October 6, 20214 yr I have a 10kv Quattro, when I start small ac motor like hairdryer or pressure pump on coffee machine the relays start flapping and effect output voltage. Test bench installation. No earth, only connected to battery. Supplier tested inverter and says its my appliances.
October 6, 20214 yr I start my 2kW heater and 1.1kW pump for the Spa at the same time with no issues. So your setup seems to have something suspect. Are you using big enough wires to supply? Do you get any errors? Can you supply AC1 in with AC perhaps and test again? What are your battery voltage? Can you measure both battery volts and current while this happens? The Quattros are really really very robust.
October 6, 20214 yr Is earth connected anywhere or just floating? You should have it connected to neutral somewhere, otherwise strange things like these can happen. Not to mention that this is a very dangerous setup... An interesting observation - both these devices have diodes in them. In the hair dryer it is usually a DC motor connected through a heating coil and diode (to lower the voltage to around 24V and rectify it) as well as on some heat settings the heater is connected through a diode (horrible load for any inverter - can lead to magnetics saturating). The coffee machine - if it is an espresso machine with a vibratory pump - these have a nice coil in series with a diode.
October 6, 20214 yr 48 minutes ago, P1000 said: Is earth connected anywhere or just floating? You should have it connected to neutral somewhere, otherwise strange things like these can happen. Not to mention that this is a very dangerous setup... An interesting observation - both these devices have diodes in them. In the hair dryer it is usually a DC motor connected through a heating coil and diode (to lower the voltage to around 24V and rectify it) as well as on some heat settings the heater is connected through a diode (horrible load for any inverter - can lead to magnetics saturating). The coffee machine - if it is an espresso machine with a vibratory pump - these have a nice coil in series with a diode. Why does this become a problem? Is it the use of only half of the sine wave? (So like a constant ON and OFF 50 times per second) or is their something else at play i do not understand?
October 6, 20214 yr Author 4 hours ago, Sarel said: I start my 2kW heater and 1.1kW pump for the Spa at the same time with no issues. So your setup seems to have something suspect. Are you using big enough wires to supply? Do you get any errors? Can you supply AC1 in with AC perhaps and test again? What are your battery voltage? Can you measure both battery volts and current while this happens? The Quattros are really really very robust. Hairdryer use 176w to 360w when this happen. System is configured for full offgrid, 95mm^ cable between battery and inverter. Battery voltage stay constant at 53,2v. No problem with other appliances. No errors reported by Victron equipment
October 6, 20214 yr Author 54 minutes ago, P1000 said: Is earth connected anywhere or just floating? You should have it connected to neutral somewhere, otherwise strange things like these can happen. Not to mention that this is a very dangerous setup... An interesting observation - both these devices have diodes in them. In the hair dryer it is usually a DC motor connected through a heating coil and diode (to lower the voltage to around 24V and rectify it) as well as on some heat settings the heater is connected through a diode (horrible load for any inverter - can lead to magnetics saturating). The coffee machine - if it is an espresso machine with a vibratory pump - these have a nice coil in series with a diode. Ground relay ticked, Quattro connect ground to neutral when that is ticked, it happens without switching on heat
October 6, 20214 yr Author 6 minutes ago, Basil Katakuzinos said: Why does this become a problem? Is it the use of only half of the sine wave? (So like a constant ON and OFF 50 times per second) or is their something else at play i do not understand? It affect the output voltage of the Quattro and does not sound healthy
October 6, 20214 yr 21 minutes ago, Slaaiblaar said: It affect the output voltage of the Quattro and does not sound healthy Sonething definetly doesnt seem right, my 5kva multiplus sounds fine with hair dryers, air fryers and everything inbetween. Quattro clicking sound - Victron Community (victronenergy.com) Maybe this helps you does it sound similar to the unit linked above? If so i think its best to incist that your installer repair/replace the unit because it is most definetly not normal. Edited October 6, 20214 yr by Basil Katakuzinos
October 7, 20214 yr 17 hours ago, Basil Katakuzinos said: Why does this become a problem? Is it the use of only half of the sine wave? (So like a constant ON and OFF 50 times per second) or is their something else at play i do not understand? Yes, if you only use half the sine wave a DC bias flux can build up in the transformer, leading to non-linearities and sometimes saturation. If your transformer saturates, the mosfets will see a load that looks a lot like a dead short. Luckily, the Victron will almost certainly compensate for this. I suspect it is one of the factors that kill the cheap Chinese pure sine battery inverters based on the EG8010 IC (eg https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001082042024.html).
October 7, 20214 yr 17 hours ago, Slaaiblaar said: Ground relay ticked, Quattro connect ground to neutral when that is ticked, it happens without switching on heat The ticking at 50Hz still sounds to me like a ground issue.
October 7, 20214 yr Author 3 hours ago, P1000 said: The ticking at 50Hz still sounds to me like a ground issue. How do you ground a standalone system, lets say for instance a RV or Van. Just for information
July 18, 20224 yr Reviving an old post as I have a similar issue. @SlaaiblaarDid you solve the ticking sound/issue? Or have anyone else experienced the same? I have 3x 12kva Quattro's in a three phase configuration. Running a resistive load such as lights: no issues, even up to 36kva. Running a 7.5kw pump: having a ticking sound coming from all three inverters. They are ticking randomly. Ticking 5 or 6 times, quiet for a second and then ticking again. Sounds like a relay switching. It is an off-grid system with no grid or generator connected.
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