Victron Multi Charger

[seadog42uk]

I have a 200/100/12 Victron Inverter Charger, my batteries are two Victron 200ah Gel = 400ah total.

 

My question is what rate of charge should my Victron be set at?

 

Stuart

[bottle]

What do you mean by 'rate of charge'.

 

You have a 2000/100/12 victron

 

that means you have a 100 amp charger, the Victron needs to be 'told' the type of batteries.

 

It will do the rest.

[Nickhlx]

What do you mean by 'rate of charge'.

 

You have a 2000/100/12 victron

 

that means you have a 100 amp charger, the Victron needs to be 'told' the type of batteries.

 

It will do the rest.

 

Yes and maybe no - On mine you can limit the max charging current by settings - I have limited mine ( albeit a 3000/120/12) to 75% of max.... ( with a 480 amp hour bank) as the recommended charging current is between 10% and 20% of the capacity... ( partly because the shore supply is limited to 6 amps and I don't want it tripping out just after I have left it ....)

 

Nick

Edited September 13, 2011 by Nickhlx

[Harmony]

Hi There I have been waiting for this type of query to come up. I also have a victron inverter/charger model C12/1600/70, it has 3 led’s (on/off/charge only) When I leave the boat I set it to charge only to keep the battery's “topped up” (the boat is always connected to the shore line). Last year during the big freeze I put a low wattage heater in the boat and the inverter was left on charge only . When I came to use the boat a couple of months later I found the domestic battery switch had burnt out and had to be replaced. I was under the impression that if you are connected to shoreline, AC power would bypass the inverter and “go” through the 240v ring. It seems that if I need to use any 240v appliance I have to go through the inverter even when connected to the shoreline. We have had the boat for 3 years and I have always been suspicious of this inverter and have asked various people including victron with no solution. Can anyone out there tell me how we should be using it please.

Thanks

[Fuss]

Yes and maybe no - On mine you can limit the max charging current by settings - I have limited mine ( albeit a 3000/120/12) to 75% of max.... ( with a 480 amp hour bank) as the recommended charging current is between 10% and 20% of the capacity... ( partly because the shore supply is limited to 6 amps and I don't want it tripping out just after I have left it ....)

 

Nick

just a comment on this .... I actually find the setting and default of 75% of max charge rate confusing and it seems unnecessary. The bulk charge rate should use all amps available until the absorbtion voltage is reached. Thats why the people shelled out on a 100+ amp charger in the first place. If you need less amps for your battery bank then you could have saved money by buying a lower amperage unit... thats why Victron makes lower amerage units I assume.

If you need less amps due to power supply constraints then the remote enables you to dial down from 16a ac to as low as you want.

 

Or am I somehow missing the point.

 

John (oops I see I got a warn status ... I checked my post... I cant see any bad words in there!!)

Edited September 15, 2011 by Fuss

[bottle]

 

John Fuss

 

Welcome to the forum, your 'warn status', every one has one, you can only see your own. As long as it is on zero. there is not a problem

[Nickhlx]

just a comment on this .... I actually find the setting and default of 75% of max charge rate confusing and it seems unnecessary. The bulk charge rate should use all amps available until the absorbtion voltage is reached. Thats why the people shelled out on a 100+ amp charger in the first place. If you need less amps for your battery bank then you could have saved money by buying a lower amperage unit... thats why Victron makes lower amerage units I assume.

If you need less amps due to power supply constraints then the remote enables you to dial down from 16a ac to as low as you want.

 

Or am I somehow missing the point.

 

John (oops I see I got a warn status ... I checked my post... I cant see any bad words in there!!)

 

Yes - missing my point - my shoreline at the moment can only give 5 (or maybe 6 amps unreliably before its prone to tripping) which is obviously undesirable so running it at 120 amps will very likely trip it.

However, I want/need the 3000 watt capability that the unit can invert, and it comes with the 120 amp charging capability, which I could use when I am hooked up to a better 16 Amp shoreline.

 

Also, if you were shoving 120 amps into a bank of say 240 amps ( 50%), if it were possible) I expect the battery might get a bit warmer than it should and be stressed more and last somewhat less than if it were treated with a bit more compassion.

 

I imagine the designers must have considered this in the design phase and incorporated the feature to make it more acceptable to users.... I don't know if they make a 1600 watt inverter with a 120 amp charger - doesn't "feel" right - i.e. appropriate or "balanced" for the current it would take from the likely sized bank it would be operating from...

 

Nick

[WotEver]

Your 6A shoreline would quite probably be fine with the Victron pushing 100A into the batteries (if they wanted 100A). That's only 1200W, and a 6A shoreline can give 1440w. 5A would still give 1200W. So as long as you tell the Victron that the shoreline is only 5A (or 6A - your choice) then it'll make all the right decisions all by itself.

 

Victron know how to design chargers, and as long as you correctly set the battery type then the charger won't overcharge them. Your 400Ah batteries could happily take 200A charge current when they're at 50%, so a 100A charger isn't going to hurt them.

 

Tony

[Nickhlx]

Your 6A shoreline would quite probably be fine with the Victron pushing 100A into the batteries (if they wanted 100A). That's only 1200W, and a 6A shoreline can give 1440w. 5A would still give 1200W. So as long as you tell the Victron that the shoreline is only 5A (or 6A - your choice) then it'll make all the right decisions all by itself.

 

Victron know how to design chargers, and as long as you correctly set the battery type then the charger won't overcharge them. Your 400Ah batteries could happily take 200A charge current when they're at 50%, so a 100A charger isn't going to hurt them.

 

Tony

 

I realise that they probably could, and without compromising their longevity too much, but what I don't know is whether the "6A" breaker is actually "5A" or "7A" and what I absolutely don't want to "go near" is tripping out, hence leaving a good margin to avoid this...

 

The boat is essentially a "weekend" boat, so it doesn't matter if it takes a few more hours on Sunday night to replenish any charge through a lower rate than is possible to achieve (when there would be some risk of tripping out)

 

Nick

Edited September 15, 2011 by Nickhlx

[Boat&Bikes]

This is to nb Harmony...i have the same victron as you.Are you saying that if your victron is switched off you have no 240 supply on your boat? When im on shore power it doesnt come through the inverter while it is either switched off or in charge only mode.

 

Cheers,

 

Ian.

[seadog42uk]

It would appear that the rate of charge was set at 50amps when the Victron was installed. Should I reset the system to the default of 75% of available charge to make better use of the 100ampsr available?

 

Stuart

 

What do you mean by 'rate of charge'.

 

You have a 2000/100/12 victron

 

that means you have a 100 amp charger, the Victron needs to be 'told' the type of batteries.

 

It will do the rest.

[WotEver]

It would appear that the rate of charge was set at 50amps when the Victron was installed. Should I reset the system to the default of 75% of available charge to make better use of the 100ampsr available?

 

Stuart

If it were mine I'd set it to 100% of available. I see no need to limit a 100A charger that's feeding 400Ah of batteries.

 

Tony

[sebrof]

This is to nb Harmony...i have the same victron as you.Are you saying that if your victron is switched off you have no 240 supply on your boat? When im on shore power it doesnt come through the inverter while it is either switched off or in charge only mode.

 

Cheers,

 

Ian.

 

I don't think a combi unit can do two things at once. If you are on shore supply, it should be in charging mode, and if you are not it should be in inverter mode. Depending on how it is wired, switching it off might disable 230V altogether (instead of just switching off the charger), though that would seem to be a bit silly.

 

Can you not disable the charger without turning off the 230V?

[WotEver]

I don't think a combi unit can do two things at once. If you are on shore supply, it should be in charging mode, and if you are not it should be in inverter mode.

Actually, the Victron can. You set what your maximum shorepower/generator can supply (say 6A) and it will pass the incoming mains straight through to your sockets for your loads, using any spare capacity to charge the batteries. As your loads approach the preset max (6A in this case) the combi will then supplement the power from the batteries, up to the full power of the combi itself. It will also disconnect if your batteries start to flag.

 

Tony

[Lesd]

When we're on shoreline and turn our Victron combo off on the remote panel the AC sockets go dead. Its a 3000/120/12. I'd always assumed that was how it was supposed to work, ie leave it on charger when on shoreline and inverter when out and about. Is that not the case ?

[Justme]

When we're on shoreline and turn our Victron combo off on the remote panel the AC sockets go dead. Its a 3000/120/12. I'd always assumed that was how it was supposed to work, ie leave it on charger when on shoreline and inverter when out and about. Is that not the case ?

 

 

You can do that as it will stop you leaving it for a while when you are not there on shore power with say a heater & then the bollard trips goes & you then flatten the bats running it via the inverter.

 

You can however just leave it on "both" IE inverter & when it has shore power it will pass it through & charge then when no shore power it will invert. So can be fully automatic.

 

 

Does any one know if the total power that can be supplied via the Victron is the sum of its pass through (IE the 16amp's relay capacity or the lower input setting if set to a lower limit) plus the inverters 13amps (3kw) or is its max output the 16amp pass through?

[by'eck]

As I understand it the Victron Multiplus range have two intelligent modes when operating with limited shore power current, PowerControl & PowerAssist. The first is to reduce the charger draw on shore power to a set limit. The second is to allow the inverter synchronised to the shore supply, to supplement any shortfall in load whilst limiting the draw from shore supply.

 

In normal pass-through mode the full shore power current is available limited only by the switch over relay current rating. This is either 16 or 30 amps depending on model. In this case the inverter will not add to shore power. Remember that the charger when on will take some of this current

[WotEver]

Does any one know if the total power that can be supplied via the Victron is the sum of its pass through (IE the 16amp's relay capacity or the lower input setting if set to a lower limit) plus the inverters 13amps (3kw) or is its max output the 16amp pass through?

Good question, I was wondering exactly the same thing. The manual doesn't seem too clear about this.

 

Tony

[pearley]

Just to confuse things, my Victron 12/3000/120 Multiplus is a 30 amp version.