question

Andrew Ellis avatar image
Andrew Ellis asked

Quattro 10000 only reaching 6600 Watt charge rate under ESS control

Hi

I have a problem with the max charge on my new inverter. It seems to limit to 130 A (6600 watts) in charge mode (ESS) but will happily deliver 9500watts in inverter mode. The webpage Victron & Pylontech UP2500, US2000, US3000, US2000C, ...Victron Energy · https://www.victronenergy.com › live has a table in section 2 that suggests I should be able to achieve the full 8kW charge rate at 25 degree C.


My setup

8 x pylontech US5000 with 800Ah storage. During charge the allowed max charge rate from the BMS was 640Amps. It started reducing after 91% SOC.

1 x Quattro 10000 240V which is connected to a lynx distributor. The 95mm2 cable runs are extremely short 50cm. The batteries have 4 sets of cables connecting them in pairs so 4 cables that are specced for 120 Amps each. I'm looking to put 288 Amps through each and they are cool to the touch.

1 x Cerbo GX running the show.

All devices have the latest firmware as of this post apart from the Quattro which is at v500. The battery & room temperature are at 25 deg C though I started at 14 deg C.

I have been through all the settings and ESS and DCVV have charge limit disabled. The only setting I could find that might have some bearing on everything is if I look at the settings file using VEConfig. In the charger tab I have weak ac unticked. I am using grid on AC 1. The charge current is set to 140A. I am unable to set it any higher despite my battery system being more than capable of taking more. Lithium batteries are ticked. Battery type defaults to 'no corresponding type' after putting in the voltages/absorption time from the document referred to above.

Is there something obvious I have missed? I have been through every single page on the cerbo to make sure there is nothing that could be affecting the charge rate. How can I achieve the 8kW rate with the ESS enabled?

thanks

MultiPlus Quattro Inverter Chargerbattery chargingESSquattro 10kva
2 |3000
Toggle Comment visibility. Current Visibility: Viewable by all users

Up to 8 attachments (including images) can be used with a maximum of 190.8 MiB each and 286.6 MiB total.

1 Answer
snoobler avatar image
snoobler answered ·

The 10kW rating is not a symmetrical inverter/charger rating. It's the inverter kVA rated output.

Check the datasheet.

The Quattro charger is limited to 140A @ 25°C. Period.

IIRC, the Pylontechs are typically limited to 52V, so your maximum theoretical output is, 140A * 52V = 7280W.

Not sure where you're getting the 8000W number. If it's the table, that's inverter output, not charger. None of those numbers related to charger power. Look at the column headings.

It's not uncommon for chargers to fail to reach the absolute maximum output, so 6600W vs. a maximum theoretical of 7280W sounds pretty good to me. They self-throttle due to INTERNAL temperature. At 6600W, you have about 600W of inefficiency being converted to heat inside the unit. It's been a long time since it was common, but have you ever felt the heat coming off 600W of incandescent light bulbs? Fricken hot. Unit is NOT operating at 25°C regardless of ambient temp.


1 comment
2 |3000
Toggle Comment visibility. Current Visibility: Viewable by all users

Up to 8 attachments (including images) can be used with a maximum of 190.8 MiB each and 286.6 MiB total.

andy156 avatar image andy156 commented ·

Ah silly me. Thanks for your detailed reply. I had completely forgotten about the charge rate on the data sheet and more recently I had made the assumption it worked the same both ways. It was very rare I would have required the greater charging rate maybe one day every few years. I am throttling to 65amps charging at the moment and am delighted to be time shifting the energy nicely.

It’s shame we can’t access the internal temperature. There is a bit of a balancing act between the batteries wanting 25 degrees and the Quattro presumably much less. Maybe I can put the exhaust through the batteries on the way out.

Thankfully I had taken into account the inefficiencies with my cooling strategy. I have two large fans which can shift 1200 cubic meters/h between them so that if one fan fails the room will not turn in to a furnace.

0 Likes 0 ·