question

david-eber avatar image
david-eber asked

Multiplus 12|3000|120 Not Inverting or Charging

Issue:

  • Multiplus 12|3000|120 Inverter does not seem to be inverting power or charging batteries.
  • System is used on a Sailing Catamaran in conjunction with a CCGX, a SmartBMV712, & a MPPT 150/100

What was going on when I noticed the problem:

  • Had 2 small floor heaters attached to 120 circuits. (On 2 separate breakers as they trip the shore power breaker when on same circuit...ie, they drew some wattage.)
  • I disconnected the shore power…to take boat out
  • Things and heaters were working with shore power disconnected
  • I started the engines
  • I went down to turn on engine blower and look at breaker panel and noticed I had no inverter (120V) circuits…. All the breaker lights were out.

System is now on shore power and I see the following:

  • Only see solar charging batteries (@ night batteries are being drained)
  • 120v is going thru inverter and only powering all the 120v outlets on the boat.
  • On CCGX
    • I don’t see any power going to batteries from inverter, all is coming from solar.
    • charge status in "float"
  • On the Inverter I see:
    • When turning it on:
      • solid "inverter on" light
      • solid "low battery" light
    • After a few seconds the inverter lights change to:
      • solid "Mains on" light
      • solid "bulk" light
  • When I turn off the shore power breaker all 3 of my inverter circuits are dead.

Troubleshooting:

  1. Tried to reboot inverter:
    • Turned off then back on inverter.
    • Briefly get red light for low battery
    • Low battery light goes off and I get ‘Mains on” and ”bulk” light
  2. Tried to see if any battery power was going to inverter:
    • Turned off inverter
    • I measure 15.85 VDC across the large battery cables on inverter, so the battery is not low.
  3. Tried to see if battery monitor from inverter to battery was issue.
    • I removed wire and lights on inverter went from solid "bulk" to solid "absorption."
    • Tried the on/off switch in charge only, got same light config
    • Reconnected the battery sense wire inverter light stayed on solid absorption, I cycled inverter power, light went back to solid bulk

Questions:

  • Why do I get “low battery” light when I have 15.85 VDC battery connected to the inverter?
    • I measured this w/ inverter turned off so as not to measure a voltage the inverter is generating to charge the batteries.
  • Why is the inverter saying “bulk” when the solar MPPT is saying "Float" and batteries are at 100%?
  • ...and better yet, why is it not inverting OR charging my batteries?
MultiPlus Quattro Inverter Charger
2 |3000

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1 Answer
Matthias Lange - DE avatar image
Matthias Lange - DE answered ·

My first guess is a blown fuse or bad connection somewhere between the MultiPlus and the battery.

1 comment
2 |3000

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david-eber avatar image david-eber commented ·
It was a fuse. What was throwing me off was I was measuring voltage on the lines. It looks like because i still had the battery sensor connected, voltage was bleeding over to the main battery lines.
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