question

ahrenst avatar image
ahrenst asked

Inverter generator compatibility??

Hi,

I have been looking to purchase a power bank with Victron inverter/charger or other make from a UK supplier. One of the criteria for buying such a system is that I can be guaranteed that it can be charged from an inverter generator. First of all, the inverter generator is surely recommended at it gives a pure sine-wave but having an inverter genset that it minimum 1.5 time of a ~5KW Inverter/charger would be a 7.5 KW generator which would be really expensive especially if you want a good quality and silent.

So, I got two options, stay with a ~3KW inverter generator and run as needed and forget about the power wall or can someone confirm that the inverter/charger is compatible. For all models it says you can set the Amps for charging yet the supplier in the UK says it will NOT work with a smaller gen-set. So you can charge the batteries with less than 1 kw from a cloudy day with solar panels but you cannot charge with ~3Kw from a genset. Really! It even says same in the Victron manual. Why?

2nd question, how would I ensure the house load power will not be limited (by-pass) even if the inverter charger is limited to 5KW?

Thanks

Alex

Generator
2 |3000

Up to 8 attachments (including images) can be used with a maximum of 190.8 MiB each and 286.6 MiB total.

4 Answers
jordan-de-geus avatar image
jordan-de-geus answered ·

Is your house load going to be connected to your inverter then to the grid? I would imagine if you do it this way, you are going to need a system that will make the 7.5kw gen worth the cost.


Any generator will work, you will just have to run longer to get batteries charged up. I have a 2200w Genset that charges my battery via a 2kw inverter charger(80amp charger which is 8.5amps at 120v - so much less than what the Genset can handle).


Your battery charger should be sized to your bank and Genset should be sized appropriately. In other words, maybe you run a 7.5kw Genset attached to 2 or 3 chargers to get the amps you need.


Personally if this is a back up system, I'd only have critical loads batched out to the power wall and inverter and a smaller Genset. Costs go down across the board as your sizing requirements are less

2 |3000

Up to 8 attachments (including images) can be used with a maximum of 190.8 MiB each and 286.6 MiB total.

ahrenst avatar image
ahrenst answered ·

Thanks Jordan,

Well I would want a inverter/charger and battery bank that can provide 4-5 KW probably coupled with 8-10 KWA lithium battery bank. My house uses about 10KWA over the winter but obviously this can be reduced of i.e. 5-6 KWA if I needed to. What I DONT want is a massive invert generator. I want somethink I stow away without taking space in my garage. So ~3KW inverter genset.

I understand the Victron Muitiplus II can take 2 outputs (which I dont need) but how are the genset connected as I dont see two AC inputs? If it is the same line with a manual or automated switch then then the max charge Amp would have to be set different when switching from grid to gen-set. In other words the Vitron PowerControl should only be used when the grid if off. These type of settings I would really like to understand before buying.

In anyone got a wire diagram for how to connect grid and genset and solar in one package please share. How would the setting on the Vitron handle no PowerControl for grid and PowerControl for genset. Will that have to be manually set in a power outage and if so that is bound to go wrong....

PowerAssist sounds great and no issue with that part.

2 |3000

Up to 8 attachments (including images) can be used with a maximum of 190.8 MiB each and 286.6 MiB total.

mani1265 avatar image
mani1265 answered ·

I think it is better to buy inverter generator from one of these model:

قیمت موتور برق

https://irmotorbargh.com/product-tag/%d8%a7%db%8c%d9%86%d9%88%d8%b1%d8%aa%d8%b1%db%8c/

2 |3000

Up to 8 attachments (including images) can be used with a maximum of 190.8 MiB each and 286.6 MiB total.

andy156 avatar image
andy156 answered ·

https://www.victronenergy.com/live/multiplus_faq. This document refers to generator sizes. Underneath the table is this line


If your generator is smaller than the recommended size for your inverter/charger, you will definitely need to adjust the settings on the inverter/charger and reduce the AC input current limit, and/or a DC charge current limit to prevent overloading the generator.

I presume this is what you were looking for. Ie you set the grid setting to generator and the also the maximum input. 75% of your generator should probably work as that is more efficient than running it at max-chat. You need to check what the maximum continuous running hours are for your generator as not all have the cooling to run near full out put continuously. They are designed for the occasional fridge going on off or a few minutes of a tool running.


You are right you would need a change over switch to bring in the input from a generator. For a Multiplus I'm guessing you would have to manually go in to the settings and change everything to the generator settings and vice versa when you go back to the grid. The Quattro allows them all to be set up once as it has both inputs.

2 |3000

Up to 8 attachments (including images) can be used with a maximum of 190.8 MiB each and 286.6 MiB total.