Hi,
I just installed a multiplus II GX. When I disconnect the battery I noticed that it has a large power consumption itself, about 25W.
Is there a way to reduce this large “standby power”?
My assumption: the 25W standby power will always be used by the Multiplus, independent if it is charging/discharging the battery. Which means 219kWh/year → which is about 13% of my total energy consumption of my house. Which makes it one of the largest power consumers.
Don’t think you can reduce that…
Most of it is lost as heat on various electronics and transformers.
1% or less of its capacity is not so bad…
Indeed, it looks bad over an year, but think about it: it’s the device that holds the entire house.
If you are not using ESS you can enable AES search mode, it can take it down to 13w.
See the datasheet for the inverter model you have.
As a person who has used a variety of different makes of inverter, i can tell you many are closer to 60 and 80w standby. (For 3-5kVa)
Thank you; indeed if you compare it to other inverters the standby power is ok.
As I also need the ESS system the AES is not an option for me.
I hear the relays clicking when turning the Victron on, so that means they are probably not bi-stable. So that would mean they need to remain powered. So maybe a few Watts could be saved by changing those… But that kind of options I would not like to do while still have a warranty on the Victron device.
And maybe the Wifi can be turned off later or the display.
So I see some small opportunities.
You cant run the system without batterys!
Reaffirming the post above. It is not supported (and a bad idea) to run a multi without a battery. It is a great way to void ones warranty.
Thank you for the warning, I have turned the Multiplus off.
But this is a normal operating condition right? If the external fuse to the battery trips it is as if there are no batteries connected. So I think I missed the “warranty” remark.
The system, properly configured, should shutdown with loss of battery. If fuses are blowing that regularly then something is seriously wrong, but intentionally removing the battery, with some regularity, while powering the system is far from normal use and warranty cover.
Clear and I fully agree.
I’m in the setting up mode still, so both the BMS and the Victron settings are currently being set.
After that hopefully it is never needed to disconnect the batteries.
Cool. Be careful of powering a system without batteries as it really works the input relays and they are somewhat critical to normal operation.
Always err on the side of caution, that is expensive gear and you will want it to last.
Indeed, maybe using solid state relays. It could be nice and quiet. 
The display has 3 modes: “always off”, “always on” and “automatic”.
Also, the display backlight intensity can be adjusted in small steps from 0% to 100%.
Being a GX, it’s possible to even have those in VictronConnect.
Great, so I have to look for the display settings.
Every small step in power reduction is less energy usage!
Thank you
Is this only in a specific firmware version of the multiplus 2 GX? because mine can’t be adjusted…
In this video (from minute 25:00), they explain (in german) how to save some watts by disabling one of the relays.
It won’t be much, but many a mickle makes a muckle.
Great, so also an option to shut-off the power usage of at least one of the relays via just a setting.
Sorry for late response.
At least on my device (Multi RS) is adjustable through Victron registers. But I don’t see why not on others, too.
0x401 for intensity, from 0 - no backlight → 255 - full intensity.
0x408 for mode, 0 - off, 1 - on, 2 - automatic.
Ah oke, i thought you did it in the remote console 
Today I measured in the morning for half an hour without the tips of this Germany guy, and half an hour with the tip. On average I see a gain of 1.5W in usage.
I see in the datasheet indeed 13W, I was not aware this did not hold for the ESS mode.
Any experience what the standby power should be in ESS mode?
If I read some other forums there are two modes available (did not yet try it out myself).
So I will see if I can get my Victron in (1), and measure again. Because 70% gain is huge; especially in the winter months.