Suggestions on what to do without power assist?

[vcleto (Valdson)]

@stepir

Hi Valdson and thanks for joining the conversation!!!

Hello Stefano, thank you!

@stepir

HA is Home Assistant (https://www.home-assistant.io) an open source home automation system that can interact with Victron in many ways, in my case via modbus

You cn build very quickly (much easier and directly from your phone) new automation or disable/enable/edit existing one. It’s both UI orientend and code oriented (via yaml through its editor).

Thanks for explaining what Home Assistants is! Interesting, good to know!

@stepir

The reason I chosed it is exaclty in the limitation you described because this way I can enable/disable Power assist on the fly (with an automation or even with a switch).

Yes! After implementing the solution using the Multiplus assistants, I developed a solution using Node-RED, which I shared in the publication below! Using the assistants, the configuration was fixed at a specific AC input current limit, and using Node-RED, I created a program that adapts to the AC input current limit setting!

Node-RED flow to set low current limit on AC input

Following the discussion held in this post: I share the Node-RED flow that I developed to be able to use AC power sources with low current capacity, such as those sometimes found in some campsites, for example. The problem is that Victron inverters/chargers have a minimum current limit value at the AC input that can be configured, and sometimes the power source used may have a current/power capacity lower than this minimum. For example, my Multiplus II 48V/5kVA has a minimum current limit va…

@stepir

The only reason I would still enable Power Assist (even if not needed) is to make sure I don’t leave it disabled if CAMP MODE (how I called the above described situation) is not needed anymore.

But I think you don’t need to keep enabling Power Assist while in “Camp Mode”, because you already enable Power Assist when you turn off Camp Mode!

Have you tested this programming yet? I think it probably didn’t work properly, because from what I understand, you’re monitoring the AC input current, but you should be monitoring the AC load current. I imagine that when you put the Quattro in inverter-only mode, the AC input current will drop to zero because all the load current will be supplied by the inverter. So your programming should enter a loop, changing the Quattro’s mode to on, and if the AC load is still above 6 amps, the AC input current will also rise above 6A (because you have PowerAssist disabled). Then you’ll switch the Quattro back to inverter-only mode, dropping the AC input current back to zero, and so on.

Another thing is that you don’t need to keep changing the AC input current limit between 6A and 10A when in Camp Mode; you can leave it at 6A. With PowerAssist disabled, the input current won’t be limited to 6A. You’ll control it so it doesn’t exceed 6A by putting the Quatto in inverter-only mode! And in inverter-only mode, the AC input current will be zero. You don’t need to increase the limit to 10 A, especially since you don’t want the AC input current to exceed 6A! So I think you can change the current limit only when enabling Camp Mode, changing the limit to 6A, and when disabling Camp Mode, changing the limit to 10A.

I think another problem with your programming is that you’re taking too long to switch to inverter-only mode when the current exceeds 6A. Depending on how much the current exceeds 6A in that time, the circuit breaker may trip before you switch to inverter-only mode! I think switching to inverter-only mode when the load current exceeds 6A should be as quick as possible. If you’re giving it all this time because the current measurement fluctuates a lot and keeps going above the limit even though the current is below the limit on average, that’s true. That’s why in my Node-RED programming I used AC load power and voltage measurements, which are much more stable than current measurements.

Let me know how your programming test went and if my observations make sense!