prices as they are only available after 4pm. If there was an automatic feature for victron you could set to purchase energy at set prices (when it dropped to 5p or when it went negative) it would be fantastic. Currently octopus only interacts with one battery storage system to do this, but it’s not victron. Thanks.

[@TheOffGridShop]

You will want to update your firmware to get access to the features.

[@JillFox-rv4rf]

I'm constantly confused about Quattro settings vs Cerbo settings. I used VE Bus System Configurator to set up my (2) split-phase Quattros. I have a non-communicating (older Enphase) PV inverter, so I have an AC Current Sensor on the VE Bus, a Smart Shunt and a Cerbo, (and lots of LIFePO4 batteries and some DC solar panels). So I thought I needed to set up my Quattros initially for split-phase and the current sensor. I want ESS, so I installed the ESS Assistant as well. Was that wrong? Should I manage ESS with my Venus OS through the Cerbo, and uninstall the ESS Assistant in my Quattros? I notice that in the ESS Assistant, there is Dynamic Cut Off for the batteries, but I don't see Dynamic Cut Off in ESS in the Remote Console. Is Dynamic Cut Off now obsolete somehow, or deemed superfluous or unnecessary? Or is it recommended to run the ESS Assistant AND the ESS in Remote Console?

[@TheOffGridShop]

Very good questions. I think about it like this and hope this helps. The settings in your Quattro are hard settings. More designed around your batteries and if the Cerbo loses communication it reverts back to those. And if your charging from the grid or a generator it will use those settings. And you need to put Ess in the Quattro so it knows it's hybrid inverter not off grid. All the ess stuff is fluffy and user specific and can be changed with out needing special tools or education. As an example my kids could touch my screen and change stuff and it might keep my batteries full or run them flat. It's not going to damage anything from changing Cerbo settings.

[@TheOffGridShop]

And as for the Dynamic cut off most lithium batteries can be set for the same voltage. This was more for lead acid type batteries and as the laid got bigger and the battery got lower you can protect it by sending it back to the grid to support the load and protect the batteries..

[@JillFox-rv4rf]

@@TheOffGridShop Thank you - that is a helpful way of understanding both of these features.

[@TheOffGridShop]

Glad we could be of service. Thank you

[@greglipschitz]

Awesome feature. How do you feed the data from Amber in to the Victron so that you can trigger the Dynamic ESS in a smart way? I currently use Home Assistant to pull in my Amber feed via API. What I would like to do it have some automation rules to then trigger the Victron Dynamic ESS to change modes based on where the grid, the battery and the market is at. Have you played with that yet?

[@TheOffGridShop]

We are working with www.getlocalvolts.com right now with their API. Also Victron themselves have one and not ready for Australia yet.

[@greglipschitz]

@@TheOffGridShop not available in VIC for now. Might have to do some tinkering to see what I can come up with for Amber

[@TheOffGridShop]

Yeah I know it's not good. Keep asking me here or let us know. If you want to send and email to [e-mail] I can introduce you Bronson who is playing around with it for us.

[@petersmet2334]

Hi I would like to now if you now the brand Mastervolt we at Belgium are more favorable of that brand and a very good service after a problem and also cheaper that victron .

[@TheOffGridShop]

I have heard good things about it. We also use Noark in Australia which is a great brand.