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Paul Simon asked

Phoenix Inverter 12/500 defective?

Hello! Since yesterday the Phoenix Inverter 12/500 in my van is constantly going into low voltage shutdown mode after a short while although the battery (100Ah LiFePo @ 13.5V) is nearly fully charged. In the Victron Connect App the device is showing a wildly fluctuating battery voltage as long as its running - eventually triggering the low voltage protection. The inverter is connected to the battery by 0.5m of 6mm² cable as prescribed in the instructions, no fuse. I checked the cabling and everything seems to be just fine. Since the device was working flawlessly in exactly this setup for one and a half years I have come to the conclusion that it must be faulty and needs to be replaced (or repaired if possible). What do you think? Any advice appreciated!

A load (laptop power adapter, approximately 75 Watts) is connected to the inverter at about 10s into the video:

And another one:

Phoenix Inverter
victronphoenix12-500-error.mp4 (269.3 KiB)
victronphoenix12-500-error2.mp4 (536.8 KiB)
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Paul Simon answered ·

Okay, my bad: While double checking the cabling for the second time I noticed that one of the terminals on the inverter had come a little loose. Most likely by vibrations from driving the van. After tightening the screw as much as I dared the problem is gone now.

I really wish that Victron used a little sturdier terminals, though. Same goes for the MPPTs. Why not simply provide M4, M6, M8, M10 studs depending on Amperage?

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Alexandra avatar image Alexandra ♦ commented ·
Regular checks and maintenance would still be necessary. This is true of most electrics. Yours has the added issues of vibration which has a way of working things loose. So does thermal cycling.
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