I've added a 2nd batttery.....firmware differences

I've dropped on a used 9.5kw gen 2 battery and added it to my current 5kw inverter and 9.5kw gen 2 setup and the firmware versions are different, original is on 3020 but the new one is on 3022, due to past experiences of poor firmware updates and next to zero support while they were actually in business I've not done the firmware updates that are sat waiting on either the inverter or my original battery.

The battery has been on and working without issue but I've noticed my original battery only charges to 97%, when in use the SOC differs slightly but only by about 5%, is this normal? I was expecting them to track pretty evenly

I've watched an old support video and it looks like there is a USB drive inside, in theory if I copy the files off the 3022 stick and put them onto the 3020 stick and it should update???

I don't want the inverter to update, it works as is so I don't want to risk anything by doing the online update

Or

is it just a calibration issue? if so what do I need to do to force a calibration?

I have Givtcp on homeassistant and seen the switch within MQTT but not tried it, if I login via the givcloud and go into the inverter controls I can see something about 'schedule a calibration' but no detail on what or how it does it.

When I first plugged the battery in I dumped both batteries to the grid overnight and run them both to 4%, they've been charging steadily and today they've reached full charge but my original stopped at 97%

Just to add the original battery is set as master with 3020 FW and the new one is slave with 3022.
it only had 161 cycles.

Any thought?

I'd say it looks pretty good, there is usually I think a bit of a SoC difference between batteries, but Pack voltage should be similar.

I always thought the primary would change first, and when it did it stopped all the others charging, but maybe it's when any reach 100%.

I think the R means its a refurb/replacement battery, in the same way as my inverter is redated and reset to zero under a Year 25, week 46 code when the dongle still has its old y23w27 code.

I did a fare bit of reading last night and digging around, also stumbled across the firmware files on the givenergy support page,
I'll leave them for a while to see if they naturally soft calibrate.
They are well within the 0.5v tolerance I read about even with a 5% difference in SOC after being in use all evening / night.

It wouldn't surprise me if it is a refurb, the guy I met had a givenergy top on and sounded discruntled when I tried to strike up convo about the state of the company, it was collected from near Hull which could be a coincidence with a one of the companys registered addresses, there's been a steady stream of batteries from a this user on ebay, they've all had very minimal damage. My first thought about mine was damaged on install and it's been replaced, the perspex cover has a small chunk out of the bottom corner, doesn't affect it one bit. Paid 1/4 of some of the prices I was seeing last year when I looked into expanding

Andrewz61

Hi, I’ve had seven different gen2 9.5 batteries in my dual inverter system altogether (3 replacements) over 3 years.

I’ve got 2 on each inverter, as I have from install date. I’ve never seen their individual SOC’s match closely; only in passing (in much the same way as a broken clock tells the correct time twice a day 😂). Max divergence is about 13% on the B inverters pair. 10% on the A inverters pair. That primary B battery always leads the charge and discharge. It’s always been like that. I complained on day 1 to GE, they came they looked, they changed things, BMS, positions, cables etc. Confirmed that this battery was ok and worked and had full capacity and all cells good. It’s been in the primary position and secondary position on inverter A and now it’s in the primary position on inverter B. Always the same - SOC differences observed, no change if primary or secondary. Despite 18 month of complaining !

At the moment;
inverter pair A will hit 100%(P)/94%(S) at “full” and inverter pair B will hit 95%(P)/100%(S) at “full”. Or within 1%

When almost empty they may slightly converge if left discharging long enough close to empty ie;
A: 4%(P)/10%(S)
B: 1%(P)/ 9%(S)

If “full” and they discharge a little bit and then charge back to “full” multiple times they may get close to matching (or not).

In between there is more SOC divergence. Like worst case 10-13% on inverter B’s pair. The pair on inverter A were “new” replacements from GivEnergy. Tested in the factory as identical new units and discharged and charged multiple times by them before delivery, as a pair to ensure they worked with an even SOC (so they told me). I spent 18 months on this and never got any of them to completely track a similar SOC. Multiple calibrations; fast, slow, hot, cold, Swap positions, new BMS, new leads, swap leads. Etc etc.

It’s as if they have different SOC mapping but nothing seems to fix it, probably because a calibration run ‘runs’ them as a pair. 🤷🏼‍♂️

I’d just accept it, as long as you can get 9.5kWh in and out of them or close to 19kW as a pair, that’s the best you’ll do. That’s a win. You’ll never get them to match, trust me. You may get lucky if they are a perfect match but my A set started that way and now they aren’t !

Good luck

Oh, and at one stage some were running on different firmware at the same time for a few months as well (accidentally, as an upgrade didn’t do both batteries, but there is no error code to tell the end user that !).

Same thing when on different firmware. Same SOC divergence.

Andrewz61 The battery has been on and working without issue but I've noticed my original battery only charges to 97%, when in use the SOC differs slightly but only by about 5%, is this normal? I was expecting them to track pretty evenly

This is normal and actually I’d consider that small variance as excellent.

wrighar I always thought the primary would change first, and when it did it stopped all the others charging, but maybe it's when any reach 100%.

I think it’s when the global value reaches “100%” ie when “sensor.givtcp_fdxxxxxxxx_soc” reaches 100%. However they calculate that(?) - Because I can see that at 100% and my P and S may be at 99%/94% and charging has stopped.

I'll leave everything alone then as it sounds like mine track better than most, I leave it a few week and compare them again in givtcp and see how things look.

FYI;

(Interestingly the last pic from the “Simple Energy Dashboard” shows what it thinks is the actual battery capacity in kWh - the Primaries are on the RHS and the secondaries are to the left of them.)

just checked my capacities I've got 10.1kwh & 9.3kwh.

They appear to be working as intended, the voltages are with the 0.5V limit so I'm just going to leave them well alone, if it isn't broke don't fix it especially with next to no manufacturer support.

Definitley leaving them alone, thats the first time I've seen this happen!

Yeah, that looks really good to me.

I’d probably do the same, just leave the firmware as is.

How are they looking at the bottom end (when discharging to 4%)?

Oh and what’s the going rate for an extra battery these days if you don’t mind me asking?

This is from last night, had the air con on all night so ran them completely down. The old battery went to 3% and new to 6%.

I gave £1300 for mine with the plug to plug lead and a health report.

Big difference to 12months ago when I considered it but the numbers just didn't add up, it was around £4k + I'd have to get a new installer to take over my system as mine folded a few months after install at whatever cost that would have been just to do the commissioning....as it turns out they are plug and play no installer / commissioning required.

£1300 where was that from? I'm about to pay £1900 with delivery included for a gen 3

Ebay, they keep popping up.

Andrewz61 they're £2500 on eBay atm

There should be some on tonight for £1500 going onto EBay.

Bollocks.

Paid £1884 😫

Does anyone know where I could source a 9.5kw Gen2 wall bracket? My installers left the battery sitting on the floor, when the new battery arrives I'd like to put the gen 2 above it out of the way.

My batteries are like that as the single skin wall behind them isn't strong enough to wall mount them, so you can have the bracket, don't know how we exchange details on here though...

phosco152
Very good of you
www.wirralexpressplumbing.co.uk
My number is on there.
Think this is the safest way of passing details over.