When using a Multiplus or Quattro, is there a way to configure an integrated diesel generator to only charge the batteries (and not power the load)?
asked
Is it possible for the generator to only charge the batteries, and not power the loads?
What is your desired behaviour? Surely it is to keep the loads running? When would you want an AC blackout, but a battery charging?
If you are worried about a large load overloading the generator, then that is possible to manage. You can limit the AC input current of the Multi to prevent overloading the generator.
Once the generator is connected, the AC power it provides will be added to the AC bus and used by the Multi, which prioritises loads over charging the batteries, if there are limits in place.
There is more information here about how the Multi behaves to optimise the use of the available power from the available sources:
https://www.victronenergy.com/upload/documents/White-paper-Achieving-the-impossible-EN.pdf
I don't understand exactly what you are asking to give more specific advice. It may be possible to achieve what you are asking, as the multi is extremely configurable.
..perhaps if the generator makes power that's 'dirty' , which is ok for battery charging but can't be trusted with laptops etc ?
Exactly @OllySpark....@Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager)the genset's output fluctuates a lot (esp frequency) when powering the load. I know having the genset purely charging the batteries is inefficient (higher losses) since to power loads we'll now do a double energy conversion. But if this gets rid of the frequency variations when genset is directly powering load we would be more than happy to implement. Hitherto, I haven't been lucky with finding an appropriate assistant.
Ahh, I understand now.
It's not possible due to the bi-directional transformer of the Multi/Quattro.
A seperate battery charger, with it's own transformer is required.
You could set the AC input parameters to be very strict, so that the generator is disconnected if it's AC frequency varies too much, to keep the quality of the power to the loads. But you would have to experiment with this to see if it was an acceptable work around.
