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justinm asked

Inverter dead and shorting 12v 5000w

Everything has been working great for months, a few weeks back I upgraded to 800ah lithium (2x400ah eg4-ll) and all still fine. Just a few minutes ago I plugged a pc printer in when not on shore and it blew the BMS. Even with quartro inverter in off mode it blows the BMS as soon as it plugs in. Not sure how troubleshoot but when hooked up to generator power it's not turning on (assuming it needs 12v to turn on)

MultiPlus Quattro Inverter Charger
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2 Answers
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kevgermany answered ·

If everything else works ok, probably the printer. But there's not enough info here for a proper answer. What do you mean by 'blew the BMS'? Is it damaged, or simply needed a reset?

Not clear what power the pc printer needs.

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justinm answered ·

The printer was just when the problem started. Just a normal 120v printer used all the time before. Currently the whole inverter is dead with no lights or anything, even with 120v shore power. As soon as I apply 12V power it shorts out and trips the BMS on the batteries. Without the 12V batteries plugged into the inverter everything 12v works fine (this is on RV and lots of 12v items connected) currently have no 120v power since everything runs through it. I just need to reset the BMS each time i tried it.

I've unplugged both the 120v outputs on the inverter and its still no able to connect 12v. I get large arcing and blow the BMS which seems like my 12v is shorting inside the inverter. This is with inverter switched off.

Inverter isn't 6 months old so it should be warranty fix but apparently for support I need to contact the vendor and not Victron... Which I bought off Amazon (brandcentric) so waiting on them to respond via email

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nickdb avatar image nickdb ♦♦ commented ·
Inverters have large caps, when the battery is disconnected they need to be pre-charged, else it will appear as a short to the battery's bms which will trip. This happens even if the inverter is off.

This sounds like your BMS is going into protect either because of the pre-charge not being done, or being unable to service a surge from a load.

You would need to connect to your bms to see what it is unhappy about, but I suggest you google pre-charge and use that process before trying to get the batteries online again,

The inverters also cannot run without a battery, that is a bad idea.


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justinm avatar image justinm nickdb ♦♦ commented ·
I don't think it's a precharge issue since the inverter has been on and was on when it happened but could be. I tried tapping it a few times like some posts recommended to precharge but it would trip too fast.


Guess I'll try an agm battery and see what happens


Even if connected to shore it won't precharge or anything unless there's 12v plugged in?

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justinm avatar image justinm nickdb ♦♦ commented ·
You're spot on. I plugged in an agm battery and it turned on then was able to switch to my lithium. Guess I gotta figure out that issue now
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