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This screen shot is from: Manual-Quattro-5k-120V-(firmware-xxxx4xx)a-EN-ES
The main Question is that now there is contradiction in description how the Search mode works. first is say "no-load" then it say you can adjust the "shut down" and "Turn on" levels.
What we are facing as problem is that in reality Search mode will only be active if there is litarly ZERO LOAD AC on the inverter, so what is the need for the load levels defination?!!
When it talks about "power consumption in no-load operation," it just means that the base consumption of the inverter is going to be reduced during Search. It is trying to make a distinction between that internal power cost and any actual (AC) loads: the latter will not be magically reduced by 70%.
The wording is somewhat awkward in English.
I interpret it as there are two conditions the inverter can test for in search mode. Either a "no load" or "low load" with the latter being a user programmable option e.g. where maybe some chargers etc. or devices in standby mode will continue to draw power but in essence, it can actually be turned off using this feature.
I think the two settings are probably just a hysteresis band.
If the 0.5Hz probe detects a power demand above "turn on," the inverter spins up. If the power demand subsequently drops below "shut down," the inverter goes back to Search.
The band allows you to continue to power devices that exceed the Turn On threshold initially but that then draw some lower power for a while.
I believe this is basically a separate concern from the 70% baseline power savings discussed in my answer. The original question is too vague to know exactly what the concern is, however.
Firstly, thanks for your intentions to Help to answer the question a lot
It is needed to be clarified that it would be appreciated if the answeres comes from someone who did test this in the field? Not just based on WRITTEN INSTRUCTION understanding!
Because simply testing it in reality,y would lead to one behviour>> Search mode is ONLY active and the inverter is showing "low power" when there is ZERO watts consumed. Even less than 1 Watt will wake-up the inverter and keep it on to feed the load with internal consumption of 30 W. Which doesn't make any technical scene to have lower and higher Hystrisys values if they will never be applied.
The Hystrisys may apply in the "Modified sine wave" mode, but not in "Search mode" that what we experience so far.
How did you test this? what kind of load did you use?
the loads are normal off-grid household load (Fridge, Toaster, laptops, Modem...)
We try to put the AC loads below the defined Hystrisys to test and then turn some on to see how it reacts, but until now it is hard to stay with what the manual descripes
Are you trying to use AES on your parallel system that we discussed in your other question?
If so, as discussed and as per the related manual - it's NOT meant to work on multi unit systems (only stand alone units).
Hi Mark,
the system we have is a stand-alone unit we are using only 1 Quattro 5000
I believe you did confuse this with having a Hybrid li-ion + lead-acid storage in parallel. I know that the AES won't work in a parallel Quattro configuration but we have only 1
To clarify Mohamed's questions, here is what is actually happening:
The "Start AES when load lower than" is currently set at 90 W and the "stop AES when load___W higher than start level" is currently set at 50W. (these are values that I have been experimenting with just to see if I can get the inverter to stay in 'search mode'. Also note that if I turn all AC loads off, the inverter does go into 'search mode')
One would expect that when the AC load is lower than 90W the inverter would shut down into 'search mode' and when the load reached 90+50=140W the inverter would turn back on. This, however, is not the case.
An AC load of 40 W, for example, does not turn the inverter off. If the load reaches ~8 W the inverter momentarily shows 'low load' and shuts down and then almost immediately starts up again.
Nothing tried so far has worked to get the 'search mode' to work properly.
Any suggestions?
Okay, so two things:
1) As documented in the manual, you can't use Search mode for certain types of house loads, including some of the ones listed in Mohamed's clarification. So before we spend more time on this, be sure this is something you actually want. For most of us, Search is essentially useless.
2) Thanks for the clarification, but we still need to know what was asked earlier: how exactly are you making the load for your test?
I have a very similar issue with my Multiplus 24/2000.
I live off grid surrounded by woodland so good sunlight is quite scarce in winter. With a zero load power of 20w i'm losing 20x24=480wh/day. It's not huge but it's still significant for me. I need to be able to run my fridge while I'm out, so I thought search mode could be useful.
With the values of 50w for shutdown and 108W for turn on, even just a 5w light switched on will prevent the multi from going in to search mode. Switch the light off and search mode starts, and it works fine with the fridge coming on and off. But these numbers just don't add up. Why is there this inaccuracy?
The practicalities of using search mode on a day to day basis I have yet to explore. But I could do with knowing what's happening here first.
I'm running firmware version 413 which is fairly outdated. Would it be worth me updating to help with this issue?
Many thanks
Definitely sounds weird.
What happens if you simply raise the shutdown setting higher? Is there some value 50 < x < 108 at which the 5W light turning off does send it back into search?
Hey ben,
I haven’t experimented much with different shutdown values yet, I wanted to check I wasn’t misunderstanding something first.
I’ll have to leave that till the weekend though when I’ll at least have lots of daylight to make things easier!
Any thoughts on the firmware upgrade?
I'm definitely no expert, but my suspicion is that the firmware won't change a thing. If I weren't personally hesitant to take firmware updates "just for fun," I would still encourage you to try it since it's pretty easy to do. But, I am, and so I'm a lot less excited about the idea. :)
