Fitted New 9.5kWh Gen 3 battery, but now 2 of 3 bats not working

We've had a GivEnergy AC-coupled system installed for the best part of almost two years, initially with just a 5.2kwh battery and then later with a second 5.2kwh. This has worked almost without fault since then.

This week we decided to add an extra 9.2kwh Gen 3 battery to the system (this is now supposed to be the primary battery), but after calibration had finished we've noticed a couple of problems. The first is that one of our 5.2kWh batteries has stayed stuck at 0% charge and never filled back up again. The system doesn't seem to fully recognise this as when the overall system reads 100% charged, that one battery is still stuck at 0%.

The second problem is that, while the new 9.5kwh battery ran through its discharge and recharge calibration and is now at 98%, the givenergy system doesn't seem to take power from that one either. So it's basically only using one of the three batteries (5.2kwh) and ignoring the other two. I've tried restarting the inverter, but it didn't help, and have asked the installer to investigate. Any ideas? The installer updated the firmware just before arriving, so I was a bit worried that might muck things up.

WinterMJ couple of things.
The new Gen 3 must be set as the master with its dip Switches.
Likewise the other packs need to be set to slave 1 and 2 (one of them will have presumably been master before)

Also make sure all 3 batteries have latest firmware. I think the older packs don't talk to the new style batteries if they are below a certain FW.

Finally the batteries need to be within 0.5V of each other for them to 'pair' as such. If they weren't then they will sit idle - so you will now have to play a game of see saw by trying to get the pack that is working up/down to voltage of the next nearest by charging /discharging. Then try again to pick up the third.

I'd turn everything off (inverter and all batteries) wait a few hours and then turn everything back on and try another calibration as a start (you can start these yourself from the portal) as that will run the packs through the entire voltage range so should in theory pick them up on the way.

WinterMJ Could also be a dodgy 2-core data connection between one or more batteries and/or the inverter, as well as the DIP switches as hoggy mentioned.

Sounds like you need to get the installer back to check all of the above...

It looks like the installer set them up that way hoggy, with the newer Gen 3 being the master and the older/smaller Gen 2s as slave 1/2. The firmware is listed as "4009 | 3022", so I think that should be fine.

On voltage. The new Gen 3 is at 53.4v (98% charged), while the empty (0%) slave 1 is on 46v (possibly because it has no charge in it) and slave 2 is at 53.7v (70% charged - the only one this system seems to use right now). Mind you, if I look at historic data for slave 1, it has been at 46v for a while and was working fine until now.

I'm not sure how to safely turn everything off and on. I also don't fancy wasting money on another calibration if I end up with the same problem, so I'll wait to see if the installer responds (kind of wish I didn't pay them so promptly now hehe).

WinterMJ
Just a small point but the latest release for Gen 3 batteries is 4010..I had to load that as well as 3022 for my two Gen 1 batteries

How do I tell the system to pull 4010, as nothing shows under the Inverter's "Software" section for production releases?

WinterMJ The f/w won't make any difference. The batteries need to be within 0.5V of each other.

Really the installer should have asked you to have the batteries at 40% charge before he came.

46V isn't "fine" for the battery I'm afraid - its pretty much flat at this point or one of the cells is faulty. The only way you're going to get the other batteries down to that level is via a calibration, hence @hoggy 's suggestion.

I wouldn't mind so much, but the system isn't even using the new and otherwise assumed to be healthy 9.5kWh pack, only one of the older but healthy 5.2kWh ones - not enough capacity for me.

It seems like if a calibration is needed, I can't execute it myself, so needs to be installer or GivEnergy. So far as I can tell. Both are aware, so we'll see what happens.

WinterMJ Why not - the portal has the option? Inverter->Remote Control and hunt about.

GivEnergy appear to have got the 9.5kWh battery synced with the 5.2kWh and so both are now working properly. The remaining problem is that the second 5.2kWh with the low voltage has now shut down (doesn't even show in the app). I may try to restart it tomorrow when there's some sun, but I suspect it might need a manual action to force a charge in order to bring it back to life. Still not had any direct communication from GivEnergy, so am a bit hesitant to try anything before they respond.

WinterMJ That probably requires a DC direct charge by an installer or a GivEnergy field engineer and will likely involve taking the cover off and charging the cells directly.

They did run another calibration yesterday, which has charged all three batteries, although it's naturally taking a bit of time to get all the voltages in sync.

Calibration finished just an hour ago, although I think they're still running a routine on it because the inverter is trickle charging still when it should now be "functioning as normal" and discharging to the house. Still no reply from GivEnergy to my support request. The lack of comms really is annoying.

Just to say that this one seems to have been resolved since the weekend. After a lot of extra balancing, all three batteries now working happy together. I can see somebody at GivEnergy worked quite a bit on it. Only downside is the total lack of direct communication.

When I had a new Gen3 battery added to two Gen1 (all same size) and after the G3 was made master (i.e. connected to inverter first then the others "piggy-backed"...I had to do two total calibrations to get it all working very closely. I have also read that it is good to occasionally let all batteries get to their min (4%?) before charging again - apparently it lengthens their life and allows them to stay closeish...