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philipl avatar image
philipl asked

Victron Multiplus gives "#11 Grid relay test fault" after substation Flooded

We had a lot of rain here during the early morning hours of Wednesday which caused the Lourens river to overflow and which caused the Somerset West / Strand substation to completely flood. The substation tripped, leaving almost all of Somerset West and Strand without power.

It took Eskom more than 24 hours to restore power to us. They apparently restored power by various means of switching things manually or re-routing power from other substations.

The moment the power came back on on Thursday morning, my 3 x Multiplus II in single phase setup switched off the power and said #11 Grid relay test fault.

I am still getting these faults if i try to switch on Eskom power to the system.

This problem only started the moment they restored Eskom power after the flooding. I am wondering if there is something strange on the Eskom supply, or whether my multiplus II could have been damaged.


I am getting these errors:

"11 Grid relay test fault"

Then if I go into VE.Bus Error 8 / 11 report I see:

Phase L1, device 1 (0) #14 0xe00585

Phase L1, device 2 (3) #87 0xe800705

Phase L1, device 3 (6) #143 0xe00585


Then if I click on the 1st device 1: I get: BF safety test in progress, failing step: 5

Then if I click on the 1st device 2: I get: BF safety test in progress, failing step: 7

Then if I click on the 1st device 3: I get: BF safety test in progress, failing step: 5


Does anyone have a list that says what these errors mean? So failing at step 7 and step 5.

Does anyone have any ideas of what might be the problem?


Thank you

Multiplus-II
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4 Answers
Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) avatar image
Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) answered ·

Hi @philipl,

You can find a more detailed description and advice on the error 11 steps here in the VE.Bus error codes documentation - https://www.victronenergy.com/live/ve.bus:ve.bus_error_codes#error_11_-_relay_test_fault_-_installation_error_or_possibly_relay_failure

2 comments
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owen-spa avatar image owen-spa commented ·

We have a troublesome MultiGrid installation which sporadically but regularly enters a repeated sequence of Error 11 and sometimes cuts power to the premises (whole building is supported by the MultiGrid). Detail code gives 0x605 BF Safety test in progress Failing step 6. The install is in Mosman but we are based 2.5 hours away in Newcastle. It would be very helpful to have more information on what step 6 relates to, to assist with determining whether a wiring/earth problem or unit problem.error-11-detail-19923.jpg

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nickdb avatar image nickdb ♦♦ owen-spa commented ·
The individual steps won't help triage the issue.

Follow the link Guy provided above.

There is also a bench test procedure that you can try follow onsite, but generally, if the steps described in the doc, to eliminate an install fault, don't help, It likely has a fault.

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philipl avatar image
philipl answered ·

Hi Guy, thank you, but that still doesn't give me any more details on what step 7 and step 5 is testing. Do you know where I can find that information?

Thank you

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philipl avatar image
philipl answered ·

I have now tested my three Multiplus II units individually and found that only one of the units gives an error when connecting mains supply. I guess the unit is faulty and will send it in for repairs.

I would still like to know what error 7 and error 5 means, so if anyone knows.

Thanks

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willie-wilkinson avatar image
willie-wilkinson answered ·

Hi @Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager)

The description for the solution or problem on error #8/11 "BF safety test in progress, failing step 8" in the ve.bus error manual in mainly wiring related. I have the same problem from this morning when our utility reinstated the power after a substation failure at around midnight. As soon as the grid was switched on again this morning the two parallel Multiplus II start to give the error. Herewith the screenshot of the VE.BUS state: vebus-11oct23.jpg None of the wiring on the property have changed, so to swop the Live and neutral around will not be advisable. Could this be a potential failure of the internal test relay? I have notice that the firmware of the Venus GX is currently v3.01, i will in the mean time update to the latest v3.11.

Many thanks in advance for your response on the matter.

Kind regards


vebus-11oct23.jpg (71.4 KiB)
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nickdb avatar image nickdb ♦♦ commented ·

Usually the council/eskom has messed something up with their repair, so you will probably need to get a meter out and check that you don't have voltage where there shouldn't be any and that they have not crosswired something at the supply end.

Nothing here is affected by GX software, there is an electrical fault in some form.

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