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humeister avatar image
humeister asked

Multiplus Compact Inverter draws much more than the appliance is rated?

Anybody an idea why my Multiplus compact 12/2000-80-30 draws about 2178 watts (176.90amps) from a 200AH Lifepo4 for a 1500 watts coffe maschine? DC Cable size between Multiplus and Lifepo4 is 50mm thick and about 1.50 meter long. I also got a cheap chinease 2000 watts inverter only which I wanted to replace by the Multiplus and this chinease inverter is working fine with the same setup. The max Power what that inverter draws out of the Lifepo4 are 1640 watts. Could be something wrong with the Multiplus? I guesss there are no settings which I could change. Any help would be much apriciated.


Regards,

Helge

inverter current draw
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Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) avatar image Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) ♦♦ commented ·

How are you measuring this?

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humeister avatar image humeister Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) ♦♦ commented ·

Hi Guy, many thanks for your speedy response. I have measured it with a SmartShunt 500, with a cerbo and I have also used a current clamp. I wouldn't mind if it just would draw a bit more, but the Multiplus is struggling and the cheap inverter does not. It is drawing the amps I would expect.

Regards,

Helge

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Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) avatar image Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) ♦♦ humeister commented ·

Is it only for that specific load, the coffee machine, with others behaving as expected?

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humeister avatar image humeister Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) ♦♦ commented ·

I have tried different loads. They're all rated between 1000-1450 Watts. Same problem with all loads.

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1 Answer
Daniël Boekel (Victron Energy Staff) avatar image
Daniël Boekel (Victron Energy Staff) answered ·

I'd first check the output voltage of the different inverters under load.

a resistive load (like a heating element in a coffee machine) will draw more current at higher voltage, so if for example the Multiplus is set at 240 volt AC output, and the 'chinese inverter' sags to 200 volt, it makes a big difference in the load drawn on DC side.

(Total energy needed for a cup of coffee wouldn't change much, due to the water heating up faster with a higher load)

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humeister avatar image humeister commented ·

Does it mean I should change the inverter output voltage to for example 210 Volts? It is now on 230 Volts in VE configure.

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Daniël Boekel (Victron Energy Staff) avatar image Daniël Boekel (Victron Energy Staff) ♦♦ humeister commented ·

No it means you have to measure what happens at the AC side of things also, not only DC side.

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humeister avatar image humeister Daniël Boekel (Victron Energy Staff) ♦♦ commented ·

I have checked Output voltage under load of both Inverters. Multiplus had 229 volts and the Chinese one had 228 volts.

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david-johnson avatar image david-johnson commented ·
Was this issue ever resolved, I have to take my rv back to the installers because of the same issue?
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Alexandra avatar image Alexandra ♦ david-johnson commented ·

@David Johnson

A combination of power factor and losses in conversion. And size (both thickness and length) of DC cabling also affects how different the two readings are.

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