Hello,
Having jumped through a lot of hoops to get my connection offer for a pair of MultiPlus II's I am horrified to hear they are very noisy and vibrate!
This is a potential deal breaker for me as they need to go in the kitchen!
So, is there anyone who is willing for me to come and "listen and feel" their install first hand rather than rely on the internet? Ideally in the South West - BS/EX/TA.
Thanks
Might be important to mention the specific model of Multiplus II, I have a 10KVA model however not in the UK i'm afraid.
The 10KVA model has different Fans and the noise might not be comparable to a 2,3 or 5kva model.
They are however loud, depending on the power draw from them. Personally the "hum" does not bother me since mine is mounted in a closet. But the fan noise does really bother me a lot even though its in a enclosed (ventilated) space.
a single 10kva unit can generate up to 70db at its max continous rated load (8KW) from the unit.
One of the reasons these units are loud even at lower loads, is due to the low frequency PWM circuit that drives the fans.
Mine starts to turn the fans on around 1.5- 2kw of inverting load per unit.
Victrons main business is more industrial, where noise isnt that big of a problem. Consumer market seems more a niche for them since they have the hardware that can do it all, but does not really take into account these units hanging in peoples homes (sound wise atleast).
This all depends on the expected loads your having ofcourse, in my case the loads are pretty high due to full electric living, car/cooking/heating.
I can relate to this. My 3x 5kVa setup (3phase) humms too. When the load gets higher and the fan spins up it gets loud(er).
My units are mounted in a separate room on the attic and when in full swing I can hear them in my bedroom a floor down... (wooden floor between the two rooms, non insulated and no flooring on the wooden planks). Due to not drawing a high power later in the evening or at night we don't have a problem with them. I've setup my heatpumpboiler (which is on the landing of the atticfloor next to the stairs) to start up at 7:00 and this is noisier than a Multiplus II 5kVa at 3kW...
We're going to put something on the atticfloor though, mainly to be able and use it as a spare bedroom for guests. The load bearing wall between the electricalroom and the guestroom blocks out the noise completely (eventhough the units are mounted on that wall). And also insulate the roofing, as it's plain wood and tile at the moment. This should absorb some noise too.
The plain 30 minute fireproof door in the electrical room blocks out the noise quite well too. I might put some padding on the door in case a full load is to noisy upstairs.
Here is a quick picture of the setup:
I only have 1200w Multiplus and I wouldn't want it in the house!
Thanks for the feedback and the image - nice install. I thought 3 batteries were too few for a pair of 5k's and I would need 4 US5000 but you have 3 with 3. If so, a few £ saved.
I am going for / considering a pair of 5kVA's due to my grid tied inverter @6kW so I was hoping the shared load wouldn't mean the fans kicked in that much.They can be disabled with the assistant at night or scheduled or controlled by HA as I read and my night-time load would be low at the moment as no cheap rate so they wouldn't be required maybe.
I have frequented many server rooms and those 1U servers make your ears bleed. Similar spec server under my desk now but not a blade server and hardly audible. Designed for the environment. As time goes by I am sure Victron will showcase a domestic offering but I can't wait ;)
Thanks
With our usage I hardly push them beyond 150 amps total.
The highest wattage I recorded was around 9,5kW. for a brief moment of 10/15minutes max. Dishwasher, washing machine, AC and kitchenboiler at the same time. This didn't even hit 200Amps. That's like 70Amps per US5000. They are spec'ed at 80Amps "recommended" continuous draw. This was audible on the landing in the attic though... Nothing extreme though.
We try to use the heavy appliances during the day when the sun is out, this way the load is directly used from our solarpanels (12x400W on a 3p SMA and/or 8x400W on a 1P GroWatt). During the summer this is more than enough to keep the batteries charged (after around 11:00 we sell the power to the grid after charging the batteries).
Can't tell you how it's going to be in the winter though. Based on last winter (before we had the batteries) we're a bit short during bad days. I'm currently looking at setting up another 4x400-415W panels on a 150/45 Bluesolar. This way I can always charge my batteries even after a long outing and bad days, (dead batteries = no AC = no AC connected panels). Looking around seeing all the problems with gas and electrical supplies in Europe with the sanctions against Russia I'm pretty sure we'll see some outages in the short to medium term... And even crazier prices! €0,35 per kWh and around €1,70 per m3 of gas...
I'm going to stop now... we're getting a bit offtopic here ;).
In the kitchen where you live? Beware if you are sensitive to noise, not recommended. Is your kitchen separate and only used when cooking, then maybe it will be fine. They need at least a separate room, preferably sound insulated, and soft mounted to a solid wall.
Even better is in a room separate from the house, like a garage or shed something. If you have the possibility, i would in retrospect invest in longer cabling.
Alternatively you can use the silent fan assistant if you are ok with less loads. The unit will reduce power.
That being said, i don't regret installing my system at home. The best stuff on the market, you just need to find a solution to live with them ;)
I have a 5k Multi II-GX in the South Hams. It is installed on a massive stone wall in a ground floor lobby area, but the fan noise in the bedroom directly above was still significant. So I have programmed a Night Mode where the CCL is 20A and the inverter power limit is 1000W so the fan does not run at night. Let me know how to contact you if you want to come and listen to it.
Thanks for the input. As it would be installed as a house backup ESS, the only place it can go is in the kitchen without running many metres of SWA to nowhere that is built yet. The kitchen, like a lot of homes, is the main hub so it would not go unnoticed. There won't be enough space to add sound proofing to the flimsy enclosure I was planning.
The fan schedule @sharpener and @MichaelVH mentioned is a work around if it wasn't for the reported hum/vibration.
I haven't mentioned the noise element yet to SWMBO as unlike me she has super hearing. It might be time for a disclosure before I go any further.
I have had success in the past with an enclosure of 3/4 inch chipboard lined with 2 ins of fibreglass insulation, to the extent that a colleague said "you can try that motor-generator set now" when it had already been running for an hour.
You would need to have a labyrinth on air inlet and outlet so there is no direct line of sight to the inverter case. I would think this would be quite effective for both the hum and the fan noise. Vibration is largely a matter of the mass the inverter is fixed to, have you got a good solid wall?
An update and feedback.
I heeded the advice and did not put them in the kitchen.
I put them in the small downstairs cloakroom where the meter and consumer units are. I had to fabricate a rack for the batteries and put them elsewhere and this increased DC cable cost. Not ideal as space is tight but the process of a new G99 and nothing else on the market that could do what I wanted forced my hand to 2 x 5k MP2s. With regard to the SWMBO noise sensitivity I went along the forgiveness over permission path.
I mounted them on 18mm ply with 6mm dense rubber glued on each side fixed to an internal brick wall. This has done a good job of isolating them and they don't transmit the vibes up the wall (bedroom above). Being a cloakroom, the door is generally closed and they are open and on display. A talking point for visitors.
In the day they hum a bit more under large loads or (AC) solar charge as expected but only heard if you are in/using the room or stood outside with the door open. Ticking over at <2kw just a tiny hum, no fans.
Not heard all over the house. At night when charging from the off-peak at around 90A they are obviously a bit louder but the fan noise is minimal and constant - not on and off - but I have the later batch of MP2's now**. They don't keep us awake or wake us so forgiveness not needed. I have not implemented the disable fans assistant.
I have been running them since October and very happy with them and their performance/ease of customising.
If I had put them in the kitchen I would not have been so happy so a big thank you to all the comments that guided me to install them outside living spaces as well as mounting recommendations.
**had earlier models but one was faulty out of the box - very loud vibration all the time. Victron replaced the unit and later the original due to incompatibility in the parallel pair due to mixing old and new revisions. Top service.
