question

catweazle avatar image
catweazle asked

Multiplus not regulating charge

We have two VE Multiplus 3000 connected in parallel, and 6 x VE AGM supercycle 125 batteries which are a year old. We had a VE engineer check out the set up one month ago and he did a diagnostic with his laptop. He changed the ABS to 14.7V and float to 13.8. However, our batteries are not holding charge now and the electrician here in Italy said that 5 are dead. He then connected them up and measured the voltage going in from shore power which was up to 15.75 v.

Could the recommended VE engineer have set something incorrectly, or is one or both of the multiplus 3000 units damaged somehow?

Everything seemed fine before he changed the settings, but he seemed to know what he was doing! I don't want to destroy a new set of batteries.


battery charging
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2 Answers
mvader (Victron Energy) avatar image
mvader (Victron Energy) answered ·

Hi @Catweazle, best would be to contact the same VE engineer, or your distributor or dealer, same as last time.

This impossible to diagnose remotely.

I hope its sorted soon!


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catweazle avatar image catweazle commented ·

Dear Mr Vader

I am glad you have responded to my post. We have been stuck in Salerno in Italy for two weeks trying to get this resolved. The VE agent has been far from helpful or supportive and it has been incredibly frustrating. The batteries are only 1 year old and were working fine. Now they're dead, but we're going to have to pay. We haven't done anything wrong and yet we sit waiting for a technician day after day paying hefty marina fees and face a further 3k to pay if he turns up on Monday.

Really unhappy with the after service support from Victron.

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mvader (Victron Energy) avatar image mvader (Victron Energy) ♦♦ catweazle commented ·

Dear @Catweazle, I’m sorry about your problems. Sounds rather frustrating indeed.

Diagnosing where the problem lies: configuration, defective Victron product, defective other product (like an alternator), is not part of the warranty. Our products are part of a system on your yacht; and (more often than not) the problem is configuration or installation. Not defective products. Thats the difficulty.

I have given your email address to a colleague, they’ll contact you next week to help sorting it.

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catweazle avatar image catweazle mvader (Victron Energy) ♦♦ commented ·

So why have we bothered using the recommended victron technicians if there is no recourse if something has been configured incorrectly.

Just for your info, apparently half our batteries have been 'lost', so maybe it won't be resolved on Monday after all.

Contrast this with Raymarine. We had an issue with the GPS signal. Phoned Raymarine UK. They gave us the name of their technician near us. He came (on a public holiday), installed an aerial, reconfigured the settings, went for a sea trial. No charge. All sorted in 4 days.

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mvader (Victron Energy) avatar image mvader (Victron Energy) ♦♦ catweazle commented ·

Hi, that sounds like excellent service indeed.

Otherwise, sorry but this forum and myself are not the place/person to continue this discussion. I've treated your messages as a complaint and made sure that someone will be in touch with you (if they aren't already).

I do hope its sorted soon so you can continue your journey.

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catweazle avatar image catweazle mvader (Victron Energy) ♦♦ commented ·

Nobody has contacted me, and now the engineer won't come till Wednesday at the earliest due to a delay with the courier. That's over 2 weeks since we first contacted them.

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catweazle avatar image
catweazle answered ·

Ps We can't go back to the original engineer as we are no longer in that country. This is what the Italian manager tried to suggest - that is wasn't something they could deal with. But isn't it a worldwide warranty?

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