question

camper avatar image
camper asked

increase eco mode search interval max limit victron inverter 12 500

Good Evening Victron Team,

for our application (small fridge in camper) of your victron phoenix inverter 12/500 we would like to reduce the standby energy as much as possible.

Unfortunately the max value in eco mode of the paraemeter search interval is only 63 seconds. (please refer to the attached picture.)

It would be great when you could increase it to approx. 5min(360sec).


We believe that this would make a lot of customers happy and extend further the usability of your product :-)



Thanks in advance!


increase-limit-of-eco-mode-search-interval-victron.jpg

Phoenix Inverteroffgridinverter current draw
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2 Answers
mvader (Victron Energy) avatar image
mvader (Victron Energy) answered ·

Hi Camper (nice name),

Its not so sure that that will really reduce the power a lot; various parts of the board remain powered in between the search interval, and need to remain powered.

We'll do a quick measurement in the coming days/weeks and let you know.



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camper avatar image camper commented ·

Dear Nameless developer :-),

thanks for your answer.

According to my measurementthe diff of search and stdby is approx. 7Watt. (2Watt more than your datasheet because my digital thermostat consumes 2W but I don't want that...because the fridge needs to run only every 1/2h or less)

Engergy each search intervall: 3.8mWh (with my search duration 2sec)

Each day 1330 search intervalls are done. (with my search intervall 63sec)

->5Wh standby loss


With an new higher search intervall of 360sec:

->5 Times less : Only 1Wh standby loss is achieved :-)


Looking forward to your opinion and I wish you a happy weekend!


datasheet-12-500-victron-stdby-and-zero-load-power.png

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mvader (Victron Energy) avatar image mvader (Victron Energy) ♦♦ camper commented ·

Hi, we measured, and the conclusion is that with a 60 second interval the power draw is almost equal to not searching at all. The difference is a reduction of less than 5%.

And that (less than 5% reduction) is too little to now spend more time on this.

So I'm sorry, but there is nothing to gain here.

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mvader (Victron Energy) avatar image mvader (Victron Energy) ♦♦ mvader (Victron Energy) ♦♦ commented ·

correction, my answer was when using the default burst time (of 0,16s).

I see now you have set that to 2s (if possible, reduce that).

So, having that in mind, you idea suddenly makes more sense / I better understand it.

We'll make the change. I can't promise when yet, might take a few a months but as far as I can see now its definitively something that we'll do.


Thank you for the suggestion!



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camper avatar image camper mvader (Victron Energy) ♦♦ commented ·

Hi, very cool !!!

Indeed I need this long search duration because my digital thermostat needs this to properly wake up, measure if temperature is rose enough to start compressor.

I tried already to reduce eco mode search time but less than 1.5 sec makes the fridge not working anymore.


Thank you so much for doing this change!!!

Really, really great :-)

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camper avatar image
camper answered ·

Dear mvader,

hope this post finds you well.

Since a few month have past I would like to ask you about the status of the change to increase

eco mode search interval max limit to 360 seconds.

Thanks in advance :-)

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