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No inverter or Battery Charging. Digital Multi Control reads Absorption

I got four 8DL LifeLine batteries and a Lifeline Starter Battery, a Victron Digital Multi Control PanelVictron BMV-712, Victron Color Control Display, Victron Multi-Plus 12/3000/120-50 120V, Balmer Charger Regulator and Duo Charger for use with the engine on.
While at the Dock and Plugged in to Shore power. I learned that i had a Battery Monitor and this was where i could reset History. As i had very low and High voltage history from during install. So i wanted to reset these. Found in the manual how this was done. I also learned that i could connect to the BMV with Bluetooth and the Victron connect app. I connected and saw i had my battery capacity set to 620ah when total i had 1020ah. I corrected the Battery capacity to 1020ah. Other then that i made no other changes to the system and only reset the history. Which is item 63 in the select menu of the BMV. I also had the inverter set to on but the Digital Multi Control panel automatically switchs to chargeing when AC is available from either shore or genset which it did. I was on shore power for about Three weeks during this time before noticing the issues.
Currently at anchor with no inverter useage or main Battery Bank Charging. Because i am getting battery low voltage/power warnings on both the Color Control Panel and Digital Mulit Control panel; so no inverter. With the generator on i get no voltage increases to the Main Battery Bank and if charging. Then its not putting enough into the main battery bank to off set onboard useage. The Digital Multi control reads Absorption as does the Color control panel. But its only charging the Starter Battery. If any is going to the main battery bank its very low current/voltage. If i shut off the generator i get a Low Voltage/Power warning on the color control panel. With a warning that varies depending on how fast it reads. Stating 14.42V as this was the voltage just before it cuts out from charging the starter battery. The BMV and Color Control Panel and a MultMeter read 98% 12.82V -5.2A from the Main Battery Bank. If i set the Aux input ,in misc, to Starter Battery on the BMV it reads 0.03V. Prior to useing the Victron Connect app. I wasn't finding readings for the starter battery and it wasn't apparent to me where and if it was being monitored. But have never had issues with Charging either one before.
I motored about 6hrs. During that time the Balmar charger regulator and I guess the duo charger functioned to charge the main battery bank and the starter battery.
I am showing low power on the color control panel and on the Digital Mulit Control panel. Off and on, on a cycle, On the Color Control Panel for the inverter/charger Multi Plus.

At this point I have reset the dip switchs on the Multi plus charger inverter to settings that are more in line with whats in service. Did this the best I could with the available infomation. In the hopes that resetting or inputing the operating parameters would possibly clear up the issue. It hasn't accomplished that. As i am at anchor and the inverter trips off when under load showing low battery light on the digital multi control panel. But volts are nominal at 12.8v. Possibly because i reset the dip switchs. I had use of the generator to charge the main battery bank once. When i ran a coffee maker or microwave the inverter cuts out and the digital Multi Control Panel. Shuts off too. This also caused the battery charging from a genset that was finailly going to the main battery bank to as yet no longer occure. Even after resetting the dip switchs.

At this point I possibly I have a Multi Plus inverter/charger issue. That is preventing operation of appliances due to a incorrect or a corrupted setting. I've checked what fuses I could locate and they're intact. It also should be noted that before when the inverter was under load. Say anything above 20amps. Like when i run appliances. A fan would come on within the Mult-Plus to cool down internal workings. This no longer occurs.

I plan to use a MK3-USB to set operatin perameters useing a laptop. In the hopes that the Dip switch weren't correcting the issues. Weren't being inputted or saved correctly or that i can get the fan to function.

I wonder if there are a whole list of settings that got negated from what they were before i connected with Victron Connect app. As these values seem like default parameters. Or if resetting the history may have caused a issue. It also seems that the main battery bank while being displayed on the Color Control panel and BMV. Is being read by the Digital Multi Control which sets charges and does inverter function.


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wkirby avatar image wkirby โ™ฆโ™ฆ commented ยท

There seems to be quite a few things wrong here. It will be rather difficult to pinpoint what the problems could be.

Resetting the history would not affect the operation of the system nor alter any settings.
Altering the battery capacity would not affect the operation of the system, it would alter the battery % and time-to-go calculations.
Even if you made a complete muddle of the BMV settings, this would not affect the MultiPlus operations.
Setting the DIP switches to factory default may affect some operations, but it should have got basic functionality working, shore charging and inverting should work if nothing else is wrong. Using VE.Configure may help to diagnose that shore power is actually coming in for example.
Setting the Aux input to Start battery would only be effective if the sense wire is actually connected to the start battery.

Sorry, I can't pinpoint any specific problems form my perspective, maybe someone else can.
See what VE'Configure shows you, but it seems that you'll need a pair of expert eyes to look for physical problems.

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