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paul-lannon avatar image
paul-lannon asked

Quattro Parallel Operation

Dear Members,

My first post on the forum and I would be very grateful for any guidance/confirmation that can be provided.

We have just upgraded our boat and the biggest challenge and cost is going to be upgrading the electrical system onboard. I do have a 9.5kva generator and shore power when available. Battery bank is 12V and provides power for all “essential” operational equipment. I intend to provide all other consumers at 220V.

I’ve read that the Quattro’s are capable of parallel operation and intend to upgrade and install 2 x 5000W 12/220 units in parallel providing approximately the same power as the generator and more than normal shore power at 15/30A (I also get a little redundancy if/when issues arise).

Questions:

· Can I run shore power and split to both Quattro’s? I believe the answer is yes

· Can I run generator and split to both Quattro’s? I believe the answer is yes

· Can I take the 220V output from both Quattro’s and common them up before running the common power supply to my 220V distribution board? The point I need guidance on

Best regards

Paul

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2 Answers
JohnC avatar image
JohnC answered ·

Hi @Paul Lannon

The answer is 'yes' to all of your questions. https://www.victronenergy.com/live/ve.bus:manual_parallel_and_three_phase_systems

Having 10kVA of inverter/charger hanging off a 12V batt bank is somewhat frightening though, and there may be better ways to handle your 12V loads with a 48V bank. Consider..

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paul-lannon avatar image
paul-lannon answered ·

Hi John,

Thank you for the quick response, it’s appreciated.

I don’t anticipate running 10KW, I just want the invertors to be capable of running the full capacity of the generator. This allows me to have a single 220V distribution board and keeps the wiring as simple as possible. The big infrequent user would be air conditioning and with some shore power supplies the battery boost will help get over the tripping of breakers.

Regarding the battery bank voltage I “believe” that the lower the voltage the more flexibility and efficiency is gained with solar? That and the fact that the current bank is 12V is the only reason I have for staying at 12V. I’ll fuse the 12V in to each of the invertors @ 500A and each of the batteries at a little over their rated power

Best regards

Paul

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Matthias Lange - DE avatar image Matthias Lange - DE ♦ commented ·

You can also pass trough the full generator power with a single 3000VA Quattro.
It has a 50A transfer switch.

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JohnC avatar image JohnC ♦ commented ·

@Paul Lannon

Yeh Paul, fair enough with the 12V thing. It's the size of the inverter capacity that boggled my mind.

Matthias is right. You don't need inverter capacity to pass through ac input. You need passthrough capacity, and a 5000 Quattro is rated 100Amps for that, either the 120V or 230V models. And then with it's PowerAssist it can add the inverter capacity to that.

In any case I'd start with a single to see if it'll accept your genny input. This is a separate issue, but can heavily impinge on plans if it exists. And you won't know for sure until you test for it.

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