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sesshoumaru avatar image
sesshoumaru asked

Visual alarm before AC-1 power loss

In my system (currently under heavy planning and waiting for Quattro II) I will have the three Quattro units mounted in the basement. However, if AC-1-out is going to loose power soon i would like to have a visual alarm in the living area. No guarantee that any network based notification will be working, there might not be always a device (smartphone, tablet) online to notify me.


So I thought I could use one of the programmable relais of the Quattros. In case AC-1-out is soon going down (maybe based on batt-level and AC-1-in down) I would like to close the relay which then closes a circuit which starts a LED flashlight mounted in the hallway where its good visible.


It should be fool-proof. So regardless why AC-1-out is loosing power, the flashligt should start.
If I use a 12V (20W) LED light, could the relay from the Quattro handle that?
And, would it be foolproof, regardless why AC-1-out loses power (e.g. overload, system failure) or should I use some external current sense approache on the phases?

MultiPlus Quattro Inverter Chargergx device
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Paul B avatar image
Paul B answered ·

Normally the only way that ac1 out will power down is

1 AC overload

2 Low battery voltage


I presume you have a cerbo or other GX device and if so then use its generator autostart feature to open or close relay one based on Ac load or Voltage, or overload or overtemp and if you set the levels correctly then these would work as a pre warning.

or the virtual switch settings in the quattro


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sesshoumaru avatar image sesshoumaru commented ·
I am going to have a Cerbo GX, yes,

The system also will have a generator connected to AC-in-2 which will shoud start only if grid is down and battery goes below e.g. 10% and run until its recharged to e.g. 50%.


So I am probably only concerned about the situation where the Quattro would fail to provide power on AC-1-out for reasons of overload, overheat, battery failure, generator not starting.. its more of the hopefully rare cases that never happen.


I just have to know that the phases are down as I have a dedicated UPS to secure the most ciritical load which is able to hold out about 20min. To have it fool-proof I would like to have a notification of power loss, but in that situation I do not know if I can trust CerboGX to notify me about it - because it also would need power to run, or has it some small battery inside itself?

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Matthias Lange - DE avatar image Matthias Lange - DE ♦ sesshoumaru commented ·
Download and install VE.config and use "fake a target with full options" to see what you can do with the "Virtual Switch" or the "programmable Relay" assistant.
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sesshoumaru avatar image sesshoumaru commented ·
I went for a robust solution on this.

I did build a little box which has two power sockets. One socket gets powered up when the second socket loses power. The power from the first socket comes from my USV and the second socket gets it from the normal phase (e.g. AC1-out of the Quattro). Should be foolproof. First socket goes to a red alarm light in my hallway. Even if the USV keeps powering critical stuff for about 20min, I will still be visually informed - on an electrical level.

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