Victron energy meter + DESS improvement suggestion

Q&A and troubleshooting
, , ,
1

Increased workload since VM-3P75CT introduction

As a Victron installer & dealer, our workload and support time have increased significantly in the last year since the release of the Victron Energy Meter VM-3P75CT.

A lot of installers don’t install it correctly.
Or they install it correctly, notice a phase rotation error on the MultiPlus units, switch phases at the inverter level, and unintentionally cause the CT spools to be incorrect.
This almost always results in technical support requests to fix the system afterwards.

Not just a training issue

We strongly focus on proper installer training, but we also work with many B2B clients in the Netherlands.
Some installers are new to Victron and not fully up to date yet — but this is not purely a training issue.

:backhand_index_pointing_right: It’s a tooling and commissioning issue.

Victron is complex — and that’s (mostly) fine

I think many installers avoid Victron because it’s seen as “hard” and more time-consuming compared to other brands.

Personally, I don’t think that’s a big problem.

Victron speaks to a specific niche:

  • People who want to customize

  • Be in control

  • Choose their own battery brand

  • Or even build their own battery (ESS use cases)

Yes, installation often takes twice the time — but it’s worth it because of:

  • The functionality

  • The open-source character

  • The freedom to integrate and customize

We love Victron for the opportunities and freedom it gives us to customize software and communicate with inverters in many different ways.

But complexity is increasing

That said, I do believe the complexity of Victron inverters (software + installation) has increased significantly over the last few years.

Victron is slowly moving away from an “easy to install” product, which could push it further into a very niche market in the future.

Examples from daily practice

  • Having to work in both VE.Bus config and VictronConnect to configure a single system

  • In VictronConnect (RS) you can sync inverter settings, but this doesn’t work for multi-input fields like grid codes

  • Not being able to re-upload VE.Bus configs after firmware updates or easily copy them to other inverters

  • …and more

Back to the energy meters

Short-term improvements that would help immediately

Some relatively small changes would allow us to:

  • Install energy meters faster

  • Troubleshoot issues much quicker

1. Automatic phase recognition

If technically possible:

  • Let the inverter on L1 export –2000 W

  • Match this with the grid meter CT response

  • Automatically verify correct placement

  • Repeat for L2 and L3

2. Manual grid setpoint option

If automation isn’t possible:

  • Allow installers to manually set a grid setpoint (e.g. –2000 W)

  • Currently this is only possible on RS, and missing on other inverter types

DESS: a major support burden

Victron currently does not update energy prices for energy companies in DESS.
This is not clearly mentioned, nor are prices kept up to date.

As a result, we receive weekly emails from customers:

  • “Why is my system not trading?”

  • “Why is this behaviour happening?”

In 99% of cases, the issue is:

  • Incorrect DESS configuration

  • Wrong grid connection

  • Incorrect inverter power values

The frustrating part is that:
:backhand_index_pointing_right: Victron already knows these values from the device list.

Locking or auto-filling:

  • Grid connection

  • Inverter power

would save a massive amount of support time, simply by preventing user error.

Energy pricing responsibility shifts to dealers

We are currently building our own software to push updated energy prices from specific energy companies directly to all our clients.

That works — but it’s not optimal that dealers have to solve this themselves.

I understand that:

  • Keeping energy prices up to date for all providers is complex

However:

  • Leaving this entirely to installers or end users

  • Creates ongoing confusion

  • And pushes support responsibility back to dealers

Closing thoughts

Victron’s strength is flexibility and control, and we value that deeply.

But as system complexity increases, better commissioning and validation tools will be essential to keep Victron accessible —
not just for power users, but also for the rapidly growing installer base.

2 Likes