Quattro 48/10000 how to tell if fans not turning on?

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netzerodude asked Feb 8, '24

Quattro 48/10000 how to tell if fans not turning on?

Hi Community, my ESS (Quattro 48/10000 4 x Pylontech 5000'sve has been working great since install however I am suspicious of the Quattro internal cooling fans not switching on. Does anyone know if there is a signal I can log through VRM which indicates when the fans are active or not, such that I can see review back over a period of time? I suppose if they are not switching on any fault finding info would be appreciated.

quattro 10kva

2 |3000

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Answer 1 · 2024-02-08T19:24:07Z

Alexandra answered · Feb 08 at 07:24 PM

@NetZeroDude

If you have a heavy load on, the fans should switch on. Also under heavy charging.

If the fans are not running and you run heavy charging/loads you will see temperature warnings or alarms and the system will shut down.

You can so metimes tell in VRM if there is overload warnings but inverter is not running near full load (so points to derating due to temperature) - be careful here if your ambient is high.

Do you have a Cerbo GX?

You could book up a temp sensor and have it hang around at the top of the unit. They do run quite hot.

You could also set up a programmable relay to switch on and off based on the internal fans, wired to a digital input (maybe set to door alarm or something) and have an alarm based on that.

I don't think there is a way to tell if the fans are actually running (other than physically checking) but you will definitely be able to tell if the signal is being sent to run.

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netzerodude commented · Feb 14 at 03:45 PM

Hi Alexandra, apologies for the late reply as I was away with work. Yes I have a Cerbo GX but I cannot find any setting that allows me to monitor when the inbuilt fans switch on and off. I have actually overkilled the cooling to the whole system by installing fans that switch on using the switching functions on the CerboGX, but I am nervous that should these fail and I have an underlying cooling issue with Quattro itself I could be storing up a problem.

You mention that the CerboGX can have one of its programmable relays activated when the fans switch on, I was wondering whether this could be monitored as an alarm on VRM?

I actually suspect the fans are not being activated so in some ways this is about fault finding and knowing that the fans have been given a signal to run should help me to identify the issue.

Any further advice would be appreciated.

Best Regards

NZD

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Alexandra ♦ netzerodude commented · Feb 14 at 06:44 PM

The inverter itself has the ability to run fans when the internal ones run using an assistant on the inverter utself. I use it for cabinet cooling on some installs. You can use that relay to signal the GX and the alarm for the relay on the VRM active.

There are ways to have custom alarms on the VRM when the relay is on (relay 1 state.under GX device.)

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netzerodude Alexandra ♦ commented · Feb 21 at 02:18 PM

Thank you Alexandra. I think I have concluded that my quattro fans are not switching on. I setup a programmable relay assistant which I think is along the lines of what you say and then monitored it being switched on and off on VRM. It is showing as being open for 48hrs. I think I now need to understand how the fan on/off is being triggered and see if I have a problem with the wiring etc? At the moment cooling is being applied via my other fans controlled via the CerboGX relays which is probably just OK for now, but when it gets warmer it will not be.

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Alexandra ♦ netzerodude commented · Feb 21 at 03:53 PM

Might be worth sending it in for warranty. Or if you are a person competent and comfortable opening it and checking if everything is assembled correctly.

The fans usually run under hard grid charging and heavy loads. Even if the room is cold.

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netzerodude Alexandra ♦ commented · Feb 22 at 11:00 AM

Thanks, I have reached out to Victron for their service team to respond. I will update when I know what is what.

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nickdb ♦♦ Alexandra ♦ commented · Feb 22 at 11:15 AM

Victron is not known for the lack of fan noise ;) Under any form of modest load, the fans should be active at lower speed (historically this was when they were noisiest) and will ramp up as the load and temps increase. It should be super obvious to hear unless it is cool temps and idle loads.

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