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diddikai avatar image
diddikai asked

Does Victron have plans to provide control for multiple different-sized inverters?

As in small remote power systems using multiple generators of different sizes matched to the load, does Victron plan a mechanism to dispatch different inverters based on the load? For example, run a 250/12 inverter for small loads and switch to a 3000/12 when larger loads occur.

multiple inverters
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diddikai avatar image diddikai commented ·
Thanks for all your comments Gents. Ok, let me expand the example for a situation that might have more resonance with you folks. Let's say I have a remote community power system with 20 x 5kVA inverters, each of which has 35W of no-load dissipation. So, 700W standby load, which may be worth reducing depending on location, solar availability & fuel cost. Typical base load might be 15% of peak load, so only 2 inverters are required for that...


I do not fully understand the existing parallel inverter control logic. Do they all go into AES/Search Mode in parallel, or is there a cascade based on load? If the latter, then that solves my question. If the former, then at some scale there is a rationale to being able to dispatch the inverters, just as one would dispatch multiple diesels to serve load.

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nickdb avatar image
nickdb answered ·

I think its safe to say No.

why exactly would that be a good idea?

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matt1309 avatar image matt1309 commented ·

Not what OP alludes to but it would allow customer to buy small and expand systems. Something that's difficult unless you start with AC coupled PV route.

So scalability/initial cost is why it would be a nice idea for customers

(However I understand from technical stand point it's difficult to implement)

The "exactly" makes it feels so condescending hahaha


If OP means more from software/data point of view. Like a VRM data aggregator. Then i think that's also a nice idea. Feels less of a challenge as well

Ideal for marketing for installers. Easily see all the PV they've installed. Or for sites where there are multiple buildings with their own installs.

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Alex Pescaru avatar image
Alex Pescaru answered ·

Hi @Diddikai

What you want will be true only if the zero-load power consumption between the inverters is considerable different. But the difference is too small in order to warrant developing what you suggested.

The smallest one is 5W for a 250W inverter and the biggest one is 20W for a 3000W inverter.

Just use the one that will satisfy safely your biggest load... It seems to be more efficient.

Alex

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diddikai avatar image diddikai commented ·
Alex, you guessed exactly my use case! 150W 24 hours/day plus intermittent 2500W @ 4 hours/day. If I only use my 3000W inverter, I am wasting 15W for 20 hours/day=300Wh/day (25 Ah @ 12V).
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