Ac loads incorrect readings

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scraggs asked Dec 3, '22

Ac loads incorrect readings

Hi
I replaced all my flourescent tubes yesterday and noticed that when I turned the lights on they were still using about 50watts each acording to my ac loads in vrm, so today I put one on a meter I have and it was reading 23 Watts, a bit more checking and it appears my AC loads reading in vrm and also direct ve bus reading from the multi is miles out, way over on some things switched on and way under on others.
Anyone any ideas why this is happening ?
Setup is 48v 930ah traction battery
Victron 48/8000/110
Fronius 8.2-1
250/100MPPT ve can
Smartshunt 500
Cerbo GX
Thanks for any help

ac

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Answer 1 · 2022-12-04T21:15:55Z

scraggs answered · Dec 04, 2022 at 09:15 PM

I thought I would add an update to this as it's a bit of a strange one that may be of use to others.
So today I thought I would look into this a bit more and they were definitely using about 30 watts each more power according to the multi 2 than my plug in meter was saying, these were LED tubes that came with a LED fuse in place of starter, so I decided to have a look inside the batten holder today and it had the ballast as expected but also a capacitor, so I stripped out the ballasts and capacitors and now the multi 2 is saying that it is using the same as my meter at 23 watts.
So problem there solved but definitely a bit of a strange one, I have noticed a couple of other items that use capacitors that are out from what my plug in meter says.

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Answer 2 · 2022-12-04T23:00:09Z

sharpener answered · Dec 04, 2022 at 11:00 PM

As Victron go to some lengths over power factor and reactive loads I think it is probably safe to assume it is your meter that cannot cope correctly with anything other than a power factor of 1.0!

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scraggs commented · Dec 05, 2022 at 12:58 AM

I don't agree i'm afraid, as with the LED's which were showing on my meter at 23 watts and the manufacturer stated 22 watts, on one of the other items my plug in meter matches the manufacturers stated rating at 140 watts, whilst the Multi puts it at around 75 watts

If anything it appears the exact opposite and the Multi appears to be highly inaccurate.

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Answer 3 · 2022-12-05T15:24:09Z

scraggs answered · Dec 05, 2022 at 03:24 PM

Adding yet more to this.
We have had to run the generator today because of the weather and noticed this.
It appears if we are running the generator the AC load output is far more accurate when certain things are turned on.
I would love it if someone had any idea why my Multi 2 could be doing this, maybe someone from Victron may have an idea ?
It would be nice to have some degree of accuracy.

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