Multiplus alarm light on, manual says "check table". What table?

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oceanwolfe asked Oct 9, '20

Multiplus alarm light on, manual says "check table". What table?

I have a multiplus compact hooked up with AC in and out and DC connected on the negative side but through a shutoff switch to the batteries. The switch is kept at off at the moment (awaiting parts to be able to program multiplus for charging lithium batteries).

I have lost AC to the boat (via Multiplus) with a red alarm LED on steadily and no other lights. Turning it off, pausing, then back on results in the same condition.

When I look this up in the manual, it says "Check the table for the appropriate course of action".
What the heck table are they talking about? I need AC on the boat as it is being refit. Should I just dump the pass-through AC and split it so it runs to both the boat and the charger? I don't want the shore power to the boat to depend on a functioning battery charger. That seems dumb.

Multiplus-II error

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Warwick Bruce Chapman commented · Oct 10, 2020 at 12:36 AM

This is the location of the request referred to above I also cannot find where it refers to. Note @Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager).

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Modifications Space

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Answer 1 · 2020-10-10T01:19:22Z

Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) answered · Oct 10, 2020 at 01:19 AM

Hi @Oceanwolfe and @warwick,

That refers to the the table directly above it, all the possible causes are listed next to the 'Alarm LED flashes'

The flashing alarm is the pre-alarm, if that is not resolved, the unit will turn off, and the alarm LED will stay on. The cause of the LED alarm light being on is the same as what caused it to flash (and those possible causes are the ones directly above it).

From what you have said, the cause is that the battery is disconnected. The Multi requires a battery to be connected. Either connect the battery, or bypass the Multi.

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oceanwolfe commented · Oct 10, 2020 at 03:41 PM

Does that mean if I don't see the lights during the warning flash period, that there's no way to tell what the error is? How long does it flash before it goes to a solid warning light? I had tried turning it off and back on, but it didn't go through a flashing light phase, just went straight to the solid light.

You were right on the cause. I turned the AC off, turned the battery connection on, turned the AC back on and it started charging the battery normally. Its on the default setting (configured for a gel cell as I understand it) but those specs don't look like they should cause a problem for my lithium battery. I was just going to leave it off until I was able to correctly program the charging.

Am I correct that I can't just split the incoming AC so it also leads to the AC breaker panel? I'm assuming some kind of undesirable feedback would occur with the inverter output since it goes to that same panel.

It would seem like a desirable modification to make the inverter/chargers not completely control the shore power. My previous inverter/charger from decades ago did not do this. I understand the benefit of being able to boost poor shore power, but the present setup still seems undesirable (unless a simple T of the incoming aC line indeed works fine).

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oceanwolfe commented · Oct 10, 2020 at 04:42 PM

One odd thing (to me) is that my Multiplus had been connected the same way with the battery cutoff for at least two weeks before it apparently decided this was wrong and threw the error.

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