Hi, I have a professional installed 12v Quattro 5000 inverter / charger with a 1,200 amp-hour Winston LiFePo4 house bank on my 230v 50hZ single phase yacht. I also have a Victron Cerbo GX, a Victron MPPT and two Victron Battery to Battery Chargers on the system.
I bought a new Coltri Icon LSE 230v 50hZ AC, 2.2kW dive compressor. Coltri recommends a 9kW genset, which I have (a professionally installed Phasor 9kW 230v / 50hZ unit).
When I try to run the dive compressor when not on shore power, but with (and without) the genset running, the Quattro shuts down with an overload warning after about 1-2 seconds. When I restart the Quattro, it goes back to normal.
When on shore power, the compressor starts fine.
I realize that the compressor will ask for up to 9kW when starting (and I’ve tried starting it with all the valves open, makes no difference).
What I don’t understand is why the Quattro passes through sufficient power to start the compressor when the yacht is connected to shore power, but not when connected only to the 9kW genset.
Are there settings I could change in the Quattro to solve this?
Or, can I wire up the genset output to both the Quattro and the compressor simeltenously, or should i have a “whole house switch” to switch the genset output between either the Quattro or the dive compressor?
Thanks very much - Brendan www.sailingnakee.com
It’s likely something that’s happening too fast to really see, but I’m guessing that during startup (with generator running) under full load on the generator the power is ‘dirty’ enough that the Quattro is limiting it or dropping it and trying to invert the load.
I have had the same scenario with my 6.5kw generator and multiplus ii when trying to load the generator above 75%
The solution that worked for me was to enable the “weak ac input”, that would be a good place to start I think
If the Quattro is set up properly, the ac input should be limited to not overload the generator. With loads that exceed this, the Quattro should go into “power assist” and provide its rated kva in addition to the generator to meet demand
Good to know, once I get my camper dug out for the season I will have to try updating and see if the genset is able to take full load with weak ac turned off
Also check if your input current limit is up as well. It may be trying to power assist too much.
With the two different inputs on the quattro you can set 2 different input limits. I am assuming that is how you have it set up.
Thanks. Yes, I recently upgraded my genset from a 6kW to a 9kW unit but haven’t changed any settings in the Quattro. I’m however about to set off on a 5,000 mile passage, West to East, from the BVI back across the Atlantic, headed for Greece. I decided it would be wise to postpone changing any settings on the Quattro until I get back across the pond, so will pick this up in June when I reach Greece. Thanks for your help!
Hi Ludo, turning off UPS did the trick - but it means that the Quattro now waits about 2 min instead of ~30 seconds after sensing input current before it passes it along to the boat.
