question

jameswest avatar image
jameswest asked

Multiplus II ESS Standby Mode

Setup: Cerbo GX + Multiplus II 48/5000 set up for ESS. No Solar.

What are the best settings to put the multiplus in an istandby/idle state? By standby I mean no ESS feed-in, no charging of the battery but allowing power to critical loads from the grid and act as a UPS should the grid fail.

The best I’ve managed to come up with is:

1. Cerbo GX relay connected to AUX1 of MP to disable ESS feed-in

2. Disable all scheduled charge

3. ESS mode set to Optimised

4. Multiplus set to ON


What does setting ESS mode to External do? Maybe it achieves the same thing?


Multiplus-IIESS
2 |3000

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

6 Answers
anieuwstadt avatar image
anieuwstadt answered ·

Set the ESS mode to "Keep battery charged". Nothing else should be needed.

2 |3000

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

jameswest avatar image
jameswest answered ·

Unfortunately that charges the battery. I’m looking for a mode that neither feeds-in or charges the battery.

2 |3000

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

anieuwstadt avatar image
anieuwstadt answered ·

Under what conditions will the battery charge?


2 |3000

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

jameswest avatar image
jameswest answered ·

When the cost of generation is cheap enough. If we use a tariff like octopus agile that changes every 30 mins, I’d be looking to run the system in 3 modes:

1.Low tariff - charge batteries

2. Expensive tariff - run house off batteries

3. Middle tariff - not cheap enough to warrant charging the batteries and not expensive enough to run the house off the batteries once inverter inefficiencies are taken in to account. In this mode, the system should sit idle ready to act as a UPS should the grid fail.


I have no problem coding the logic, just need to know what parameters to change to achieve the above 3 states.

2 |3000

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

hominidae avatar image
hominidae answered ·
  • during "1.Low tariff - charge batteries"
    => set ESS mode to "keep batteries charged". This will immediate start charging the batteries from the grid with the max current allowed by the BMS.
  • during "2. Expensive tariff - run house off batteries"
    => set to normal ESS-Mode (optimized, either with or without battery life); set grid-setpoint to 0W or slightly below zero watts in order to reduce grid usage the most. Note that there will be a slight feed in to the grid, when loads switch off as ESS-mode/the inverter is lagging behind a bit because of the ESS.loop in the Cerbo..
  • during "3. Middle tariff"
    => set ESS Min-SoC% to the actual SoC%. In addition set DVCC limit Charge Current to 0A to prevent "accidental" charging if SoC drops a bit below Min-SoC (calculated by BMS) but/while grid is still available.


2 |3000

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

jameswest avatar image
jameswest answered ·

That’s very useful information. Thank you for the settings.

2 |3000

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