At a club I’m a member of, we’re considering an off-grid Victron system. To reduce standby losses, I’m thinking of using two RS units: one running continuously and a second that only switches on during periods of higher power demand.
The idea is to use the relay output of RS1 to connect the Remote H and Remote L inputs of RS2 when the load is high, and disconnect them again when the load drops. This would allow the available inverter capacity to automatically follow the load while minimizing standby losses.
Does this seem like a sensible approach? Will it work as intended, or am I overlooking something fundamental? If so, I’d appreciate any guidance or suggestions.
My proposed settings for RS1 are shown below.
If you buy the inverter rs they can be parallel connected and simplify the set up.
The systen as a whole. is very efficient.
If you do start it up and stop it remembering there is time needed for synchronisation etc to happen.
The other way is the generator start stop on the GX with the remote on the inverter.
You won’t get 2x the power though, the inout current limit of RS2 the receiver would need to be toned down as starting it up under load will result in interesting things happening.
Ah, I didn’t think about using a GX device, sounds logical though. Thanks for the suggestion. I just couldn’t find generator start on victronconnect for the inverter, so thought just to use the multi RS.
How fast would the second inverter start?
Which interesting things could happen when starting the second inverter under load?
It is my understanding that during a software update one inverter is taken off line for on update. Once that inverter is back on line the second is updated. This way when using multiple inverters in parallel it is avoided that no power is available during the update. That to me seems also a case where an inverter have to come online under load.
The starting is not the problem, its the synchronisation and connect of the second one that takes a few seconds.
On the firmware updates- the newer firmware does not restart the system. Or at least they haven’t for me for a while.
In any case it is not something you need to do every time there is one available. It not necessary.
Wont work reliable like that. Since the moment you surpass those 4kW and the delay runs out, the secondary inverter will start and take over half the load, so you are immediately down to 2kW again, stopping the secondary inverter again. You have to use setpoints that a further apart than a multiple of two. So 4.5kW and 2kW, or 4kW and 1.5kW for example
