question

colinivancooper avatar image
colinivancooper asked

Quattro 12/3000/120 thinks battery voltage is 6.5V?

There has been a recent problem in that my Quattro is showing a voltage detection error. It thinks the battery voltage is 6.5V although everything else (the battery monitor, a Venus GX, and my multimeter) says the batteries are normal at 12.8V or thereabouts. The quattro will now invert OK but won’t charge.


Can you suggest what might be wrong? I have checked the connections to the battery and they all appear good. And the inverter is working OK so that connection must be good.


Where are the settings to control where the VE Bus picks up voltage and state of charge? And then how to make the Quattro use those?

battery chargingvoltageVE.Bus
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2 Answers
Daniël Boekel (Victron Energy Staff) avatar image
Daniël Boekel (Victron Energy Staff) answered ·

Hi @colinivancooper

Do you have a v-sense wire connected? do you have pictures of the wiring at the Quattro?

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colinivancooper avatar image
colinivancooper answered ·

I did not have a v sense wire connected. I did try adding one but it makes no difference to the voltage reading given out by the Quattro.


As an extra the voltage detected seems to vary quite a bit between 6V and 10V. Can’t see any reason for the variations.


On connections on DC I just have battery and temperature sense. As I said above I have tried with and without voltage sense too.


On AC I have inputs from shore and genny. Outputs 1 and 2 go to 230V supplies on boat.


For comms I have VE Net to a control panel - also tried adding a Venus GX. The Venus also connects to a battery monitor.


The Quattro software is version 2631150. I’ve emailed the dealer that supplied the Quattro to update this. Not sure if they will as the Quattro was installed by the previous owners of the boat. So I have not spoken to the dealer before. I have a USB MK3 connector and can flash this myself if I can get the file.


But could that be a reason for the strange voltage reading? Or by updating the software can I utilise the BM to detect voltage and state of charge so bypassing the faulty(?) Quattro readings?


Sorry for lots of questions.

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Daniël Boekel (Victron Energy Staff) avatar image Daniël Boekel (Victron Energy Staff) ♦♦ commented ·

Can you share pictures of the temperature sensor connection?

also you can try connecting v-sense wires to see if this makes a difference.


a firmware update wouldn't hurt either way:
https://www.victronenergy.com/live/updating_firmware:updating_ve.bus_products

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colinivancooper avatar image colinivancooper Daniël Boekel (Victron Energy Staff) ♦♦ commented ·

Here is the image. The temperature sensor connections are the blue and red wires connecting below where the UTP cable comes in at the top.


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64ddcbd1-0bb5-4222-90eb-f6a138f53a49.jpeg (1.6 MiB)
colinivancooper avatar image colinivancooper Daniël Boekel (Victron Energy Staff) ♦♦ commented ·

I just obtained latest firmware (460) and flashed the unit. It is now picking up what appears to be the correct voltage sense. It is also charging again.


But, is this an intermittent fault that is not really fixed? The voltage has always varied and could just happen to be about right now. Could a firmware update change the voltage being sensed? Presumably a software update can do anything ... but I am still not convinced this is fully working.


Do you have any advice on how I can test this to be sure?

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colinivancooper avatar image colinivancooper Daniël Boekel (Victron Energy Staff) ♦♦ commented ·

I was right. The voltage sense is still not related to the battery voltage. See a snapshot from the Venus monitor below. The VE Net voltage from the Quattro dives down to about 9V whilst the battery remains at normal voltages. I then reset the Quattro and it is back to charge. But clearly something wrong still. Any thoughts?


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e468e7f5-ce2f-4771-9b83-d4e2e177055f.png (364.3 KiB)
Daniël Boekel (Victron Energy Staff) avatar image Daniël Boekel (Victron Energy Staff) ♦♦ colinivancooper commented ·

I'd try using a v-sense cable first to see if that helps, and contact your distributor for repair.

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What is VE.Bus?