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Trevor Bird avatar image
Trevor Bird asked

Two Quattros with one CerboGX. Possible software improvement.

If we have a system with 2 independent Quattros, with both inverters powered off the one battery bank, it is not possible to show both Quattros on the one Touch 50 screen as the Cerbo can only handle one VE.Bus device at a time.

If however the second Quattro is connected to the Cerbo GX via the Mk3 USB adapter, the MFD integration allows the DC current of the second Quattro to be displayed. It can also be seen on VRM. This is a good feature but the software could be slightly improved to tell a slightly better story.

If you look at the photo of the MFD integration, the two Quattros come up under a heading “Batteries”. They appear with the Smartshunt and it indicates the system has 3 Batteries.
It would be better to recognise the Quattros as not Batteries but as loads. Certainly the Smartshunt represents a battery bank as it is the chosen method of battery monitoring but the Quattros are not Batteries but rather are loads on the one battery bank.

Also, it would be great to see both Quattro AC loads independently and then summed to provide a total overall power draw. The software currently only shows the VE.BUS connected Quattro but I figure the USB connected Quattro data must be available.


Our configuration basically uses one Quattro to power 50hz outlets and the other Quattro to provide battery power via the charger from a 60 hz generator( or 50 hz mains) thus allowing 50 hz from a 60 Hz or 50 Hz source. I know it is using the Quattros in a slightly unconventional manner but if the MFD integration could handle both Quattros logically from a software perspective it would be even better.


I know software for every use case is difficult and maybe this use case is slightly unusual but I mention it only in the interests of improving the product if it were not too difficult to implement.


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MultiPlus Quattro Inverter Chargercerbo gxmarine mfd app
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2 Answers
basil katakuzinos avatar image
basil katakuzinos answered ·

Their is an option in VE Config to set the quattros to accept a wide frequencey. Would this not allow you to configure the quattros in paralell or 2 phase while achieving your goal? Quattros also have two inputs so you could have 50Hz in on AC 1 and 60Hz in on AC 2 (with wide frequency enabled)

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basil katakuzinos avatar image basil katakuzinos commented ·

If you really need 50Hz power only from your 60Hz generator then would it not be suited to put your 50Hz loads infront of one quattro and your 60Hz loads infront of the genny and then instead of a second quattro use an AC to DC charger?

I think the real problem is that you are trying to use a quattro as a dedicated charger, not really its intended purpose and verry much an edge case.

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Trevor Bird avatar image
Trevor Bird answered ·

Yes, thanks for those responses.

I have not outlined the entire design. One Quattro has both inputs fed by 50 hz shore power or 60 hz generator and handles either 50 or 60 hz loads. Wide band (45-65hz) allows it to switch with either input. One of the loads is on inverter and the others are on non inverter loads.
The other Quattro has shore power only 50hz and has loads on inverter only so is always a 50hz output. Yes the Quattro that switches between gen and shore power is also used as a powerful battery charger. It is convenient because it is hard to purchase a 220 amps battery charger that can back off the charge current if other loads threaten to overload the input current limit. Quattro is really good at that.

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