April 30, 20197 yr Please be gentle 🙂 I had to start somewhere to explain to electrician what I required to be able to start using my new Victron Multiplus II. The garage is probably about 10 meter away from the existing db - and it is the only place where I can install the inverter and batteries. The existing cable to the garage is a paltry thin little thing - probably really only useful for the light and garage motor (it is a 15A breaker on the board at the moment). If at all possible I'd like to run a new plug point from the new cable that will be installed between the house and the garage - hopefully that is clear from the diagram.  Edited April 30, 20197 yr by admiral
April 30, 20197 yr I could not believe how expensive cable is per metre to the existing DB.. I wanted to install in the garage as well. Soon made another plan after receiving the quote!.
May 1, 20197 yr Author At "least" the cabling between the garage sub db, and the house db, will only be for 220v AC - not the 48v DC!Â
May 2, 20197 yr On 2019/04/30 at 11:22 PM, admiral said: Please be gentle 🙂 I had to start somewhere to explain to electrician what I required to be able to start using my new Victron Multiplus II. The garage is probably about 10 meter away from the existing db - and it is the only place where I can install the inverter and batteries. The existing cable to the garage is a paltry thin little thing - probably really only useful for the light and garage motor (it is a 15A breaker on the board at the moment). If at all possible I'd like to run a new plug point from the new cable that will be installed between the house and the garage - hopefully that is clear from the diagram.  Will you be able to share your DC diagram as well? Lots for valuable learning for me from your schematics.
May 2, 20197 yr Author Please don't do learning from my circuit diagram (yet!) 🙂 I think I need some peer review on it still! I was hoping an esteemed member here would point at the diagram and tell me what was wrong. I still have to do the sneaky "See separate DC diagram" - will do that soon, and add it.
May 2, 20197 yr 9 hours ago, admiral said: Please don't do learning from my circuit diagram (yet!) 🙂 I think I need some peer review on it still! I was hoping an esteemed member here would point at the diagram and tell me what was wrong. I still have to do the sneaky "See separate DC diagram" - will do that soon, and add it. 😉, what software/online tool did you use for drawing up the schematic?
May 2, 20197 yr Author 39 minutes ago, d3nominat0r said: 😉, what software/online tool did you use for drawing up the schematic? I used https://www.draw.io/ - it's a bit fiddly, but overall worked quite well. I was looking for something that makes the circuit easy to understand.
May 2, 20197 yr 1 minute ago, admiral said: I used https://www.draw.io/ - it's a bit fiddly, but overall worked quite well. I was looking for something that makes the circuit easy to understand. I think it works well, I tried the same with draw.io however did a more literal design of my DB Board. I prefer your way of illustration, thus busy illustrating my new design more like you did.Â
May 2, 20197 yr Author Often the simpler a diagram, or piece of writing, the more effort went into it!
May 8, 20197 yr On 2019/05/01 at 10:14 AM, admiral said: At "least" the cabling between the garage sub db, and the house db, will only be for 220v AC - not the 48v DC! Now, imagine that expense!
May 23, 20197 yr Author Here is a question that I'd really like an answer to - in my diagram I have the connection to the AC in on my inverter coming from behind the earth leakage of the main house DB. I.e. the inverter's input is "protected" by the main DB earth leakage / RCD. My electrician is saying that the inverter should be running directly from the main switch - i.e. not protected by the main DB's earth leakage / RCD. This is similar to how my house's lights, stove and geyser is wired - i.e. only the plugs are really on the earth leakage / RCD. What is the general consensus about this?
May 24, 20197 yr It doesn't really matter too much. There is no reason it can't be supplied from after the RCD. Well, that is not completely true, there might be some reasons, but in my experience it's not as if it is illegal to do so. One possible reason is what they call selectivity: You want downstream RCDs to have a chance to trip first. For example, you want the one on your floor to trip rather than the one for the whole building, and so on. Likewise you want the one after the inverter to trip rather than the one before it (which takes the rest of the house with it), or even both of them. So wiring it in this manner, with the inverter after the RCD, loses selectivity when both of them are 30mA units. So for that reason, it is better to have the inverter fed from before the RCD. In the more general case, selectivity is achieved by making the upstream RCD less sensitive (eg using a 100mA or 300mA unit upstream), or by using an RCD with a slight time delay (type S). All sockets must be protected by a 30mA RCD though, so you're still better off splitting it in two. Edited May 24, 20197 yr by plonkster
May 25, 20197 yr Author As long as it is safe, I am happy. The only reason I was wondering about this - the inverter is fed by a armoured cable running from the house to the garage. What happens if you somehow pierced this cable?
May 25, 20197 yr 1 hour ago, admiral said: What happens if you somehow pierced this cable? It's an armoured cable. It is not feeding sockets directly. It has overcurrent protection (right?). It doesn't need an RCD. But if you are concerned, you can do what I did: Use a 300mA RCBO (it checks for a 300mA imbalance AND provides overcurrent protection). And it provides selectivity.
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