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jon-terry avatar image
jon-terry asked

Generator provides power through Quattro but doesn’t charge batteries

I have a Quattro 5 kva inverter charger on my boat. It’s setup with a Northern Lights generator as one AC power source and shore power as the other.

This has worked well for 2+ years. We used shore power all winter living aboard in a marina. We hadn’t used the generator yet this sailing seasons and when we revved it up we found that, while it provides AC power to match any active AC loads, it no longer charges the (Victron LifePo) batteries.

The light comes on to say it’s bulk charging but it’s not.

I didn't make any intentional changes to any settings. I turned off the Quattro a few weeks ago to let a workmen get safely into our mechanical space.

The Quattro came back on afterwards and had been happily inverting like always. Just no charging.

I’ve tried turning it off and on again. No luck.

Any ideas for a setting that could have changed during a firmware update or something along those lines?


MultiPlus Quattro Inverter Chargerbattery chargingGenerator
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snoobler avatar image snoobler commented ·
Will it charge in charger only mode?


LFP batteries must be below a certain voltage ... 0.6V below float voltage if I recall for charging to occur - an undocumented feature.


Firmware updates do not happen automatically. Did you apply a firmware update?

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jon-terry avatar image jon-terry snoobler commented ·
Batteries would have been well below float voltage. Our house bank has been below 80% each time we’ve run the generator since this problem manifested.


The Quattro hasn’t had a firmware update since it’s not easy to do unlike the other devices in the Victron system.


The batteries themselves and the Victron battery protect have been updated semi-recently




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jon-terry avatar image jon-terry jon-terry commented ·
Haven’t tried in charger only mode. Can test that tomorrow.
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snoobler avatar image snoobler jon-terry commented ·
Did you try it in charger only mode?


The batteries/BP - have they just been updated, or have system changes been made?


If you have a GX device, VRM and an internet connection, the remote VE.Bus firmware update through VRM is quite awesome. I would try that next.

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jon-terry avatar image jon-terry snoobler commented ·
I tried charger only and it’s still the same. Generator is producing power but little to none is going to the batteries.
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Paul B avatar image Paul B commented ·

Also please advise battery voltage when the generator is running and inverter is showing bulk,

a copy of the inverters setup file would also be handy to look at. plus what other gear is connected to the system ie cerbo etc etc


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jon-terry avatar image jon-terry Paul B commented ·



Batteries are at 13.36. Voltage didn’t change between generator off and on

We have a Quattro, a Lynx Shunt, a Cerbo, Victron battery protect, and Victron Lithium


img-0098.jpeg


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5 Answers
mvas avatar image
mvas answered ·

Can you connect the AC IN to Shore Power and test?
If Shore Power works, then it is something with the Generator.
If Shore Power fails, then it is something with the Quattro / Batteries / Config.
You need to divide and conquer.
Determine what is working vs what is not working.

Is the Generator producing the correct voltage and frequency?

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jon-terry avatar image
jon-terry answered ·

we aren’t going to be in a marina/harbor for a while but will definitely check that when we next are

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derrick thomas avatar image
derrick thomas answered ·

Have you tried enabling/disabling weak ac input?

My system will not charge from generator if weak ac is selected. Weird I know, but worth a look.

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jon-terry avatar image jon-terry commented ·
I certainly haven’t changed this setting. Is it something I can access through the standard touchscreen menus. Or do I have to do it through the PC configuration app?
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derrick thomas avatar image derrick thomas jon-terry commented ·
It can be accessed thru veconfigure either using a mk3 adapter or remote veconfigure thru vrm (both via a PC). If you have a otg cable you can use victron connect on a mobile device.
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jon-terry answered ·

When we finally did get to a marina we had the same problem as with the generator.


Tried to do a firmware update for the Quattro but it wouldn’t work.


In the course of that we had to unplug a bunch of cables and when we plugged them back in, it worked.


Classical example of ‘have you tried unplugging and plugging it back in?”

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jmbpac avatar image
jmbpac answered ·

I’m having the exact same problem. Thanks for letting me know about the unplugging replugging, but that seems odd to have to perform a “hard reset.” I wonder which cable it was that worked???

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