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michelg avatar image
michelg asked

Phoenix 800VA not providing correct power to Cerbo GX

Hello everyone !

Just finished installing the Cerbo GX + Screen, updated to 2.60. I am a little bit surprised by the power produced and reported by the Phoenix 800VA to the Cerbo GX.



We can see 13W produced by the MPPT + 170W draw from the battery bank, so we can consider that around 175W are transformed to 220VAC, but only 24W are reported by the Phoenix.

Any idea or suggestion in order to get the correct value ?

Wiring is done using the 5m official cables from Victron for the mppt, the inverter, and 10m for the battery bank.

Hardware :


Product		 BMV-702

Firmware version v3.10



Product		 SmartSolar Charger MPPT 150/100 rev2

Firmware version v1.50



Product		 Phoenix Inverter 24V 800VA 230V

Firmware version v1.21


By the way, I had to cut a little bit the plastic covering the connector on the cable in order to be able to introduce it into the Phoenix plug. It is too thick to connect correctly.

Thanks for your comments / help.

Michel

cerbo gxPhoenix Inverter
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3 Answers
Rob Fijn avatar image
Rob Fijn answered ·

Hello @MichelG, could it be there is some DC load.
In the Cerbo menu you can enable "Have DC". This will give an extra icon on the display, indicating the DC load directly taken from the battery. Maybe this helps find out where this power is going.

I have a similar setup as you, DC load and AC load via an inverter. When I add the AC and DC load together it will match the energy going out the battery.

See here my screen shot. Was taken in the evening.


Regards, Rob


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michelg avatar image michelg commented ·

Hi Rob, many thanks for the trick. It seems numbers are correct this way, but unless losses in the battery bank (which is "damaged") I have no clue where the Watts are going.



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Justin Cook avatar image
Justin Cook answered ·

Hi @MichelG,

The Cerbo is reporting AC loads (at 230vAC) of 24w; this load + the power the Phoenix takes to function - 13w coming in from your solar = 170w coming out of your battery bank at 25.6vDC.

The reported values appear correct, I think you're just forgetting that wattage @ 25.6vDC is considerably higher than wattage at 220vAC.

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michelg avatar image michelg commented ·

Hi Justin, thanks for your comment. AFAIK P=UI . so 170W @ 25.6VDC = 6.65A, and 24W @ 220VAC = 0,11A .

There is a loss 145W somewhere. Curiously the Phoenix 800A has an efficiency of 90%, which bring us around 150W available at 220VAC (according to the specs.) But I may be wrong.

Using the DC option given by Rob Fijn shows the correct numbers. But still, I have no idea where those whats are consummed... BTW, one of the batteries set is "damaged", but still works, so it could be a loss in the batteries themselves. (The Rolls Batteries)


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michelg avatar image
michelg answered ·

Hi Rob and Justin !

I forgot to mention I have my IT infrastructure running directly on DC, so numbers should be fine. 2 servers, 4 Orion 24/12DC, 1 Fiber Gateway and 1 ADSL Modem + Wifi...

Thanks again for your time and help.

Best regards from Spain.

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