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Smit Desai avatar image
Smit Desai asked

Ripple warning on batteries and shore power

When running high power devices such as a microwave or air conditioner, the inverter restarts, showing "Battery Voltage Ripple" warning on the VictronConnect App. This happens very consistently for high power devices. The inverter turns off and then shortly restarts. I don't think the issue is related to the battery because it happens when using battery power and when battery is disconnected and connected to shore power. I think there is an inverter issue, but not sure how to fix it.


This other post mentioned getting some help and changing some settings to make it work correctly, but the steps are not listed in the post: https://community.victronenergy.com/questions/89369/ripple-warning-on-shore-power.html


The device in my system is:

- Multiplus 12/3000/120-50 120v VE Bus

VictronConnectmultiple inverters
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2 Answers
travelswithtudee avatar image
travelswithtudee answered ·

We have just had this issue resolved via help from Brandon at Battleborn. We've had our set up for over a year without issue. We had to take a mandatory firmware update in August via the Bluetooth dongle. After the update we started to have an issue where the system worked fine when not plugged into shore power but if we plugged in, the more current we allowed the system to take from shore, the worst the issue - Battery Voltage Ripple, Overload and sometimes Low Battery. We could consistently generate this problem with the microwave, the refrigerator and the A/C. It appears the update via the dongle changed some settings on our two Multiplus 12/3000/120-50 inverters. We did not have a MK3 to USB adapter to be able to run VictronConnect via a PC so we did not have access to all the values in Settings. We purchased one for $72.25 from Battleborn. Once received, Brandon had us update the firmware on the inverters. The update reset settings back to factory defaults but the main setting causing the issue was the "Dynamic Current Limit". By default this is ON but should be OFF. Our configuration is with Battleborn batteries so I'm not sure if other battery configurations need something different.

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Nick Bradley avatar image Nick Bradley commented ·
This fixed my issue. I've been having this issue since I installed my Victron inverter nearly two years ago. It came preprogrammed from Dragonfly energy and it should have been unchecked. Thank you travelswithtudee for your information. Super duper helpful.
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Alexandra avatar image
Alexandra answered ·

@Smit Desai

What size cable are you running to the battery and how long is it?

Ripple warnings can come from loose terminals, battery bms that just cannot do the amps (undersized) or cable that is too small or too long, or has too many connections on it.

The other causes are bms shutting down because of incorrect charge parameters, in reference to the post you linked, that was probably the issue there.

You will get ripple warning with no battery attached as it is a battery based system, so all references are to the battery part.

The system will be shutting down to protect itself, DC ripple is very bad for capacitors and electronics.

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Smit Desai avatar image Smit Desai commented ·

I see. So in my setup, the cables to the battery from the inverter are 4/0 and about 2 feet in length for each positive and negative nodes. I conducted more tests to provide more information as well.


Test 1) - Everything is connected. Inverter AC side is powering AC loads. DC side is connected to the inverter, battery, and DC loads. When turning on a high power appliance, the monitored wattage spikes up to 500W (the appliance is rated for 1300W) before the inverter shuts off and gives the “Battery voltage ripple” warning. When this occurs, all DC loads remain un-interrupted as the battery stays on and continues to power them.


Test 2) Inverter is totally isolated from the DC circuit. Inverter is powered by AC shore power. AC loads are being powered from the inverter with 10/3 AWG wire. When turning on the appliance, the same behavior is noticed. As soon as the wattage starts increasing for the appliance, the inverter shuts off and gives “Battery voltage ripple” warning.


This makes me think it might be an issue with the inverter or something else, but not the battery.


Battery is 300 ah with max continuous rating of 200amps. At 12V, that’s 2400W, so it should be able to handle the load in the test as well

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Alexandra avatar image Alexandra ♦ Smit Desai commented ·

@Smit Desai

Battery crimps and connections then to the inverter, or a DC disconnect to the inverter that was not able enough will be the cause.

DC ripple is caused by high resistance. It is an AC component superimposed over the DC.

Inverter is not designed to run without a battery connected so that is not a valid test for ruling out the battery or wiring as an issue. If the ripple continues you will have a problem with the inverter though, the power pack will fail.

See this publication. And wiring unlimited.

3000va at 12v is 250A you will have losses in conversion 2400W (not accounted for calculating with watts) the heavy load will pull way more out the battery that you expect.

DC ripple can also be caused by the high frequency switching some BMS do when they are not quite shutting down but switching on protection.

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