MultiPlus 12/3000/120 overload thresholds

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recupirate asked Oct 26, '20

MultiPlus 12/3000/120 overload thresholds

What are the AC1 overload thresholds for the MultiPlus 12/3000/120? I know the stated 2400 continuous number and I believe a 6000 watt peak but am looking for more detailed surge specs. My old Magnum gave various inverter wattage ratings per time limit (i.e. 5 sec, 30 sec). Can this not be published for this unit?

This evening while running a 7500 watt generator to charge LiFePo4 540AH @12v while also doing some cooking I got an overload fault and shutdown even though it doesn't appear I ever even exceeded 2400 watts on AC1. Any ideas why the fault?

MultiPlus Quattro Inverter Charger fault

screenshot-20201025-193246.png (145.7 KiB)

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Answer 1 · 2020-10-27T14:21:15Z

Alexandra answered · Oct 27, 2020 at 02:21 PM

@rECUpirate

What cooker do you have? I have found the induction ones to (for lack of a better way to say it) to lie about their consumption. Their power factor is aweful.

If it was a normal induction stove then it is possible you had some derating because of heat.

You also need to include your charge current in with your calculations as the inverter is processing the charging and the load especially if it was in passthrough.

I have had a client run at 50% overload (simple induction load) for more than half an hour before shutdown. And it shutdown because of overheating (no I do not recommend relying on that fact, it is bad practice, we had a good discussion with the client about managing the system and expecations better).

https://www.google.com/url?q=https://m.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3D4SXtGIx0x5w&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwjY8Lrn-tTsAhXHgVwKHb_vBaoQtwIwAHoECAIQAQ&usg=AOvVaw0Qb5fkd5MKLmckEZE_1was

A long yet handy video on diagnosis of overloads.

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recupirate commented · Oct 27, 2020 at 04:14 PM

Thank you for the reply and the video Alexandra. Some of that video was over my head but my "take away" was 6000 watt for 2 min, 3000 watt for 30 min and 2400 watt continuous depending on ambient temps. Did I get that right?

In layman's terms this overload never approached those numbers and the unit is in climate controlled area so ambient temps may have only been higher from the units own heat but I do not believe it would have been significant. Yes, this overload included a single induction cooktop as well as a microwave. In the provided screenshot you can see the induction cycling on and off. I am concerned why this unit cannot handle these below rated loads. When you mention lying about the loads for induction, are you referring to the VRM lying? The consumption in the provided screenshot is not accurate?

You also mention the charge current. The overload said AC1 so how do I factor the charge current considering that is not on AC1. The AC In was carrying the stated pass through loads plus the full charging current (probably something near total 35amps @120v). I am still not sure where I went wrong as everything appears under limits.

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Alexandra ♦ recupirate commented · Oct 27, 2020 at 06:24 PM

@rECUpirate

In a nutshell yes basically you got the idea. Inverters and batteries are rated at 25 degrees so if you are around that then lets say you have the full use of the inverter.

Induction stoves and microwaves are the ones lying about their power use.

Some microwaves have a power factor as low as 0.5 - meaning 1200W is actually 2000W. The same with power factor on an induction stove, 0.6 - so you are only seeing 60% of what it actually using. Some LED lights are the same. We have had a few customers confused at how they used so much power when they have "energy saving" items in their homes.

What you read on the GX device is apparent power. Not actually what is being used, but what they system "sees" as being used.

This is not abnormal as most grid power meters have problem reading this as well. In fact in our country, businesses and industries get hefty fines from the grid provider for factories running with bad power factor.

There is a tonne of information about real power, apparent power and a bunch of other terms. But basically it boils down to the appliance lie about their power consumption by skewing the power factor.

Where you will see their actual power usage is by what is actually drawn from the battery.

2400W/ 12V (battery) is 200Amp draw from the battery using shunt based measurement like a bmv or similar or a clamp meter. If you are drawing more than that then you know you have (either a really bad setup) or bad power factor and you are actually overloading the setup.

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Answer 2 · 2020-10-28T03:00:34Z

swampbush answered · Oct 28, 2020 at 03:00 AM

I noticed my induction cooker causes the multiplus to lose sync to a generator, although it seemed ok on mains. I fixed this by disabling the UPS function. I suspect this may be your issue also.

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