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klandos asked

Faulty Multiplus II internal measurement sensor?

Hello,

I'm running 3 Multiplus II 5000 parallel in an offgrid installation controlled by a Cerbo GX. All PV is DC coupled.

As the winter is coming I need from time to time assistance from a generator.

My problem is that the input current limit feature is not working anymore.

Please see attached pictures:

bildschirmfoto-2022-12-01-um-143507.png

You can see drawing 4,4kW from the genset, but 0A. On top a weird -7.3A on the outside.

bildschirmfoto-2022-12-01-um-143518.pngFor testing I at the moment I started EV Charging with 3.6kW + 0.5kW house load. So this AC Loads value can't be right on top. Double checked with a AC Clamp meter.

What I now have done in first step is to reduce the Charger Amp limit in the Multiplus to 10A (in fact 30A as there are 3x Multiplus) through victron connect so that even localization of the failure is possible.

The input current limit doesn't take any effect. Even tried to re set this through victron connect and also disabled "can be overruled by remote" with no effect. Sure I set this on the master and both slaves. 6 A in each device which should end up in 18A (around 4,1kW).

This definitely had worked half a year ago.


For me it seems that at one of the multiplusses the internal measurement is not working anymore.

Any other thoughts?
Could it help to rearrange them with another being the master?

Firmware is 490 on the multis.


The Multiplusses are 11 month old and bought in germany. The problem is that I won't get any support from the (official) seller. I already hat a faulty battery from them where they already didn't do anything, so my lawyer is on this :(


Thanks in advance.

Multiplus-IImultiplus in parallel
bildschirmfoto-2022-12-01-um-143507.png (134.0 KiB)
bildschirmfoto-2022-12-01-um-143518.png (64.6 KiB)
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klandos avatar image klandos commented ·

News on this, my thought seems to be right.

I've viewed with ve configure, master:

master.jpg
slave1:

slave1.jpgslave2:

slave2.jpg


For me it seems clear that the internal measurement on slave1 is faulty.

I double checked with a AC clamp meter, equal current is flowing to each multi.

Any other thoughts?

How can I go further now?

My original seller do not care.

How is the measurement internally done? Printed on PCB or maybe changeable? If changeable, is Victron willing to sell the part? The Multiplus is not a year old, but I would prefer pay a bit for the part than throwing 1,5k+ € away. Does anyone have a contact for me? @Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) maybe?

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1 Answer
nickdb avatar image
nickdb answered ·

Have you considered reflashing them with current firmware first?

If you search on this site you will find the form in professional.victronenergy.com where you can submit your serial number and find out who the distributor is.

If it is under warranty, you can return it to them for testing.

There are no user serviceable parts inside the device.

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klandos avatar image klandos commented ·
Not yet thought about a firmware update because this setup ran perfectly half a year ago.

Are there know problems with the internal measurement at 490 firmware?

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nickdb avatar image nickdb ♦♦ klandos commented ·

Not specifically, no.

Something else you can try, is to insert a mini phono jack into the external current sensor jack socket of that inverter and just insert/remove it a few times.

Beyond that, I would still reflash it and failing an improvement get it back to the original distributor your seller originally got it from.

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klandos avatar image klandos nickdb ♦♦ commented ·
​I’ll try with phone jack and reflashing.


Already filed a case, thanks!

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klandos avatar image klandos nickdb ♦♦ commented ·

Update on this:

inserting phone jack does not help.


After that I updated all multis from 490 to 498.

In the first try victron connect that the update has been successfully but they've been more or less "bricked" and couldn't be found by VictronConnect nor ve configure. Curious that the Faulty Multiplus had different LEDs showing.

I had to start the update again (has been possible in victron connect with "force update").

After that I were able to reconfigure them at one phase three parallel units.


The good news, power assist is working (at the moment). The bad news, the internal measurement of the Faulty Multiplus still doesn't work. When the multis are connected to grid:

img-6515.jpg

img-6516.jpg

As the update has been really weird and only worked in the second try, maybe a bad flash chip instead of the measurement itself?

During reconfigure I had changed the order (master /slave1/slave2)

@Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) how can we sort that out now?

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