Communication Protocol

Reference Manual
Document ID: NE-RM-005 | Revision: 2.2, 2020-05-06

© 2020 Nuvation Energy

Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1. About this Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2. Units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2. Modbus Protocol Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.1. Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.1.1. Modbus RTU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.1.2. Modbus TCP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.2. Implemented MESA Models. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.2.1. Common Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.2.2. S801 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.2.3. S802 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.2.4. S803 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.2.5. End Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.3. MESA Model Structure and Nomenclature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.3.1. Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.3.2. Fixed/Repeating Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.3.3. Unimplemented Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.3.4. Scale Factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.4. Operational Cases for MESA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.4.1. External Controller Communicating Over MESA Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.4.2. External Nuvation Energy BMS Monitoring Over MESA Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.5. Accessing MESA Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3. CAN Bus Protocol Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
3.1. Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
3.2. CAN Reporting and Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
3.3. Data Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
3.4. Data Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
 Communication Protocol - Reference Manual

1. Introduction
Thank you for choosing Nuvation Energy BMS.

Nuvation Energy BMS is an enterprise-grade battery management system with support for various
external communication protocols like Modbus RTU, Modbus TCP, and CANBus.

Nuvation Energy BMS is conformant with the MESA-Device/Sunspec Energy Storage Model (Draft 3).
MESA (http://mesastandards.org) conformant products share a common communications interface
that exposes all the data and control points required for operating an energy storage system. This
enables Nuvation Energy BMS to be integrated with other MESA-conformant energy storage hardware
or software without the need for custom middleware.

1.1. About this Guide

Nuvation Energy BMS implements two standard communication protocols for battery monitoring and
control - Modbus and CANbus.

This Communication Protocol: Reference Manual provides instructions on how to setup and configure
Nuvation Energy BMS to communicate over Modbus RTU, Modbus TCP, or CANBus.

We thrive on your feedback and what we build is driven by your input. Please submit support
tickets to support@nuvationenergy.com.

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1.2. Units
A standard set of types/units has been adopted for use within Nuvation Energy BMS for the
measurements and configuration settings. Unless otherwise noted, the units used within the firmware
should be assumed as defined below.

Table 1. Standard Types and Units

Type Units Variable Type Application
Address none uint32 BMS register address
Boolean false=0 true=1 uint8 Logic value
Charge mAh int32 Depth of discharge and throughput
Count number uint32 A postive count of some event
Crc16 none uint16 Used to verify persistent data
Current milliamperes int32 Stack and pack currents
Energy Wh uint32 Energy capacity of a stack
Int64 value int64 Signed 64 bit integer
ImpedanceMili mOhms uint32 Resistance of a stack
IpAddress IP uint32 IP4 address for a stack
LogLevel none uint32 Log level applied the BMS firmware
MicroOhms μOhms uint32 Resistance of a cell
Microseconds microseconds uint64 Time measurement or period
Percentage % uint8 Percentage of a full scale value (e.g. SoC)
PowerW W int32 Rated power of a stack
SoftwareId enum uint32 Enumeration for type of Cell Interface
Temperature degrees Celsius int16 Thermistor temperatures
String none char[8] Storage for 8 characters
UInt16 value uint16 Unsigned 16 bit integer
UInt64 value uint64 Unsigned 64 bit integer
Voltage millivolts int32 Cell and stack voltages

Every register within the firmware has an associated type that defines the expected units for that
register.


A negative value for Current and Charge represents a charge direction while a
positive value represents a discharge direction with respect to the cell/stack.

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2. Modbus Protocol Support

2.1. Overview
Nuvation Energy BMS implements the SunSpec battery models defined in the Modular Energy Storage
Architecture (MESA) as the top-level Modbus interface to the product. Specifically the BMS
implements the MESA Draft 3 Storage models (800 Series)

These specifications are available for download at http://mesastandards.org/mesa-device.


MESA Draft 3 is currently implemented on Nuvation Energy BMS. Be sure to
download the correct draft of the standard from the MESA website.

A good introduction to the benefits of the Open MESA standards is summarized here:
http://mesastandards.org/why-mesa.

A system-level summary of all of the MESA standards can be found here: http://mesastandards.org/
mesa-standards.

Nuvation Energy BMS supports both Modbus RTU and Modbus TCP in the following products:

▪ High-Voltage Stack Controller

▪ Low-Voltage Battery Controller
▪ Nuvation Energy Grid Battery Controller

2.1.1. Modbus RTU

This protocol is used in serial communications. The default configuration is as follows:

▪ Baud rate: 38400

▪ Parity: even
▪ Data bits: 8
▪ Stop bits: 1

The Modbus RTU slave address must be set through software configuration. The default slave address
value is 1.


A slave address of zero is used as a broadcast address and should not be used as the
Modbus RTU slave address.

2.1.2. Modbus TCP

This protocol is used for communications over TCP/IP networks. Stack Controller, Battery Controller,
and Grid Battery Controller support a single Modbus TCP connection over port 502 for read and write
access. Additionally, Grid Battery Controller supports as many as 16 read-only Modbus TCP
connections on port 11503.

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2.2. Implemented MESA Models

The MESA standards contain a number of 'models' that can be implemented by vendors to describe a
storage device at various levels of detail. The models implemented by Nuvation Energy BMS are
described in the sections below.

Detailed register maps for all Draft 3 models are found in the document MESA-Energy-Storage-
Information-Models_Draft_3.xlsx found at the Nuvation Energy technical resources located at
https://www.nuvationenergy.com/technical-resources.

2.2.1. Common Model

This model primarily contains information to identify the device (e.g. manufacturer, model, serial
number) as well as the version of software running on the device. A full description of the Common
Model can be found in the SunSpec specification bundle.

2.2.2. S801

This model describes an energy storage device at the highest possible level. State of charge and
overall alarm and warning states are found here. All mandatory points are implemented. The Modbus
address of this model is 40070.

2.2.3. S802

This model describes a battery storage device. At this level, the critical operational information
includes the charge and discharge current limits. All mandatory points are implemented. The Modbus
address of this model is 40094.

2.2.4. S803

This model describes a lithium-ion battery in detail. Voltage, temperature, and current statistics are
available at the pack and stack level within this model. All mandatory and most optional points are
implemented. The Modbus address of this model is 40116.

2.2.5. End Model

This model marks the end of the implemented Modbus address space.

2.3. MESA Model Structure and Nomenclature

This section is a clarification of terms used to describe a MESA model. It is used to understand the
terminology in the spreadsheet presented in the previous section.

2.3.1. Points

All MESA models are a collection of points (i.e. Modbus registers). These points can be one or more
Modbus registers in length. By definition, each Modbus register is 16 bits wide. For points that are
larger than 16 bits, partial read accesses are not allowed. A Modbus read/write error is returned on
such an access.

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2.3.2. Fixed/Repeating Blocks

MESA models are described as collections of Fixed and Repeating blocks of points. A Fixed block is a
set of points that is always defined and never changes in its size. A Repeating block describes a set of
related points (i.e. usually for a string of batteries) of which there could be multiple instances of the
Repeating blocks. The points within a repeating block are the same but these sets of blocks are
concatenated sequentially.

For example in the 803 model, there is a set of repeating blocks that describe data for a particular
stack/string of batteries. Accessing the 803 repeating block corresponds to using a stack/string index
(0, 1, 2, …) to access the desired repeating block.

For a single-stack Nuvation Energy BMS there is only one 803 repeating block. For a multi-stack
Nuvation Energy BMS there are 36 stack/string repeating blocks. If a stack/string is configured in
Nuvation Energy BMS software to be installed, then accessing its 803 repeating block will provide a
valid Modbus response.

For stacks or strings that are not installed, accessing the corresponding repeating block will result in
an unimplemented point response. Repeating blocks are taken into account in the length indicated in
the model header.

2.3.3. Unimplemented Points

Any MESA point that is not implemented by a vendor will generate an unimplemented response. The
response will be a valid Modbus read response but all point data returned will report unimplemented
values. The unimplemented values vary by type as listed in the following table.

Table 2. Unimplemented Point Values

Type Width Unimplemented Value
(bits) (hexadecimal)
signed int 16 0x8000
unsigned int 16 0xFFFF
signed int 32 0x80000000
unsigned int 32 0xFFFFFFFF
enumeration 16 0xFFFF
enumeration 32 0xFFFFFFFF

A write to a writeable MESA point that is unimplemented will generate a Modbus write error.

The MESA implementation on Nuvation Energy BMS has unimplemented points as follows:

Table 3. Unimplemented MESA Points

Model Point Name Description
801 Evt Event status bit field
801 DisChaRate Self Discharge Rate
801 MaxRsvPct Maximum Reserve Percent
801 MinRsvPct Minimum Reserve Percent

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Model Point Name Description

801 ChaSt Charge Status
801 DerAlarmReset Alarm Reset (read is unimplemented)
802 CycleCt Cycle Count
802 WMaxDisChaRte NamePlate Max Discharge Rate
802 SoH State of Health (reported in 803 model per string)
802 BatReqPCSSt PCS State Request
802 BatReqW Battery Power Request
802 SoH_SF State of Health Scale Factor
802 BatReqW_SF Battery Power Request Scale Factor
803 StrEvt2 String Event 2
803 StrConFail String Connection Fail

2.3.4. Scale Factors

All MESA points are integer values (signed or unsigned). To account for different range values beyond
the data size (i.e. greater than 65535 for an unsigned 16 bit value) or some fractional value (i.e.
1.1), some MESA points have scale factors associated with them. The scale factor is another point
within the model which contains a signed integer exponent of base 10 that scales a corresponding
point value. For example a scale factor of 2 would result in multiplying the corresponding point by
100. Likewise a scale factor of -3 would result in a scale factor of 0.001. Refer to the prior MESA Draft
3 spreadsheet for the relationship between MESA points and their scale factors. All scale factors are
fixed for a model and do not change in value.

2.4. Operational Cases for MESA

There are two main operational cases for the control of Nuvation Energy BMS over its MESA interface:

1. An external controller (sometimes called "Energy Storage Controller") is used to coordinate power
control functions of the BMS in conjunction with some other equipment (such as an inverter). This
controller requires periodic and rapid responses of MESA point reads as well as some control over
the operation of the BMS (such as stack connectivity). If there is a loss of communication between
this controller and the BMS, the BMS will disconnect the stack(s) as a safety precaution.
2. An owner/operator of a battery system requires control of the BMS to monitor the activity of the
batteries and track battery usage and its charge/discharge activities. This information can then be
used to characterize the usage of the battery management system and to validate battery
warranties of a vendor.

Read and write Modbus TCP operations can be performed over the standard Modbus port 502 (only a
single connection is supported on this port). In the scenario where the MESA interface must be
accessed by multiple devices, Grid Battery Controller provides a secondary port (11503) for read-only
Modbus TCP operations.

These two operational cases will be discussed in detail in the following sections.

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2.4.1. External Controller Communicating Over MESA Interface

An external controller typically polls Nuvation Energy BMS battery control points at a rate of 2-4Hz.
This controller reads data points required to manage current flow in the system. The following table
summarizes the most important points an external controller may want to read from the BMS.

Table 4. MESA Points Read by an External Controller

Model Block Point Name Address Scale Purpose
Factor
801 Fixed DERHb 40086 No BMS Heartbeat counter incremented every
second
802 Fixed Evt1 40101 No Bit field of all faults/warnings of a BMS
802 Fixed Vol 40105 Yes External DC voltage of the battery system
802 Fixed MaxBatACha 40106 Yes Charge current limit calculated by BMS
802 Fixed MaxBatADischa 40107 Yes Discharge current limit calculated by BMS
803 Fixed BTotDCCur 40127 Yes Total DC current of the battery system

A controller may also want to command Nuvation Energy BMS to perform certain actions, such as
connecting/disconnecting all stacks/strings. The following table provides the different writeable points
in the MESA interface for different control functions:

Table 5. MESA Points Written to by an External Controller

Model Block Point Name Address Purpose
801 Fixed ControllerHb 40087 Heartbeat register for external controller
801 Fixed DERAlarmReset 40088 Clears all latched alarms in the BMS
802 Fixed BSetOperation 40110 Commands Nuvation Energy BMS to
connect/disconnect all stacks/strings

When configured, the heartbeat controller can be used to update the watchdog timer of Nuvation
Energy BMS on single-stack and multi-stack implementations. If the heartbeat point is not updated
within the watchdog timer period, a fault will be generated on the BMS stack(s) and their
corresponding contactors will be opened. The value written to the heartbeat point must increase in
value and roll over to zero when the 16 bit range limit is reached.

The clearing of alarms of Nuvation Energy BMS is accomplished by writing a value of 1 to the
DERAlarmReset point. This point is erroneously identified as read only in the Mesa Draft 3 spreadsheet
referenced earlier. Note that alarm will not be cleared if the alarm condition is still present.

Commanding all stacks/strings of a Nuvation Energy BMS system to connect/disconnect is

accomplished through the BSetOperation point. This point accepts the enumerated values for these
connect/disconnect operations. Additional connection logic (such as separate pre-charge circuitry) is
managed automatically by the BMS when it is configured for such an operation.

2.4.2. External Nuvation Energy BMS Monitoring Over MESA Interface

An external data logger may want to access a variety of data from the BMS. In general, a data logger
will not actively manage Nuvation Energy BMS; normally, it will not initiate actions such as connecting
a battery stack to the DC voltage bus or clearing faults. A data logger should connect to one of the

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read-only Modbus connections (if available) to allow the writable Modbus connection to be available
for separate external control functions. The following table contains the MESA data points exposed by
the BMS that could be collected for logging purposes.

Table 6. MESA Points Read by External Data Logger

Model Block Point Name Address Scale Purpose
Factor
801 Fixed SoC 40081 Yes BMS State of Charge
801 Fixed DERHb 40086 No BMS Heartbeat counter incremented every
second
802 Fixed Evt1 40101 No Bit field of all faults/warnings of a BMS
802 Fixed Vol 40105 Yes External DC voltage of the battery system
802 Fixed MaxBatACha 40106 Yes Charge current limit calculated by BMS
802 Fixed MaxBatADischa 40107 Yes Discharge current limit calculated by BMS
802 Fixed BSetOperation 40110 No BMS requested connection state of all
stacks/strings
803 Fixed BConStrCt 40118 No Number of stacks/strings with contactor
closed
803 Fixed BMaxCellVol 40119 Yes Maximum cell voltage measured
803 Fixed BMaxCellVolLoc 40120 No Module/String location of maximum cell
voltage
803 Fixed BMinCellVol 40121 Yes Minimum cell voltage measured
803 Fixed BMinCellVolLoc 40122 No Module/String location of minimum cell
voltage
803 Fixed BMaxModTmp 40123 Yes Maximum module temperature
803 Fixed BMaxModTmpLoc 40124 No Module/String location for maximum
module temperature
803 Fixed BMinModTmp 40125 Yes Minimum module temperature
803 Fixed BMaxModTmpLoc 40126 No Module/String location for minimum module
temperature
803 Fixed BTotDCCur 40127 Yes Total DC current of the battery system
803 Fixed BMaxStrCur 40128 Yes Largest DC current reported by a
stack/string
803 Fixed BMinStrCur 40129 Yes Smallest DC current reported by a
stack/string
803 Repeat StrSoC 40135 No State of charge for a stack/string
+Index
803 Repeat StrSoH 40136 Yes State of health for a stack/string
+Index
803 Repeat StrCur 40137 Yes Current of a stack/string
+Index
803 Repeat StrMaxCellVol 40138 Yes Maximum cell voltage of a stack/string
+Index

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Model Block Point Name Address Scale Purpose

Factor
803 Repeat StrMinCellVol 40139 Yes Minimum cell voltage of a stack/string
+Index
803 Repeat StrCellVolLoc 40140 No Location of min/max cell voltages of a
+Index stack/string
803 Repeat StrMaxModTmp 40141 Yes Maximum module temperature of a
+Index stack/string
803 Repeat StrMinModTemp 40142 Yes Minimum module temperature of a
+Index stack/string
803 Repeat StrModTmpLoc 40143 No Location of min/max module temperatures
+Index of a stack/string
803 Repeat StrEvt1 40144 No Alarms warnings and status bit field of a
+Index stack/string

The term Index in the Repeating block addresses used in the above table refers to a
 calculation of Index = Stack Index * Length of Repeating block. By definition, the 803
Repeating block is 16 Modbus registers in length.

2.5. Accessing MESA Models

MESA models are located contiguously in the Modbus address space starting at a base address of
40000. The Common Model is always located first in this space. The End Model is always last and is
used to denote the end of MESA Modbus registers. Each model located between the Common Model
and the End Model has a numeric identifier as well as a length. A handy tool that can be used to
explore the MESA Modbus registers for Nuvation Energy BMS is modpoll.exe. It is available for free
download at http://www.modbusdriver.com/modpoll.html.

Using modpoll.exe, the Common Model can be polled from a Stack Controller or Grid Battery Controller
using the following command (assuming the device has an IP address of 192.168.1.21)

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modpoll.exe -m tcp -0 -r 40000 -c 70 192.168.1.21

modpoll 3.4 - FieldTalk(tm) Modbus(R) Master Simulator

Copyright (c) 2002-2013 proconX Pty Ltd
Visit http://www.modbusdriver.com for Modbus libraries and tools.

Protocol configuration: MODBUS/TCP

Slave configuration...: address = 1, start reference = 40000 (PDU), count = 70
Communication.........: 192.168.1.21, port 502, t/o 1.00 s, poll rate 1000 ms
Data type.............: 16-bit register, output (holding) register table

-- Polling slave... (Ctrl-C to stop)

[40000]: 21365
[40001]: 28243
[40002]: 1
[40003]: 66
.
.
.
[40068]: 4660
[40069]: -32768

As another example, the complete S802 model for a system with one stack could be polled using the
following command:

modpoll.exe -m tcp -0 -r 40094 -c 22 192.168.1.21

modpoll 3.4 - FieldTalk(tm) Modbus(R) Master Simulator

Copyright (c) 2002-2013 proconX Pty Ltd
Visit http://www.modbusdriver.com for Modbus libraries and tools.

Protocol configuration: MODBUS/TCP

Slave configuration...: address = 1, start reference = 40094 (PDU), count = 22
Communication.........: 192.168.1.21, port 502, t/o 1.00 s, poll rate 1000 ms
Data type.............: 16-bit register, output (holding) register table

-- Polling slave... (Ctrl-C to stop)

[40094]: 802
[40095]: 20
.
.
.
[40114]: -2
[40115]: -32768

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To access the common model using Modbus RTU (assuming Nuvation Energy BMS is connected to
serial port COM1 and its address is 0x1):

modpoll.exe -m rtu -0 -r 40000 -c 70 -b 38400 COM1

modpoll 3.4 - FieldTalk(tm) Modbus(R) Master Simulator

Copyright (c) 2002-2013 proconX Pty Ltd
Visit http://www.modbusdriver.com for Modbus libraries and tools.

Protocol configuration: Modbus RTU

Slave configuration...: address = 1, start reference = 40000 (PDU), count = 70
Communication.........: COM1, 38400, 8, 1, even, t/o 1.00 s, poll rate 1000 ms
Data type.............: 16-bit register, output (holding) register table

-- Polling slave... (Ctrl-C to stop)

[40000]: 21365
[40001]: 28243
[40002]: 1
[40003]: 66
.
.
.
[40068]: 4660
[40069]: -32768

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3. CAN Bus Protocol Support

3.1. Overview
Nuvation Energy BMS uses a flexible CAN reporting implementation which maps BMS software
registers to CAN message identifiers. The interface is provided on the Nuvation Energy High-Voltage
BMS and Nuvation Energy Low-Voltage BMS products, but not on the Grid Battery Controller. It is
based on the CAN 2.0 standard, with the exception that Remote Transmission Requests (RTR) are not
supported.

The parameters for the CAN interface are:

▪ Baud: 500 kbit/s

▪ CAN ID: 11-bit Identifier (Base frame format)
▪ CAN payload length: variable from 1 byte to 8 bytes based on register size

3.2. CAN Reporting and Commands

The CAN interface provides the following capabilities through configuration:

▪ Reporting of up to 64 individual registers within the battery management system.

▪ Bulk-reporting of registers that represent sets of measurements (i.e. cell voltages and
temperatures)
▪ Creation of customizable commands to the battery management system to implement actions
such as:
• connecting/disconnecting the battery to the DC bus
• clearing faults and/or warnings
• updating the controller heartbeat (i.e. watchdog)

These capabilites are described in detail within the CAN Bus configuration section of the Software
Reference Manual.

3.3. Data Format

The protocol is based on the CAN message frames. A reference for the CAN message frames can be
found at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAN_bus.

3.4. Data Size

The size of the register data transmitted/received in a CAN frame will depend of the variable type of
the register. The type and corresponding variable type for all registers used in battery management
system can be found in Section 1.2. For example a variable type of int32 represents a signed 32 bit
integer and is 4 bytes in length. All register types can be read from the Registers page as discussed in
the Operator Interface Manual.

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From time to time Nuvation Energy will make updates to Nuvation Energy BMS in response to
changes in available technologies, client requests, emerging energy storage standards, and other
industry requirements. The product specifications in this document, therefore, are subject to change
without notice.

© 2020 Nuvation Energy

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