Hi everyone,
I work for a company that builds battery backup systems in small containers. We have a nice setup going on with an Ekrano GX, 3 Quattro’s 10kVA, Lynx BMS and a SmartSolar. We have wired up an position switch to the Quattro’s “H” remote connector which is located on the PCB where the leds are situated and is usually bridged with a jumper. When we now turn off the Quattro’s with the switch, it turns off briefly, then boots up again and starts boot looping untill we either take out the VE.Bus connection or turn on the switch again.
Does anyone know if we have missed a setting or something that would cause this behaviour?
Thanks in advance!
Luc
When searching here on the other topics, I noticed @DuivertNL might have a simular setup, except with MP instead of Quattro’s. Could you indicate whether you have an GX device and the remote wired up to the actual remote switch and not the safety assistant? Thanks!
Hi @LucGH , yes i have multiplusses, one is GX version, i have a safety switch on the remote on off contact, and it works, im not using the safety assistant
Manual of the quattro also mentions that the front on off switch should be in the on position in order the make the remote contact switch work
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Thanks for your quick response! I assume that the MP’s talk to eachother over VE.Bus? For me, the Ekrano GX keeps sending a “start” signal even though the remote contact is switched off. It turns off for a few seconds, then boots up, shuts down again and continues to loop like this. Is this the same story for you as well or does it remain in the off state? Also, when using the remote console, are you able to remote switch off all MP’s?
Yes they are also connected thru the VE bus, the GX switches off in my case because its build in, your quattro should not start if the remote contact is open so that is strange…
Yes if i turn them off in remote console they go in off state, however the GX part is still working
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Aah right… Your situation differs from mine because of the GX part turning off when you press the emergency button. I cannot make that work in our situation because it is mandatory by law to have monitoring operational at all times that there is energy stored in the batteries. But that would explain our differences. Thanks for your replies at least! Maybe someone from the victron team could explain why the remote loop is being bypassed and it boots and shuts down intermittently. @guystewart or a colleague maybe? Is this known/intentional behaviour?
Hi @LucGH,
Have you tried using the safety switch assistant instead of the remote on-off connector. I was taught that was the recommended way when there is more than 1 unit.
Hi @guystewart, Thank you for your response on this matter. We are actually also using the safety switch assistant already, but the last item on the list makes this not ideal for us. It specifically indicates only AC output is switched off, but we are unsure about the charging and would rather switch off fully. If it turns out the charging is also stopped with this safety switch assistant, we might be able to get away with it. I will soon be able to test this myself, but maybe you could already confirm or deny this will stop charging? Thanks!
H/T to @lxonline
The inverter goes into the off state almost like it does when you switch the switch to off; with the exception of the twinkle lights that indictate that the safety switch assistant has been activated.
On the GX you will see the same LED code and the inverter in the off state.
There will be no charge to or discharge from the battery through the inverter.
The difference between it and the remote switch is implementation.
The text in the assistant is imprecise in this case, the safety switch also disables charging.
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Thanks! In that case I will close this topic as solved and leave it hear for others to find when they run into a simular issue. Thanks all for your contributions and help on this subject!
I wanted an absolute failsafe hardwired solution for an emergency stop,
3 multiplusses and my batterys (3 pylontech us5000) now can be shut down completly in an emergency
Thats why i didnt use an assistant
I have one 10kW Quattro in a 100% off grid setup, I want to switch the power off at night and then on in the morning without having to go to the screen of the Cerbo, I have put a switch on the H connector and I have the same problem that it switches off for a few moments and then switches on again - Please help!
If you just want to turn it off for night why not use an assistant with one of the inputs instead of the remote contact?
To me it seemed easier to simply wire in a switch on the end of a cable. Unfortunately I don’t know which assistant to use, nor which of the inputs.
I want to be able to switch the inverter off when I am in bed, and not necessarily every night, if we have people staying or want to have a fan on in the bedroom during the night etc. and then to be able to switch it on again when I get up.
Is it really that complicated? I am happy to buy a Victron switch if need be, I just need to know which one - so far I have only seen remote switches for Phoenix inverters and don’t want to buy one that doesn’t work with a Quattro.
If you have a switch, instead of wiring to the H connector, you could wire into the Aux in 1, then configure the Quattro using VE.Config (on pc, or through VRM with Cerbo GX) to use the safety assistant on this input. It will shut down the Quattro until the switch is back on. Or you could go the route @lxonline says by using the DMC, but you I’m unsure about the what happens when you use a Cerbo and the DMC next to eachother… Safety assistant works at least for us.
Problem with the switching on and off is explained above, but the short recap is: Cerbo sends a wake and on signal to the Quattro, which then boots, looks at the remote connection and shuts down again. Only if you use a integrated GX device (in MultiPlus) you can use the remote to switch of the hole system.
Hope this helps!
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I am having the same problem with an old Multiplus. When trying to program, it says Assistants cant be used but that aside, why isnt the unit programmed so that the switch works as it says
ON - OFF - CHARGER
Why does it go into some unwanted endless re-boot mode.
How do i make this switch work the way it should work?
Hi @MichaelHayes,
The situation and options have all been fully explained in this thread already, so there is no more practical information that I can give you.
We allow remote control of the Multi’s by software via the VE.Bus interface. If this signal conflicts with the status of the physical hardware remote switch then it can result in the behaviour of the unit starting up from the software signal, seeing the physical switch is set to off, turning off, and then repeating.
Our solution to this is a different configuration that connects the hardware switch to a software control so there is no conflict.
If you need a straight forward plug and play hardware switch then we have the Digital Multi Control product. If you would prefer to wire and configure your own, then we have the safety switch assistant.
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Thank you SO much! I will do my best to get this solution to work 