4 minutes ago, VisN said:

... the 2 units are identical and it was just a name change.

Me, if I spent that amount of tom on two I would want them to be the latest in the event of say lightning / someone shorts one out, that I can get an identical replacement easy on the spot.

But maybe, as you say, it is just the name on the box that is confusing, inside it is identical to mine / Plonskters.

Let's wait and see what Plonkster says.

This video gives some info on MPII and MGII, the first part of it is explained that it is just a name change.

 

1 hour ago, VisN said:

Here is a snippet of a pricelist listing both.

 

Prices are a bit steep though... i bought three of those a few weeks ago for R13,241 each.

Hear what Phil from Victron says at 2:05 ... re. the grid.

Edited January 12, 20197 yr by Guest

14 hours ago, VisN said:

Thanks, I think the 2 units are identical and it was just a name change. This https://www.victronenergy.com/inverters-chargers/multiplus-ii page says "Note: for a short period of time this product was called MultiGrid-II."

There you go... :-)

On that note any idea when the multiplus ii 48/5000/70-50 will be released?

1 hour ago, Dylan said:

On that note any idea when the multiplus ii 48/5000/70-50 will be released?

As far as I know it is already available. It was added to the documentation towards the end of November. I see the pricelist on the site is still Q4 2018, which might be why it does not show yet. If it isn't available yet, then it is imminent.

15 hours ago, plonkster said:

There you go... 🙂

Thank you. 

Am I correct in assuming that the MultiPlus II casing ground need not be connected in a normal fixed home installation?

Edited January 20, 20197 yr by VisN

19 minutes ago, VisN said:

Am I correct in assuming that the MultiPlus II casing ground need not be connected in a normal fixed home installation?

I would expect that it would be wired pretty similarly to the previous models, where the case and all the earth terminals of the inputs and ouputs are simply interconnected. If you therefore have a proper earth connection to the AC-IN terminal, there should be no additional need for an earth.

However... 🙂 There is a big old M8 bolt on the case, and I'm sure if you put in an extra earth conductor and crimp a neat lug onto it and put it on there... it will make them feel all fuzzy. You could even just wire a short piece of cable from the AC-IN earth point to this lug. It isn't necessary, but it shows intent 🙂

9 minutes ago, plonkster said:

It isn't necessary, but it shows intent 🙂

Lol, I would have gladly done that but the ground bar in my DB doesn't have any more slots. 

Edited January 20, 20197 yr by VisN

14 minutes ago, VisN said:

Lol, I would have gladly done that but the ground bar in my DB doesn't have any more slots. 

I put in a 10mm cable (green and yellow) all the way from the DB to my inverter. But that is because I also intend earthing PV frames to that cable. I figured the normal bare copper wire you get in surfix (even the thicker types) just doesn't feel substantial enough for all that.

On 2018/12/20 at 7:10 PM, plonkster said:

Not needed anymore. The mk3 will send a frame on the wire that tells blocks the other end. But when you do firmware updates it is still advisable.

So we don't need to disconnect the RJ45 between inverter and Venus when running the VE.config? firmware v28.xx

44 minutes ago, vandyh said:

So we don't need to disconnect the RJ45 between inverter and Venus when running the VE.config?

Nope. You will see the display on the CCGX show "Off" as the Vebus state while veconfigure is running. A few seconds after you release the port, it will come back.

When updating firmware it is still advisable to unplug everything, especially remote panels and VE.Bus BMS modules.

Aargh!!

Lots of frustration here. I've got the Victron installed with the 4 x 260AH OmniPower batteries but the system will not function as intended IE. it will not switch over to the inverter when the grid goes down. The inverter just shuts down when the grid power is cut. 

I've measured my battery bank at 52.6V. I've disconnected all the batteries from each other and waited for a few hours then measured them individually, each one measured measured 13.09 on the nose.

I still suspect it's the batteries at fault but how can I be certain. Is there any way to exclude the Victron unit completely? Any and all suggestions are welcome. 

Thank you.

9 minutes ago, VisN said:

Any and all suggestions are welcome. 

Assuming all the settings are right, can you test each batts under load? 

Put a large load on, see that the batts are being used, then test the volts per batt maybe?

36 minutes ago, The Terrible Triplett said:

Assuming all the settings are right, can you test each batts under load? 

Put a large load on, see that the batts are being used, then test the volts per batt maybe?

TTT,

This was going to be my next move, I was just trying to figure out how?

1 hour ago, VisN said:

This was going to be my next move, I was just trying to figure out how?

Plonk came up with that idea to put a large enough load on to be able to test each batt's voltages, whilst on solar power, so that the inverter does not switch off.

As I said before, measuring rested batteries volts means diddly squat. I myself have been caught a few times with that. Moment you add a load, the volts fall off a cliff.

 

What I've had twice now in one week is everything works perfectly fine, no power failures, batts are fully charge, yet the next moment the Ac-Out1 goes off and everything connect to it too. 

Inverter is perfectly operational, all breakers are still on.
No errors nor any strange data logged.

"Feels like" as if some really bad whatever comes via Eskom lines that the inverter misses the chance to switch over into UPS mode, therein the break in output.

@plonkster , any theories your side?

1 hour ago, The Terrible Triplett said:

 , any theories your side?

Well, a 3KVA Multi with no load draws around 35W, so around 700mA or thereabouts. One would think the batteries can handle at least that much load without dropping out. So you can start there and measure individual batteries and check if you have a bad one. And then obviously increase the load. But... if it can't even power the inverter, then it becomes easy: Get an automotive headlight (around 60W) or even a brake light (around 20W) and put it on each battery while testing the voltage. A healthy 200Ah battery should have at most a couple 100mV drop when powering such a small load (relatively speaking).

1 hour ago, The Terrible Triplett said:

What I've had twice now in one week is everything works perfectly fine, no power failures, batts are fully charge, yet the next moment the Ac-Out1 goes off and everything connect to it too. 

Your Multigrid might be doing its relay test. I'm not sure if NRS097 requires this relay test, and I've never actually noticed mine doing it, I only know for sure that AS4777 requires a periodic relay test. So the Multi will occasionally disconnect from the grid, do the relay test, and reconnect to the grid afterwards. Perfectly normal.

Edit: Oh wait, you mean that AC-out-1 drops long enough to lose the loads? That is odd... I've never seen such a thing.

Edited February 18, 20197 yr by plonkster

5 minutes ago, plonkster said:

... I've never seen such a thing.

Stick with me and I'll show you more things about Victron that you have never seen.

Shall we stick to that it is the relay test, dropping the loads, or must I start asking more people?

7 hours ago, The Terrible Triplett said:

must I start asking more people?

Probably that one. Or download your data from VRM and see if you can see anything funny.

12 hours ago, VisN said:

Aargh!!

Lots of frustration here. I've got the Victron installed with the 4 x 260AH OmniPower batteries but the system will not function as intended IE. it will not switch over to the inverter when the grid goes down. The inverter just shuts down when the grid power is cut. 

I've measured my battery bank at 52.6V. I've disconnected all the batteries from each other and waited for a few hours then measured them individually, each one measured measured 13.09 on the nose.

I still suspect it's the batteries at fault but how can I be certain. Is there any way to exclude the Victron unit completely? Any and all suggestions are welcome. 

Thank you.

Hi VisN, have you verified that the correct Voltage settings have been programmed using VEConfigure? What is the "DC input low shut-down" voltage setting? This can also be affected by the ESS "Dynamic Cut-off" feature if you have enabled this option.

10 hours ago, The Terrible Triplett said:

What I've had twice now in one week is everything works perfectly fine, no power failures, batts are fully charge, yet the next moment the Ac-Out1 goes off and everything connect to it too. 

Inverter is perfectly operational, all breakers are still on.
No errors nor any strange data logged.

"Feels like" as if some really bad whatever comes via Eskom lines that the inverter misses the chance to switch over into UPS mode, therein the break in output.

@plonkster , any theories your side?

I'm not sure if this is related, but I saw a post on the Victron support forum about a Multiplus behaving strangely when exposed to a "ripple control signal". I think this is used in some suburbs in Cape Town to remotely turn off geysers during times of high load.

See https://community.victronenergy.com/questions/1119/mulitplus-ii.html

15 minutes ago, NigelL said:

I think this is used in some suburbs in Cape Town to remotely turn off geysers during times of high load.

Thanks Nigel!

First time it was between 6-7 pm on a Thursday, 2nd time Monday evening about 10pm.

The sudden break on Ac-out1 is more then 20ms as all things computer related reboots or must be switched on again, for a split second the lights are off, then on again.

Already have someone looking into it. Will report back if we find it.

Man, why do I get the ones that always stumps Plonkster!? 🙂 

Edited February 19, 20197 yr by Guest

Now that is interesting. Every now and then I notice my PC UPS go to battery and then back to Grid for a split second. I never thought anything of it and thought it might just do it's self-test or our Grid supply have a few Nicks & Pops every now and then. Do the Multi and Quattro share some HW? Would be nice to know the outcome of this.