Multiplus 12/3000/120 Overload in cold weather (under 10°C)

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nick-herasimenka asked Mar 4, '21

Multiplus 12/3000/120 Overload in cold weather (under 10°C)

Hi,

I have a solar-powered 12-volt system with Multiplus 12/3000/120 Invertor used only for AC loads. The system works great at normal temperatures but when it gets colder at night the inverter can't start in the morning and shows an overload warning with no explanation or description (I use VE.Bus Smart Dongle Bluetooth). This happens almost every time the temperature drops under 10°C. I have researched this and was not able to find anything useful. I only found that the MultiPlus works ok even at -20°C as some users report. This is quite frustrating as I plan to use the inverter full time and can't afford to let it do this number on me occasionally.

Can someone point me in the right direction to solve this? I'm in the US and bought my MultiPus through Amazon and support there is useless.

Thanks

MultiPlus Quattro Inverter Charger Phoenix Inverter

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Answer 1 · 2021-03-05T16:24:29Z

janvd answered · Mar 05, 2021 at 04:24 PM

Maybe its not the inverter, but the battery pack. If its a lead acid battery it will lose capacity when cold.

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Answer 2 · 2021-03-05T17:00:38Z

michelg answered · Mar 05, 2021 at 05:00 PM

Hi, what kind of batteries do you use ? Manufacturer, model, setup, age of the batteries, Wp coming from your solar panels, may give us a better picture of your setup.

In my opinion, you batteries are depleted and / or too cold in the morning to provide enough power.

Michel

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nick-herasimenka commented · Mar 05, 2021 at 07:02 PM

My solar set up is:

3 Renogy 100 Watt 12 Volt Monocrystalline Solar Panels

Victron Energy BlueSolar MPPT 100/30 Charge Controller

3 Battle Born LiFePO4 Deep Cycle Batte - 100Ah 12v

I also have VE.Bus Smart Dongle which seats on top of the batteries and reads the temperature right from them. That's where 10C coming from

Everything is in new condition and functioning great during the day.

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michelg nick-herasimenka commented · Mar 05, 2021 at 08:34 PM

Hi Nick, during the day you have power coming from the PVs, but probably not enough to fully recharge the battery bank. Also, Lithium batteries are sensitive to cold temperatures, that could be an issue, but I still believe your battery bank is depleted. The inverter is consumming energy even on standy they mention 20W x 24h = 480W + your normal consumption so it is eating more than 60% of the battery on a daily basis, and having 3 batteries in parallel brings you 3-4 days before depleting them. I'll suggest to disconnect the Multiplus during the day, when the batteries are being recharged, during a week. It will probably fix the problem for making this test.

You should add solar PVs if possible.

Michel

I also recommend you installing a BMV-702 / 712 in order to have your batteries monitored and having a much more precise idea of their real state.

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nick-herasimenka michelg commented · Mar 05, 2021 at 08:44 PM

Thanks michelg

I'll definitely try disconnecting the invertor. However, It's in the off state most of the time and my Victron battery monitor shows 99% charged when overload happens. I don't really use the system now as I'm still building the RV, the batteries never discharge below 80% according to the battery monitor

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Answer 3 · 2023-05-17T23:28:15Z

Russell Brown answered · May 17, 2023 at 11:28 PM

I have the same issue.

400AH Lithium, Multiplus II, Lynx Smart Shunt, Cerbo GX

I found 2 things:

We're in cold weather at the moment, -4 outside and inside the van down to 3 Deg. I have not yet installed the vans diesel air heater.

1) the MPPT's are set to NOT charge below 5 Deg, low temp cutoff set at 5 Deg.

2) The inverter has shut down a few times when we go to make early morning Coffee when the temp in the van is right on 5 Deg.

I found 2 reasons:

- The multiplus has a low voltage shut down set at something like 12.9v from memory. and when I look at the Cerbox GX early in the morning after running inverter, battery voltage does get down to 12.8, 12.9

So thats one reason

Other issue I had which took me a while to workout, I had the Multiplus set for low SOC shut off inverter at 40% SOC. We started cooking with battery SOC at 42% and as it dropped below 40% the inverter shut down, I thought it was some low voltage issue, it was just the low SOC setting.

So maybe check those 2 settings

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