Disparity between Concorde control panel and Mastervolt - help please

Southdowners

Southdowners

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We are experiencing a problem - can anyone help please?

We have a Concorde Charisma motorhome which has a Concorde control panel and a Mastervolt monitoring system. We have three leisure batteries.

We have found there is a total disparity between the information being displayed on each control panel. At the time of writing the Mastervolt is telling us that the state of charge is 0% with battery at 14.53 volts. The Concorde controller, however, is indicating a fully charged battery at 14.7 volts.

On three occasions the Mastervolt has shown a reading first thing in the morning of 100% state of charge. Then after a 100 mile journey, the state of charge reduced down to 70-80% and continued to discharge despite maximum solar input. On two occasions the Mastervolt has tripped an alarm and on one occasion tripped the power overload.

We are on shore power with inverter switched off and have wracked our brains to think if we have anything running to discharge the batteries as the Mastervolt appears to indicate we are running them down.

Depending on which of our monitoring system we look at, we either have 100% charge or 0%.... confused of Germany! :sick:

Any thoughts please?
 
At 14.something volts it’s not likely that your batteries are empty. It seems not all amps in or out are running through your shunt, so the mastervolt doesn’t see everything that’s going on. I’m not sure about the other panel. Many of the original panels doesn’t have a shunt and only projects system voltage as a measure of capacity. It’s a very inaccurate measure, but it’s common.

Look through your install and look for wires connected directly to the battery which should have been connected on the outside of the shunt. :)
 
Thanks for your reply.

It does seem that the two systems are out of kilter with each other. We’ve travelled about 100 Miles each day and the sun has been shining for the whole week other than a day when it rained. Everything points to the batteries being full, including the Concorde system panel. We haven’t had anything on to drain the power to account for the alarm shutting the whole electrical system down.

It’s a factory fitted system so we don’t want to get into the wiring as it may well invalidate the warranty.

We were hoping someone else may have had a similar experience and it was a simple fix... ever the optimist!!! :D
 
You don’t have to get into the wiring, just look at the battery poles to see if anything is connected :) And take a picture of the poles and shunt and share it here?
 
Excuse ignorance here... what’s a shunt?

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It's a big copper resistor with an 8mm nut at each end to connect the wires.

Broken Link Removed
 
Southdowners said:
Excuse ignorance here... what’s a shunt?
Click to expand...
61D28833-7F17-491C-A404-A753058D8B2C.jpeg

Shunt is the device connected to the negative, black battery cable. No loads should be connected directly at the pole.
 
Just had a look and everything looks to be in order. No wire loose or detached. We don’t have a shunt as shown in the link but all wires are where they should be.

Will try to upload images below.

Edit: I seem to have uploaded the same photo twice... duh!

The photo shows part of the system... i’ll Try and upload the other parts but the internet is very slow.
 
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Thanks. And pic of the batteries?

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Just a thought from a non techie, is it possibly something lost in translation

When fully charged (14+ V) the state of charge might just be how much charge it is giving / getting, so increasing the lower the voltage, rather than actually meaning a % of charge left, it is charge being given maybe

hope that hasn't hindered more than helped, but I know what I mean even if my words don't make a lot of sense :)(y)
 
DavidG58 said:
Just a thought from a non techie, is it possibly something lost in translation

When fully charged (14+ V) the state of charge might just be how much charge it is giving / getting, so increasing the lower the voltage, rather than actually meaning a % of charge left, it is charge being given maybe

hope that hasn't hindered more than helped, but I know what I mean even if my words don't make a lot of sense :)(y)
Click to expand...
Charge being given is normally not in percentage. Rather amps or watts.
 
I'm no expert with Mastervolt I'm afraid, but I know a man who is. The man you need to speak with is @sallylillian he has a lot of experience and knowledge and has helped a few funsters out with regard to the system

One thing for what its worth, most control panels have calibration adjustment. I think the Concorde panel is the same manufacturer as my Morelo so may be a case that it needs set to the required setting to match that of the Mastervolt. There was also the Iveco smart alternator issue which was causing issues....anyway I will leave to the experts.
 
stewartwebr said:
I'm no expert with Mastervolt I'm afraid, but I know a man who is. The man you need to speak with is @sallylillian he has a lot of experience and knowledge and has helped a few funsters out with regard to the system

One thing for what its worth, most control panels have calibration adjustment. I think the Concorde panel is the same manufacturer as my Morelo so may be a case that it needs set to the required setting to match that of the Mastervolt. There was also the Iveco smart alternator issue which was causing issues....anyway I will leave to the experts.
Click to expand...
Thanks for your confidence Stewart, my experience has been over the last 10 years with Victron. Like you my new Morelo comes with Mastervolt so a learning curve is imminent.
On the points raised the differential in the voltage reading, it is adjustable on the control panel, I believe it's CBE special build, like my N+B. As has been said get a good multimeter and check at the battery, then adjust the CP to match. The difference and problem you describe with the Mastervolt system is difficult for me as I have no working knowledge. But if the SoC is going to 0 when blatantly the batteries have charge clearly something is wrong. One thing is there a sync SoC option, one would perform this when the batteries are fully charged. Has this been an ongoing issue or recent.

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Thanks for your responses.

I will pass the info given to my husband who has a better understanding than me of the system

In answer to whether it is ongoing or recent... we had a trip away of 10 days when we first got the vehicle - no issues then. We had several days away this trip when one evening the Mastervolt display went red and emitted an alarm - within moments everything went off. We weren’t using anything other than the tv and it had been sunny for days. It’s as if the :astervolt thinks the batteries are low and is protecting them.
 
Well the Votronic solar controller thinks that the batteries are charged which is why the AES light is on.

Martin
 
Mastershunt instructions,



Martin

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Sorry folks, getting my Victron and Mastervolt mixed up. I had Victron in the N&B which Michael currently has and I now have Mastervolt in the Morelo

Never mind Michael I'm sure you will soon be the Subject Matter Expert on Mastervolt as well.
 
Had similar this morning in that our mastervolt batteries alarm came on showing 10.4 and a draw on them, and panel wouldn’t stay on. This was after spending night in Poole port for our ferry so didn’t board but we were lucky enough to stumble on;
Fischer panda at Ringwood
The most efficient obliging courteous firm I’ve dealt with and fitted two new batteries. Back in port with everything off hoping all will be okay in morning for ferry.
Not sure how old batteries were and night before had only odd light on so think it could be lack of use over winter, when not on permanent charge and not something draining them.
Will add firm to reviews when I figure out how to.
 
How can they make something so simple so complex.

All it is is a battery.
One or two chargers for battery.
A load of lights and gadgets running off battery.

And what the pictures show is more like a thermonuclear detonator.
 
Urs4_2008 said:
Multimeter to measure battery capacity?
Click to expand...

The op referred to battery voltage difference between two source meters.

Southdowners said:
At the time of writing the Mastervolt is telling us that the state of charge is 0% with battery at 14.53 volts. The Concorde controller, however, is indicating a fully charged battery at 14.7 volts.
Click to expand...

A multimeter will show the true battery voltage....or as close as accuracy of the multimeter will allow.
Battery capacity can only be shown as a percentage of battery voltage....ie: ...12.2v = 50% capacity.......11.9v = 0% capacity
 
@Southdowners have you resolved this problem I would be interested in where the mastervolt system is confused?

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