question

Hi @Doctoremote

You could try raising the Voltage that the Multi generates when it's standalone.

You don't say what your V is, but where I live the standard is 230V. Yet the grid runs >240 (often even higher with domestic solar feedback in play). I use gensets, but both those are >240V too.

My Multi came 230V default and I left it there. But I can actually pick the difference with some kit, most notably a pellet heater that ignites better at the higher V.

Yet I have an old Hitachi washer that baulks at one of the gensets, won't even turn the light on. Though the Multi accepts it, but not always.

I don't doubt the quality of the Multi inverter output, but sometimes the kit we hang off it might have issues too. Horrible power-factor is more common than one might think.

There are quite a few reports of this machine being intolerant of inverters by UK canal users. I have seen second hand reports that Zanussi have some electronic check for grid connection, i have no idea if this is the case but this allegedly causes problems with some inverters. As you have done the light bulb that should have got it out of power saving mode if you have that enabled. Not a lot oh help i know.

I have been struggling with this problem for ages.

Now finally got it working.

Below is a copy from another forum of how I finally sorted it.

Sharing to spread the word for others in the same situation!

So guess what. This is fixed!!!!

O M Goodness I was so excited when it worked.

How? Well a long answer and a short answer. Skip to bottom for the short answer!

First I went to change the frequency and voltage using the jumpers. Thought that would be fairly straight forward, but reading the manual and looking at it, it is actually pretty involved and no way to see the results of your changes so trying all different setting was going to be pretty laborious and imprecise.

So I looked at connecting with Victron Connect. That is how I connect to the solar controllers via bluetooth and iphone. You need to get a Bluetooth dongle for the inverter though and plug it in to the RJ45 socket. Not particularly cheap but if it works I'll try it.

But... on further reading I discovered that connecting in this way only allows basic control, ie. On/Off and set shore power limit... NOT to change frequency and voltage. Hmmm, not much good.

To connect properly you need to connect to a laptop, still using Victron Connect app, but with a RJ45 cable... but it can't go straight into the computer, it needs to go into a little box that converts to a usb plug. A Victron Interface Cable MK3 VE.Bus to USB to be precise. Apparently if it is hard wired in this way you can change all the settings. I'm using Mac and an iPhone. It has to be on OS, won't work on IOS so not on phone or tablet.

OK fine, I need to get this working so I bought the VE.Bus to USB thing, then I went and bought a RJ45 cable to connect the two. Turned on my Mac, opened Victron connect and... Success!! There was my inverter showing all the details of what it was doing and access to all the settings.

The Zanussi machine says 230-240v 50Hz. The inverter was giving 230v at 50Hz. First attempt change volts to 240v... It seemed to be working a lot better... glimmer of hope?

But no. Half way through the same old stopping and hopeless clicking as the relay engaged and disengaged.

Tried very voltage in between and no joy. It was just the same as before.

Changed the frequency to 60Hz. Non starter. Machine just blank for 20s followed by an error light flashing.

So it looked like the end of the road. All I could tell was that when the clicking and general not working occurred was when the voltage was out of range, either dropping below 230 or jumping over 240v. It seemed like the Inverter was struggling to keep the voltage stable. sometimes it tanked down to like 130v briefly... which would have the machine clicking, but after the voltage returned it would continue to click, as if that episode had thrown it out.

After all the hope and excitement thinking I had a route to success I was pretty disappointed that nothing seemed to be having a positive effect.

Eventually I clicked the 3 little dots in the top corner and opened the About Software info. There was a little clickable link offering to update to latest Firmware.

Oh yes I thought, I ought to do that.

On completion the machine restarted and I jumped out of my skin to hear the noise the inverter made. It suddenly started buzzing harshly, crackling like a geiger counter. Rushed to the engine room expecting to see blue smoke coming out of the thing... what had I done??

But then, the washing machine ran, and then it went to rinse cycle and then it went into the spin cycle... and then it stopped..!

I couldn't believe it. Quickly I put another load on and sat there watching it for the full cycle. It worked absolutely fine, just like when on shore power. The inverter continued to make the new crackling sound but without any apparent problem.

Not wanting to get carried away I have waited a week or so and yes, I can report that the problem has been completely resolved. I expect the people at Victron were aware of the issue and have managed to resolve it with a software update, so...

The short answer is - I updated the firmware.

Seems obvious now doesn't it?!