question

852 avatar image
852 asked

Shore power is available - can I still make use of solar?

Hi. I have boat moored in open water with all power currently being supplied by solar:

  • 9kW solar panels
  • 3 Victron MPPT 250/85 charge controllers
  • 30kWh lithium batteries
  • Quattro 48/15000 (firmare version 430)
  • No generator

The boat is going to a marina which can supply 16A of AC power (220V), so I propose to limit AC Input power to 14.5A, which I am told is the lowest maximum AC input current that is possible for the 430 version firmware Quattro 48/15000.

However, as I understand it, that would leave my 9kW of solar panels as being entirely redundant - basically no power would ever be captured/used from the solar panels, so I might as well disconnect them. That seems a waste and also would of course mean a larger power bill from the marina than is necessary. I am hoping I could have the system set up such that it captures/uses all solar that is available and only uses the shore power when solar is not available, or at times when solar is insufficient to supply all loads. Is that possible please? And do you agree that 14.5A is the minimum upper limit on AC input current for the Quattro 48/15000 please?

Thank you for your advice.
MultiPlus Quattro Inverter Chargershorepower
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3 Answers
Al avatar image
Al answered ·

Hi @852

Just set your MPPT charge voltage (Roughly) 0.2v higher than the Quattro, so the MPPT's have priority if you have a Venus and have DVCC turned on you can also make sure the total charge current doesn't exceed the battery limits, but I guess you have them BMS controlled anyway.

Also Victron Input current limits are conservative, you'll rarely see 16a drawn with 16a set, but if the shore power is liable to trip then probably a good idea to reduce input.

I have also successfully used 'AC Ignore' by setting assistants in VE.CONFIG when we had shore power, to prioritise solar and only draw shore power when needed. There are discussions on here you'll find on how to do it and in the manuals.


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JohnC avatar image
JohnC answered ·

Hi @852

14.5A is indeed the lowest total limit you can set for shore input on that Quattro (with PowerAssist enabled). But that doesn't mean you can't limit the charge component of that total.

This is a little clunky to change at will, but you might be able to find a level that will suit you most times.


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rslifkin avatar image
rslifkin answered ·

I keep my float voltage set .05 volts higher on the MPPTs than the Multiplus. That's enough that the DC loads are all powered by solar during the day (and shore at night) when the boat is plugged in. AC loads all run off shore power when plugged in.

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