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iand avatar image
iand asked

Multiplus and Quattro 48V pricing vs. size -- old and new II versions

I've been looking at all the possible options to get a 48/10000 solution with two AC inputs (generator and shoreline) including 2 parallel 48/5000 units and using MPII with ATS instead of Quattro, and noticed some strange price differences (from 2023Q1 EUR price list)...

One is that there seems to be a bigger price premium going from Multiplus to Quattro with the new units than the old ones -- for example at 48/5000 Quattro costs 18% more than Multiplus but Quattro II costs 30% more than Multiplus II. Could this be due to the extra anti-islanding relays to meet grid codes in the II versions?

The other is that the bigger units are cheaper per kW with the old versions (as expected) but *more* expensive with the new ones -- for example a Quattro 48/10000 is 21% cheaper than (2x) 48/5000, but with Multiplus II a single 48/10000 costs 11% *more* than (2x) 48/5000. This makes no sense at all...

Anyone got any ideas what on earth is going on?

I was looking at choosing between a MP II 48/10000 + ATS (available now, pain to control) and waiting (hopefully) for the Quattro II 48/10000 to appear, but all this suggests I might as well go for 2 parallel Quattro II 48/5000 which are available now and are likely to be cheaper than a single Quattro II 48/10000 -- and give me some redundancy in case of a failure (though reconfiguration would be needed).

Any comments?

Multiplus-IIMultiPlus Quattro Inverter Charger
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bbmz answered ·

Of course I can only make an „educated guess“ - the official answer and calculations are only known by victron …

First the 8kVA and 10kVA version are pretty new - on MP-II and Quattro. They are (uncomfortable) heavy, restricted in parallel-usage and also only for a very limited amount of use-cases. They are also probably a lot more „niche product“ or „less sell-volume“ than the 5kVA. Both aspects justify the higher price of 8 or 10 kVA compared tp 5kVA.

The Difference between Quattro and Quattro-II is the anti-islanding feature and certification for grid-usage. This is a huge (!) profit and expands the usability a lot. The Quattro-II is now ready for nearly every ESS (if you want a generator backup), the old Quattro was nearly unusable (regulations …) for a grid-tied ESS usage.

The price-uplift is (maybe) more than the bare (production-)costs but still severe reflecting the extended usability. There is probably a (small) efficiency-benefit as well.


Personal opinion: I would always choose two 5kVA-units (if you have the space). The less weight (per unit) does - from my point of view - overcompensate the additional cabling and redundancy is an additional benefit (as well as the more experienced parallelisation)

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iand avatar image iand commented ·
Thanks -- 2 Quattro II 48/5000 would be my preferred solution, *if* they will fit...


(limited amount of space with restricted height (550mm?) and a lot to fit in -- Quattro/MP II, 7kVA isolation transformer, 3 MPPT controllers, tank140, Cerbo, motor controller...)


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