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seppli avatar image
seppli asked

Phoenix 12/800 VE.Direct: Minimum load to resume from ECO mode

Hi,

I have a small off grid pv system (300 W peak). My current inverter (Mean Well TS-1000) works well, but has a fairly high idle consumption (20 W) when in on state. It has a saving mode, probably similar to the Phoenixs ECO mode. The problem with the saving mode is, that it does not reliable detect small loads (<5 W). If I connect a small led light bulb only, it switches continuously on and off and causes the light to blink with a with a ~1s interval. This is very annoying and renders the saving mode useless for me.

I was considering to replace it with a Victron Phoenix 12/800 or 12/1200 with VE.Direct, as it seems to have a much lower idle consumption. However, I have read in the manual (page 6), that the inverter has an even higher minimum load of 15W to return from ECO mode.

Therefore, I have the following two questions:

  • Can you confirm that the minimum load really cannot be set lower than 15W?
  • Will I therefore experience a similar blinking with my LED bulb as a have described above?

Thank you for any advice!

Phoenix Inverter
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3 Answers
ripper avatar image
ripper answered ·

Yes the struggle with these minimal loads, the blinking will be more like a short flash at adjustable intervals of 1 to 53 (ish)seconds. Depending on the load, it is worthwile to waste some energy while the original load is needed with an extra light or two to just get over the threshhold in order to wake up the inverter. Gotta do the math.

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ripper avatar image ripper commented ·

Depending on what the load is, it does not like getting the eco treatment. Chargers with capacitors for instance as they are charged up with near short cuircuit amps and then discharged feel like being plugged in 20 times per minute and obviously were not made for that.

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xmd avatar image
xmd answered ·

This may not help, but the latest firmware 1.17 has additional options for the "ECO Search Time":

https://www.victronenergy.com/blog/2019/09/11/victronconnect-5-9-solar-charger-improvements-and-much-more/

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royord avatar image
royord answered ·

While the extra search time is great I would like to be able to lower the detect wattage. I'm in an off-grid situation running internet on a time and the initial load of the network gear is less than 15w.

If not able to lower the Watts for a detect it would be great if I could have a load that turns on for a set amount of time, say 4 seconds, that meets the 15w threashold while the network gear turns on and then turns itself off until the next "power on" detection.

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