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melvin avatar image
melvin asked

Victron Quattro warm weather performance

I have a vessel with 2 Quattro 8000VA inverter/chargers and two 24V Skylla-i 100 amp standalone chargers. They are located in an air conditioned space. I am unable to get full charge capacity from the Quattros when charging our large battery bank. Each inverter/charger is rated for 200 amps of DC charge output so together they should produce 400 amps. I initially get very close to that but after a few minutes charge production falls off to around 300 amps - a loss of about 25%. The units are installed with the required perimeter clearance around them. My suspicion is that the charge capacity is degrading due to heat. I see no degredation in the charge output of the Skylla chargers. Their charge output is always 99.9 or 200 amps. They too are installed with the required perimter open space clearance and are in very close proximity to the Quattros. I am located in a warm climate and can cool the room where this equipment is installed to a temperature of 70°F. I am suspicious that regardless how cool the environment is where this equipment is located their internal operational temperature will be excessive enough to cause the charge output to diminish. If so, then the rated amperage of 200 amps per unit is misleading and unrealaistic. Is there any publised information as to how specific temperatures might influence the Quattro? If they are heat sensative and there is a sensor that throttles the output does anyone know where it is? I am frustrated that I cannot consitently get the maximum rated output when these are installed in an unusually cool environment for a vessel. I am trying to better understand just how they work.

MultiPlus Quattro Inverter Charger
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kevgermany avatar image kevgermany ♦♦ commented ·
What batteries are installed?
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1 Answer
snoobler avatar image
snoobler answered ·

This is likely not a heat issue.


You are most likely dealing with a voltage drop issue, i.e., the conductors between the chargers and batteries are insufficient to support 400A. Additionally, a single loose or improperly torqued connection can contribute.


The next time you observe a taper from 400A, measure voltage with a meter AT the battery and AT the inverter battery terminals. If the terminals measure the absorption voltage and the battery measures lower, you're dealing with a voltage drop issue.


You may also be dealing with the consequences of pushing a very large current into a 24V battery.


Note that 400A is a very large current. Even if you have great conductors, the batteries themselves may have high enough resistance to drive voltage higher, e.g., 10mΩ is a pretty reasonable internal resistance, so 400A * .01Ω = 4V, i.e., pushing 400A into a battery with internal resistance of 10mΩ will cause the battery voltage to rise 4V. This may cause you to hit the absorption voltage where current MUST be tapered to prevent exceeding the voltage.


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David avatar image David commented ·
But his skyla charges do it, so it’s not a battery issue. Cabling, maybe.
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tnt369 avatar image tnt369 David commented ·

The Skylla delivers 2x100A, from Quattro are 2x200A possible. This puts twice as much strain on the battery.

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snoobler avatar image snoobler David commented ·

200A is non-trivial as well. In the same scenario, there could be a 2V drop just in the battery. That means it would still hit the absorption limit relatively quickly and begin tapering current.


We have to assume that the OP has sized the charging appropriately for the capacity. If this is lead-acid, I hope it's upwards of 3000Ah.


If not, that's another issue - push too much current into a small battery, and you get a rapid voltage increase.

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