node-red controlling ac-out-2 on multiplus II ESS

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gyrovague asked Jun 3, '21

node-red controlling ac-out-2 on multiplus II ESS

In the venus large installation guide ( https://www.victronenergy.com/live/venus-os:large ), it states for Multiplus II "Includes alarm relays as well as the AC-out 2 relay: its not possible to control those; and there is no plan to make them controllable from within Node-RED."

Is it still the case that AC-out-2 relay is not controllable and is not planned to be controllable? If so, is there a technical limitation to this, or what is the reason? Will it definitely never be supported, or is it merely "not yet" supported?

I use AC-out-2 on my Multiplus II for non-essentials, and currently it is turned off as soon as the grid input on AC-in fails. I know there are meant to be ways to change that default AC-out-2 behaviour using assistants, but it looks a bit daunting to edit those. If Node-RED supported being able to set AC-out-2, it looks like it could then be fairly simple (compared to the assistants) to allow it to provide power to non-essentials while SoC of batteries is above a certain level.

Node-RED ac out 2

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Answer 1 · 2021-06-03T20:30:25Z

espen answered · Jun 03, 2021 at 08:30 PM

Hi, while waiting for the possibility for controll of the ACOut2 from Node Red: An easy assistant to configure is AC Out2 controlled by AUX input on the Multi. And then you can use node red to control a relay output on the venus/cerbo, and wire that relay to the aux on the Multi.

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gyrovague commented · Jun 03, 2021 at 11:58 PM

OK, interesting, but I guess if I go the route of using assistants, I may as well use one that directly controls AC-out-2 based on SoC and grid input (I'm 99% sure I've seen such an example somewhere on these forums) -- it just seems like the barrier to entry for setting up assistants is a lot higher. I wonder whether the ability of the assistants to control AC-out-2 is what is preventing their use for Node-RED (i.e. then multiple things could potentially clash)?

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Answer 2 · 2021-06-04T06:49:34Z

harold answered · Jun 04, 2021 at 06:49 AM

See here one of the posts, there is more about this subject, so search on 'AC2OUT' and 'assistants'

https://community.victronenergy.com/questions/45885/can-i-make-ac-out-2-active-on-inverting-quatro.html

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gyrovague commented · Jun 05, 2021 at 01:42 PM

Thanks, yes I've seen a number of posts about AC-out-2 using assistants, but I was hoping by now it would be possible to use Node-RED instead of assistants to control AC-out-2. The assistants are not exactly intuitive or user-friendly to program.

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Answer 3 · 2021-08-10T09:07:03Z

mvader (Victron Energy) answered · Aug 10, 2021 at 09:07 AM

hi, its impossible to control that output from node-red.

Also using any other protocol, also impossible. The issue is that controlling that output is not possible over the comms protocol to the Multi. Perhaps some day; but right now simply not, and also not anytime soon I'm afraid.

You can use a (large) AC contactor and wire it using a relay in the GX device. I know its a bit waste of hardware, but it simple and available.

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shaneyake commented · Aug 10, 2021 at 02:13 PM

You can use the AUX inputs on the multiplus to control the outputs including AC-OUT 2, you can wire AUX input to GX relay to control AC-OUT 2. You won't need to buy anything.

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mvader (Victron Energy) ♦♦ shaneyake commented · Aug 10, 2021 at 02:15 PM

thats a clever one, nice!

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Answer 4 · 2022-11-04T21:05:50Z

jamesjcsforwood answered · Nov 04, 2022 at 09:05 PM

@shaneyake I wired up my Cerbo relays 1 and 2 to the my Quattro AUX relays 1 and 2 in an attempt to control both the IgnoreAC1 and L2Out from the Cerbo. So far it hasn't worked, as no amount of toggling the Cerbo switches seems to change the relay state on the Quattro. Curious if you've had success with this method, and maybe a good wiring diagram if so?

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shaneyake commented · Nov 11, 2022 at 05:48 PM

Have you configured the inverter in VE.Config? You need to setup relay assistants to do something with that AUX1 input.

https://shaneyake.blogspot.com/2022/09/victron-disconnect-inverter-from-grid.html

Relay 1:
NO to AUX1 +
COM to AUX1 -

Relay 2:
NO to AUX2 +
COM to AUX2 -

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markus-001 commented · Nov 12, 2022 at 01:11 PM

I do exactly this, I get the battery discharge current limit from the battery monitor in node red (Pylontech) and I control Cerbo relay 1 to fire if the discharge current exceeds the Pylontech limit, wire that into aux 1 and use assistants in the quatro to open the AC out 2 relay and reduce loads to keep the Pylontech with in limits. The advantage of this is, its dynamic if 3 out of 5 Pylontech’s go off line then AC out 2 opens earlier due to 3 modules being off line.

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