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Leslie Olson avatar image
Leslie Olson asked

Set-Up Help for Multiplus 12/3000/120, Digital Controler 200/200A, MPPT 150/50, BMV712, in RV.

Greatly Appreciate help with Multiplus 12/3000/120, Digital Controller 200/200A, MPPT 150/50, BMV712, Lithium Iron Phosphate Battery Back (400AH), and six 100watt PV panels in RV. I have a new system, installed and connected it myself and need help setting up for use of shore power and/or 3,100 running watt inverter generator when batteries run low or I want large load support. I need help with settings to augment battery power with shore or generator when I plug into either and want to charge batteries with any extra power above the load.

I connected the RV Shore-power Cord directly to the input of the 12/3000/120 Inverter Charger and connected AC out 1, to RV's AC power panel for distribution to appliances.

I plugged my RV Shore-power plug into my Champion 3400 Inverter Generator (3100 running Watts) and ran the RV's 15000 BTU Air Conditioner for about 80 minutes. My 400AH Battle Born Battery bank dropped from 100% charge to 80% charge.

I thought the whole system would run great and keep the batteries at 100%. I obviously did something wrong. I have operated this RV air conditioner with this generator for over 200 hours prior to installing the Victron and Solar systems.

HELP!!

LesOlson9

MultiPlus Quattro Inverter Charger
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Leslie Olson avatar image Leslie Olson commented ·

LesOlsonDiagram.jpgThis diagram is a crude hand drawn diagram of my set-up to make it is easier to understand my situation. I believe my Digital Multi Controller (DMC) current limit was set to 8 amps during the time my 15k BTU Air Conditioner was running, so that may have contributed to more energy from the batteries being inverted than was being used from the generator. When I first connected the generator (after 2 minute warm-up time) the DMC setting was 40 amps, which made my generator trip with overload. That is when I dialed it down to 8 amps and restarted my generator. The generator definitely was supporting some sort of load during that time because when I turned off the RV's air conditioner, the generator spun down a bit as if some load was taken off of it.

1. I need to limit the 12/3000/120 - 50 to Max at 80 Amp Charge going to the LiFePo 400 AH battery bank. Don't know how to do that yet.

2. I need to limit the through Amperage of the 12/3000/120 - 50 to 30 Amps. Not sure how to do that yet.

3. I need to figure out if I have to use AC1 Output for Generator use and AC2 Output for Shore power or just use AC1 Output for both based on which I need.

a. I guess for AC1 Output to use the generator (short the screw connectors on the back of the DMC by installing a on/off switch between the contacts in the on (connected) setting) and use a pre-set amperage. Then to use AC2 Output for Shore power (DMC switch in the off (disconnected) setting).

b. Or can I use either Generator or Shore Power depending on which I need to use at the time, and set the DMC amps to either 20 amps for the generator, or 30 amps for Shore power. I can only use one at a time, either generator or shore power, not both simultaneously.

I sure hope this is helping! The RV is no where near a Victron Installation facility and my friend is living in it right now, so I have to drive about 4hours to get to her and try to set it properly again.

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lesolsondiagram.jpg (1.8 MiB)
boekel avatar image boekel ♦ Leslie Olson commented ·

where do you have fuses installed? what wire sizes did you use?

the BMV is in the wrong location (should be in the battery wiring)

how did you setup the Multi? and the rest of the components?

Please get someone involved with knowledge about these systems, you're playing with a lot of money worth of equipment, and big risks if there are wiring / setup errors.

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Leslie Olson avatar image Leslie Olson commented ·

My first drawing was inaccurate as Boekel pointed out. On the drawing I got the connection to the BMV wrong, it is in fact connected to the Victron Shunt on the negative 4/0 cable side.

Here is a somewhat better representation of the install with a newer hand drawing because of the comments and concerns about wiring and fusing, which I'm NOT asking about.

I have Fuses and Breakers where appropriate.

I installed appropriate sized wires throughout.

I am simply asking for help with certain settings from some kind person who knows these Victron components specifically.

Getting my friend to take her RV to a Victron Installer anytime soon is not going to happen.

She is being very careful with the system and not using shore power nor generator power until "I" get the proper settings for the components figured out, set, and tested. Meanwhile she is living with Solar input only.

Connection to Shore power or generator power are either shore power, or generator power, not both simultaneously, there is only 1 30 Amp RV plug to use for any external power sources.

My revised drawing, that I will be putting up with this post is for anyone who knows these specific Victron components well enough to know what I'm asking and can help me set the parameters correctly in the BMV712, DMC 200/200A, and Multiplus 12/3000/12 - 50.

I bought the entire set-up from "Battle Born Batteries" and they set the Multiplus 12/3000/120, and the MPPT controller to output the appropriate voltage to the 400 AH, Battle Born, Battery Bank but that is it.

I will be making a 5 hour drive to meet her again and try to figure out and get the settings straight in these components tomorrow noon, Friday 19 April 2019. I will have 1 or 2 hours Friday night and all day Saturday to try to get it right, but she is in an area without cell coverage as well, so I need to know what I can by tomorrow morning 11:00 AM EST.

V/r,

Les

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boekel avatar image boekel ♦ Leslie Olson commented ·

Looks good.

as these batteries have internal disconnect I believe, should be good to go if all charge / discharge voltages are correct.

To know how to set the multi-control: when on generator dial up the current until you think the genny is well loaded (but not too much). remember that setting. if you can use the same on shore-power then don't touch it anymore.

If the system would be connected to shore power for longer time, you might want to set some assistants to disconnect the AC-in when you have enough solar, or to not charge the batteries all the way on AC so the solar has priority. standard setting is 'charge till full' and then the solar panels won't do much.

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Leslie Olson avatar image Leslie Olson boekel ♦ commented ·

Boekel, Thank you.. After driving up to Pennsylvania again to check out the system again, I noticed that the physical "Set-Up" in the 12/3000/120 50 Multiplus, which was done by Battleborn Batteries company who I bought the whole system from, they had set every DS DIP Switch, 1-8 to the OFF position. That is not what it needs I don't believe.

This install is designed for mostly Solar to power the RV, but when needed hook up to either shore power (anywhere from 15 Amp to 30 Amp service), or fire up the Champion 3400 Watt Inverter Generator to plug into.

I am using the Digital Multi Control Panel AMP dial to limit input current to 25 Amps when connected to Shore power (She is not connecting to shore power much at all), and the 20 Amps when running the generator (This doesn't happen much either, only when very warm and wants Air Conditioning for her dog).

There seems to be conflicts in DS DIP switch settings in the 12/3000/120 50 Multiplus for what is needed for the Battle Born LiFePO4 batteries. I need to figure out for sure the actual DS DIP switch settings for these parameters:

DS 8, 7, 6 AC INPUT of 30A (What I desire)

DS 8, 7 Absorption Voltage 14.7 (or 14.4) Float 13.8 Storage 13.2

DS 6 Absorption Time 4 hours

DS 5 Adaptive Charging On (Best guess)

DS 4 Dynamic Current Limiter On = Active (for use with Inverter Generator)

DS 4, 3 Battery Charge Current set to 75%

DS 3 UPS Function Off

DS 2 Converter Voltage Off for 20 Volt

DS 1 Converter Freq Off for 60Hz

My main problem is if I set DS 8,7, to On for part of the 30A AC Input current limit, it sets the battery charge absorption Voltage to 15 which is TOO HIGH. If I set the absorption to 14.7 or 14.1 my AC Input Current Limit goes to 20A or 12A respectively.


Thank you for any assistance you might be able to help with!

Best,
Les

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Jay Kote avatar image Jay Kote Leslie Olson commented ·

Did you check the inverter to make sure the boost level is off or 0?

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boekel avatar image boekel ♦ Jay Kote commented ·

What do you mean with 'boost level'?

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3 Answers
boekel avatar image
boekel answered ·

Please have a Victron installer checkout your system to make sure you've done everything correctly, and setup all components with the correct settings.

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Leslie Olson avatar image Leslie Olson commented ·

Boekel, Thank you for your advise, but the RV is no where near a Victron Installation facility and my friend is living in it right now, so I have to drive about 4 hours to get to her and try to set it up properly again.

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boekel avatar image boekel ♦ Leslie Olson commented ·

Yet I urge you to get a professional involved. you don't want to burn her RV down do you?

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Jay Kote avatar image
Jay Kote answered ·



Please post a schematic of your connections. Hard to tell what is going on without it.

(What you are doing the way I read it is not safe. But can't be sure without schematic. Please be careful. BTW in general, two AC sources should never connect directly to a load/load center -- even in parallel.)



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Leslie Olson avatar image Leslie Olson commented ·

RVSolartech,

Thank you for your response! I have posted a hand drawn diagram and tried to further explain the set-up and situation. Only one external power source can be used at a time, depending on which is needed or available between the generator and shore power. I hope it helps!
Thank you again for any help/advise after reviewing my additional post and diagram.

Best,
Les

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Leslie Olson avatar image Leslie Olson commented ·

Better diagram and more description added above.. Any further help you may be able to provide would be greatly appreciated.

Thank You RVSolartech!

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Jay Kote avatar image Jay Kote Leslie Olson commented ·

Ok. Remember that Victron Inverter is on. It is using it's "hybrid" aka "boost" capability, when you don't want it to do that.

You will have to go into the inverter and tell it not to boost. I believe it will either be an explicit boosting "off" or you can set the boosting level to "0".

If you have your manual for the DMC, go poking through that and find it. I'm sure it's in there somewhere.

I believe there is another way also. But it's not as straight forward. You would take the 2nd AC output (the non-boosting) of the inverter and wire the air-conditioner to that. But this is a good bit of extra electrical work. (I'd do the off/0, method).

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Leslie Olson avatar image Leslie Olson Jay Kote commented ·

RVSOLARTECH, I'm trying to figure out how to get in and check or set the Boost capability like you described, I'll let you know what I can figure out. Thank you!

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JohnC avatar image
JohnC answered ·

Hi Les. Your system is configured muchly like mine, and it should work fine like that.

BUT - the Multi is picky about accepting 'dirty' power (well mine is), and it may have simply rejected the genny input. If you're standing next to the multi you'll hear the transfer relay attempt and reject if it doesn't like the genny. It may retry a couple more times then give up. There will be no alarms/warnings and your genny will just roll on doing nothing.

I always look at my CCGX to confirm power delivery, but in your kit there must be a way to see that too. At the least you should be able to hear the genny 'load up'.

The issue/workarounds described here: https://www.victronenergy.com/live/multiplus_faq

An inverter generator wouldn't normally suffer this, but those are often subject to overcurrent trips in the genny itself. If this is the case, then you could try limiting the power input to the multi to a level acceptable to the genny.


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Leslie Olson avatar image Leslie Olson commented ·

JohnC, I thank you much for your comments and the link to check out. I will check it out soon. I wish I had the money right now for the CCGX. I will be loading a crude hand drawn diagram of my set-up soon so that it is easier to understand my situation. I believe my Digital Multi Controller (DMC) current limit was set to 8 amps during the time my 15k BTU Air Conditioner was running, so that may have contributed to more energy from the batteries being inverted than was being used from the generator. When I first connected the generator (after 2 minute warm-up time) the DMC setting was 40 amps, which made my generator trip with overload. That is when I dialed it down to 8 amps and restarted my generator.

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