*** Something I forgot to mention in the video, but make sure to add the charge current assistant to your L2 inverter as well. If you don't, the bulk charge light will always remain on when your inverters switch to passthrough mode. *** Links to the parts & pieces in the video (affiliate links) ------------------------------------ Victron 48V MultiPlus-II 5kVA 120V Inverter www.currentconnected.com/product/victron-48v-multiplus-2-5kva-120v-inverter-70a-charger/?ref=AzzpK9Fl 10kVA 120/240v Base MultiPlus-II System www.currentconnected.com/product/10kva-120-240v-multiplus-2-5kva/?ref=AzzpK9Fl Victron Cerbo GX www.currentconnected.com/product/victron-cerbo-gx-system-controller/?ref=AzzpK9Fl Victron GX Touch 7" Display www.currentconnected.com/product/gx-touch-display-cerbo-gx/?ref=AzzpK9Fl
Great video! I was one of the posters in the VE forum looking exactly how to do this and up until recently I've been using an external charger and relay to keep the batteries from dropping too low. NOW I can use the Victrons, and choose when to charge them. My only difference I saw with yours vs min, is the relay scren, you have allow more options, mines just the two relays and "on or off" havent found a way to get them on my main screen yet. Very similar setup too, just the 3k mpII's. THANK YOU!!!! This video has helped immensely. Liked! Subscribed!
Awesome! Glad to be able to help! To add more options as well as control the relay from the dashboard, take a look at this video: th-cam.com/video/RVkTFtDDvfQ/w-d-xo.html
I plan to do something similar using Home Assistant triggering off battery SOC, live pricing from the wholesale power market, solar state etc. The Victron Home Assistant integration makes this very flexible.
🙏 Thanks for this tip, I was going to do something similar but using two Multiplus 2 in parallel unfortunately if I connect my AC in it will automatically pass through to the out which I don't want. So I've decided to swap ACOut 1 for AC1 Out 2 which seems to be switchable and I've created an assistant setting that will shut down the AC2 out when Acin is detected allowing me to start the charging in two ways: 1 Manualy as you have described here or 2 automatically by keeping the inverter in the ON mode which I understand will initiate the charge based upon the battery SOC if set up correctly. I might choose option 1 so that I am in full control of the charging events just like you did 😍 I'll now go to your follow-up video on this.
Thanks. I also have another video on how to ignore AC input when it's connected unless certain criteria is met. I actually end up going over multiple methods to do this but end up going with a way that allows me to control everything from the Cerbo display. th-cam.com/video/4ZsGHi8nKGc/w-d-xo.html
@@AdamDeLayDIY I'll check that out and see if it can be of help in my situation since I would also like to control everything from my Cerbo. I think I can do it but I haven' tested it yet. BTW you don't need to stop the AC out when charging as I do evidently . . or do you? Thanks again 🙏
@@AdamDeLayDIY What about if I use AC2Out, which is switchable? I should be able to use an assistant that interrupts AC2Out so I can obtain what I need, no AC through, wouldn't I?
@@9111logic Off the top of my head, it seems like it would work. Do you really want to kill all your loads when trying to charge though? I would think you would want to run your loads and charge at the same time and then disconnect AC IN when charging is complete.
Hello Adams, thanks for super informative videos as always. We are wondering whether you have wires connect to secondary Inverter Aux2 as well ? We only saw you did on Primary Inverter. 👍😀
@@adassociates8235 thanks! Nope, I only wired up to the primary inverter. It handles the change for both. I did forget to add the assistant to the secondary inverter though. Custom Grid Charging - I Missed a Step... th-cam.com/video/5RkDZTYVTKw/w-d-xo.html
Thanks Adam for a great tutorial. I liked your idea so much I've implemented it on my home Victron based system. It works great. I noticed on the Multiplus assistant as I was stepping through it, that if the voltage signal that you're sending to the Aux 2 relay on the Multiplus is set at a voltage between the high and low voltage limits, it will prorate the charger current going to the batteries between the high and low charger current limits. I'm going to play around with that concept to see if I can fine tune the charge current without having to upload a new configuration to the Multiplus if I want to tweak the amount of charge current.
@@AdamDeLayDIY Following up on this topic. After researching how the Multiplus Aux2 input works, I found that it is pulled up to a 5V signal through a 10k ohm resister. When the input is open (eg. the Cerbo Aux2 relay contacts are open) the signal is 5V. Of course the signal drops to 0V when the input is shorted (eg. the Cerbo Aux2 relay contacts are closed). This enables/disables the charger as you noted in your video. But in addition, the 'charge current control' assistant also allows you to linearly control the magnitude of the charger current if the signal voltage on the Aux2 input varies between the low and high voltage limits set in the assistant. Thus, by wiring two pins (the center and one of the outside pins) of a three pin 20k ohm potentiometer in parallel with the Aux2 input on the Multiplus (or the Aux2 relay on the Cerbo) and setting the Charger Current Control Assistant parameters to 0A when voltage is lower than 0.50V and maxA when voltage is higher than 3.3V, you can now control the magnitude of the DC charge current using the full range of the 20k ohm pot when the Charger is enabled. And you don't have to upload a new configuration to the Multiplus. It works great!
@@brucebugbee6604 that's really slick Bruce! Great job! So the pot would adjust the charge current based up to what you have set as the charge current in the assistant?
@@AdamDeLayDIY Yes the charger current adjusts proportionally based on the Aux2 signal voltage, ranging from 0A at 0.5V up to the charger current setting at 3.3V in my setup. The voltage signal across Aux2 is defined by the following equation when the Cerbo relay contacts are open (charger enabled): Vsignal = 5V x pot kohms setting/(10k ohms + pot kohms setting). When the pot is turned 'up' to 20kohm, I end up with a 3.3 volt signal (5V x 20kohm/30kohm) on Aux2 input. So if I set the charge current to be 50A at a 3.3V threshold in the assistant, I get 50A on the charger when the pot is turned all the way "up" to 20k ohms. When the pot is turned down halfway to 10kohms, the signal voltage on Aux2 drops to ~2.5V (5V x 10kohm/20kohm) and the charger current drops to about 35.7A. When the pot is turned down to 5kohms, the signal voltage drops to ~1.7V (5V x 5kohm/15kohm) and the charger current drops to 20.8A. When the pot is turned down to 2 kohms, the signal voltage is 0.83V and the charger current is about 6.0A. I set my disable charger voltage to be 0.5V so the charger is disabled when I reach about 1 kohm or below on the pot. Of course if the Cerbo relay contacts are closed (charger disabled) the pot setting is irrelevant in that scenario.
Hi Adam, great Vid. I wasn't aware of this feature, and ended up using a Leviton 15a wifi switch feeding to a contactor which in turn sends 16a to each of my Quattro's... with all the cloud cover we've had this month, I just let the Leviton automation charge the batteries between 11pm-7am (@ 2.8cents/kW)
For those of us living in Michigan, its time to flip the switch and get the batteries charged up from AC Input for the big winter storm this weekend. My solar input has been dreadful this past month in southern Michigan.
Yep, mine has as well. Spent a lot more time on grid than I really want to. I've already gone out once this morning to clear snow off the panels and there's still more coming down. Waiting on an official forecast from my weather guy this afternoon for the storm. Stay safe!
Very informative tutorial, I’m in the process of completing my Victron system. Only problem is the cerbo gx not connecting to the internet steadily. I was told to connect the cerbo straight to the router not a share portal. Love the flexibility of the system but my Schneider system is a work horse that keeps going. I’m just upgrading to the Victron for more options.
Thanks Pete. Sorry you're having connectivity issues with the Cerbo. I'm using wifi on mine, but the access point is only a few feet away on the other side of the wall.
Hi Adam, good Video thanks mate, just so you know the only reason you get the VE BUS config opening first is because you have more than one Inverter and you can choose which one to edit. I have just one Multi 10/18Kw and when I click on the download and then the file, for me it just opens directly into the config editor.
Great video! Is there a way to have charging from the grid based on a current value from a separate CT (e.g via a VM-3P75CT)? I have a separate grid-tied PV system that exports to the grid for a pittance. I'd like to measure this grid export and authomatically push the excess power into my Victron system (so a variable current equal to what is being exported) . Do you know if this can also be done via VE Connect?
Thanks. That's not something I'm familiar with. I would recommend asking that question on the Victron Community forum (community.victronenergy.com/index.html). If it's been done, someone's done it on that site.
How we can turn the charger on when the system feed to the grid by the solar system and turn the charger off when the load is consumed from the grid? I am looking to add the battery to the existing solar system. Thank you so much.
I'm not sure you can push power to the grid and charge the batteries at the same time. Power only flows in a single direction. You would have to charge the batteries first and then have power get pushed back to the grid. You may want to look into the ESS Assistant.
I m using MultiPlus-II GX 48v 3000va, I followed the instructions settings on this video for relay open and close via VRM, to ignore Grid when SOC is above 40% and open relay when SOC 30% but it's not working.
The relay for grid charging is manual and it's separate from the ability to ignore AC Input. So which isn't working? Grid charging or ignoring AC Input?
That's a great question. I'm trying to think back to the reasoning, but I believe it had to do with the fact that when AC IN is detected, the inverter automatically switches over to that to supply power to the loads and start charging the battery (I have a solution for this aspect in another video). I don't believe the "inverter only" works when it's in AC bypass mode (unless something has changed). So it would always try and charge the batteries whenever AC IN was connected. This relay option allows me to selectively choose when I want to charge from AC IN.
@@AdamDeLayDIY I think you're correct. I am currently running both my systems in "Prioritize Wind and Solar" mode, so they don't charge from AC unless I tell them to. So I flip between "Charger Only" and "On" as necessary.
@@adamsherman Yeah that feature came out after this video I believe. If I remember correctly, that feature will force charge you from the grid/AC IN if your batteries go a certain amount of time without hitting 100%. Does it abide by the setting you have set for "inverter only"?
Hi & thanks. I was trying to find such a solution for a while. But a couple of questions: should it work on a Multiplus I (Cerbo GX v3.13)? Could you show details of the wiring cerbo-multiplus? In the relays settings, I can't change the relay name, and I don't have the option to show the relay in overview, does it come from UPDATE?
I’m not 100% sure if it works on the MultiPlus 1 or not. I know there were some differences between the two models. Provably wouldn’t hurt to test it though. The relay name and the overview options were all a part of the GuiMods changes I did a few weeks ago. th-cam.com/video/RVkTFtDDvfQ/w-d-xo.html As far as the wiring goes, there’s not much to it. I just took a Cat5 wire and connected it to the terminal blocks on the Cerbo and MP like I showed in the video.
What would be the purpose of this Aux 2 setup if you already have Aux 1 setup like your previous video? Wouldn’t “Start Generator” do the same thing? I typically use the VRM for all my monitoring needs.
By default, when in passthrough mode, the inverter also charges from the grid. Now you can disable this in VE Config, but then you would have to re-enable if you had to charge from the grid for whatever reason. So even when my system switches over to grid (using the generator setup from the last video), I don't want to charge from the grid. I want to primarily charge from solar only. Like the generator setup, this gives me the ability to use the Cerbo (or the VRM) to enable or disable charging from the grid.
@@AdamDeLayDIY I think I'm following. I have an 50 amp RV with a MP-II x120. I'm trying to do somewhat the same. Run loads and charge from solar and only use grid when the loads are high or the SOC is low. I'm not sure what value it would be for me to separate out the charger function when the mains / generator connect. In my case (say after many crappy days of no sun) I'm going to want the batteries charged from AC. It looks like the Aux 1 / Generator function would be all I need. Are you using the Aux 1 setup primarily for running high loads and using the Aux 2 for finer control of grid battery charging?
@@williamsmith648 Pretty much. Aux 1 is being used for low SOC switching back to grid as well as high loads. The generator function of the cerbo lets me really dial in those numbers without having to constantly make changes using VE Config. Aux2 is very rarely used. My charger is set to 0a in VE Config, so the only way I can enable charging is using the Aux2 relay. I might use it a few times during the winter if I go weeks at a time without a full charge, just to let the batteries refill, but most of the time that relay will be turned off.
OK I need help here. Had my multiplus 2 setup for a week and for the most part it works OK. Coming from a setup of 2 seperate inverters with ats's etc and even though the whole thing looked like a mess it worked beautifully. I'm really struggling to get the multiplus 2 to do exactly what I want. Which is essentially what you have kinda done. However... I've followed this video and your previous to ignore ac input. I have cheap power at nighttime so I was hoping I could blend these two to work for me. However this doesn't seem to be the case. This "one switch charging" doesn't work if my assistant is currently ignoring my ac input. And frustratingly my battery won't charge at night with my current set to 0A. There has to be something very obvious I'm overlooking.
You'll have to be on grid power in order for the grid charging to work. So if you configured your "Ignore AC Input" by using the Cerbo generator feature, you'll have to "start the generator" to switch to grid and then switch the grid charging relay. If you want to do this on its own, I believe you can set a time based condition in the generator settings on the cerbo for your overnight hours. The only thing that can't be automatic is the relay switch for grid charging. You would have to turn that on manually and then when the "generator" turned on, it would start charging from the grid. If you wanted to have it all be automatic, you might have to look at setting up Node Red for more fine grained control.
I very rarely use the grid charging option, but I believe it does throttle down charging if output power gets too high. Someone else might be able to comment more.
It would be fun (and nice) if you could also add the opposite of this: manual dump energy from the battery to the grid! (In some countries - like The Netherlands - you can earn some money by selling your energy to the grid. Do you have a solution for that? Thank you 🙏
I believe that when you use ESS, there’s a grid set-point option. A positive number will draw from the grid and a negative number will push back to the grid. www.victronenergy.com/live/ess:ess_mode_2_and_3
I use Home assistant and have it connected to my Victron setup and at 90% battery it will turn on some loads that are nice to have but not needed, and at 97% I start turning on dump loads. Right now in winter in Wisconsin those are a heat pump at 90% and at 97% some heaters. On the opposite end to preserve power I have it switch things off starting at 30%.
What to do if your using a raspberry pi. Can you show how to configure it and what hats are needed for the pi. I got a multiplus-II gx so the gx is in the inverter so i dont hv a relay.
The biggest reason was that Current Connected sent me the Victron inverters for some long-term testing. If you go back through my videos, you'll see I did end up having a lot of issues with the 6500s. Unfortunately, the biggest issue I had was with the lack of communication from support though.
@@AdamDeLayDIY I have been watching your videos for quite a while, and I did see some of the difficulties you were having, I was kinda surprised seeing your 6500's replaced with Victron. I have a couple of 6500's but I am only using one of them so far mounted on a hand truck for a temporary power source which so far works well, but I am always apprehensive especially after seeing problems others have experienced. Thank You for all the great information you have passed along, I very much enjoy your videos.
@@LincolnSP150 Glad to be able to help out. When people ask if they'll have problems with the 6500s, from what I've seen it always ends up being the flip of a coin. Some have no issues at all and others have a lot of issues. Some issues are self-inflicted due to improper installation/understanding but not all of them. For a hand-truck installation, I doubt you would see a lot of the issues people experienced because you're only using it as temporary power. Good luck and have fun!
Hey Adam - hope all is well :-) Would you happen to know a way to tell the Multiplus II to charge manually via VRM from the VenusOS Rasberry Pi? There ins't a relay aux input on the Rasberry Pi so unless I missed it in the video talking about that... I cant tell the MP-II to charge my batteries outside of my charger fixed/adaptive settings for voltage and absorption repeat. I can get it to manually charge but its through a VRM restart command to the MP-II as a whole haha... but dont like to do that.
If the RPi is used for Venus OS, where there are no relays like on Cerbo, it is possible to connect a PCB board with one or more relays to the RPi and install it in the Venus OS, where it is then used just like the relays from Cerbo. I've seen videos of how to add PCB relay boards to the RPi Venus OS.
Actually yes. I've done this before on my old 12v system. I purchased a relay board and wired it to two of the GIPO pins. Let me do some digging and see if I can find the details again.
Ok, so here's what I found. The VenusOS install has 1 "relay" enabled by default (I found this out because I had to wipe my own Raspberry Pi and start over). You can add others if you want by installing the RpiGpioSetup from KWindrem. So the "relay" option for the raspberry pi basically just turns a pin on or off on the gpio header. You actually need to add your own relay to control whatever you want to switch. Years ago I wanted to be able to turn my giandel inverter on/off through the VRM. So I bought one of these relays (www.adafruit.com/product/2895) and wired it to the GPIO pins on the pi. I'm sure there's other options out there, but these were cheap. You only have to solder 3 pins (3v, gnd and signal). I then purchased these breadboard wires (amzn.to/3M1OC4D) to connect the pi to the featherwing. I used 3 female to female wires. My raspberry pi is a 2B (so you might have to double check your specific pi gpio pinout) 3v on featherwing -> GPIO header 17 Gnd on featherwing -> GPIO header 39 Signal on featherwing -> GPIO header 40 Then all you have to do is set the Relay to "Manual" in the Remote Console and you should be good to go. I'll see if I can throw together a quick video to better show what I'm talking about.
@@joeboxter3635 the relay controls can be handled through the cerbo, but not the AC in options. I haven’t messed with the ESS assistant. Enabling that allows for potential power to flow backwards to the grid, even if not on purpose. Using the “ignore AC In” option, either all your power comes from the grid or it all comes from the battery. There is no blending.
Don't you just love it when someone puts up videos with incorrect information then follows up with a correction BUT leaves the old video up.. Just STUPID!!!!!
*** Something I forgot to mention in the video, but make sure to add the charge current assistant to your L2 inverter as well. If you don't, the bulk charge light will always remain on when your inverters switch to passthrough mode. ***
Links to the parts & pieces in the video (affiliate links)
------------------------------------
Victron 48V MultiPlus-II 5kVA 120V Inverter
www.currentconnected.com/product/victron-48v-multiplus-2-5kva-120v-inverter-70a-charger/?ref=AzzpK9Fl
10kVA 120/240v Base MultiPlus-II System
www.currentconnected.com/product/10kva-120-240v-multiplus-2-5kva/?ref=AzzpK9Fl
Victron Cerbo GX
www.currentconnected.com/product/victron-cerbo-gx-system-controller/?ref=AzzpK9Fl
Victron GX Touch 7" Display
www.currentconnected.com/product/gx-touch-display-cerbo-gx/?ref=AzzpK9Fl
It's really nice someone made the effort to explain these things. Thank you Sir.😁
Glad to be able to help!
Thanks! I have deployed this and it's working well! Thank you for your efforts.
Thanks a lot Joe! Really appreciate it!
Great video! I was one of the posters in the VE forum looking exactly how to do this and up until recently I've been using an external charger and relay to keep the batteries from dropping too low. NOW I can use the Victrons, and choose when to charge them. My only difference I saw with yours vs min, is the relay scren, you have allow more options, mines just the two relays and "on or off" havent found a way to get them on my main screen yet. Very similar setup too, just the 3k mpII's.
THANK YOU!!!! This video has helped immensely.
Liked! Subscribed!
Awesome! Glad to be able to help!
To add more options as well as control the relay from the dashboard, take a look at this video: th-cam.com/video/RVkTFtDDvfQ/w-d-xo.html
@@AdamDeLayDIYthat did it! Thank you so much!
Great video, very well explained. Appreciate the time and effort you put into all your videos. I am another Victron 'convert'!
Thanks a lot!
I plan to do something similar using Home Assistant triggering off battery SOC, live pricing from the wholesale power market, solar state etc. The Victron Home Assistant integration makes this very flexible.
That’s awesome that Home Assistant can help with that!
Very smart, You have a very good way of explaining and walking through what it is you are doing. Great job.
Thanks a lot!
🙏 Thanks for this tip, I was going to do something similar but using two Multiplus 2 in parallel unfortunately if I connect my AC in it will automatically pass through to the out which I don't want. So I've decided to swap ACOut 1 for AC1 Out 2 which seems to be switchable and I've created an assistant setting that will shut down the AC2 out when Acin is detected allowing me to start the charging in two ways: 1 Manualy as you have described here or 2 automatically by keeping the inverter in the ON mode which I understand will initiate the charge based upon the battery SOC if set up correctly. I might choose option 1 so that I am in full control of the charging events just like you did 😍 I'll now go to your follow-up video on this.
Thanks. I also have another video on how to ignore AC input when it's connected unless certain criteria is met. I actually end up going over multiple methods to do this but end up going with a way that allows me to control everything from the Cerbo display.
th-cam.com/video/4ZsGHi8nKGc/w-d-xo.html
@@AdamDeLayDIY I'll check that out and see if it can be of help in my situation since I would also like to control everything from my Cerbo. I think I can do it but I haven' tested it yet. BTW you don't need to stop the AC out when charging as I do evidently . . or do you? Thanks again 🙏
@ if you want to charge from the grid, all your ac out loads are passed through to the AC In. It’s an all or nothing situation.
@@AdamDeLayDIY What about if I use AC2Out, which is switchable? I should be able to use an assistant that interrupts AC2Out so I can obtain what I need, no AC through, wouldn't I?
@@9111logic Off the top of my head, it seems like it would work. Do you really want to kill all your loads when trying to charge though? I would think you would want to run your loads and charge at the same time and then disconnect AC IN when charging is complete.
Hello Adams, thanks for super informative videos as always. We are wondering whether you have wires connect to secondary Inverter Aux2 as well ? We only saw you did on Primary Inverter. 👍😀
@@adassociates8235 thanks!
Nope, I only wired up to the primary inverter. It handles the change for both. I did forget to add the assistant to the secondary inverter though.
Custom Grid Charging - I Missed a Step...
th-cam.com/video/5RkDZTYVTKw/w-d-xo.html
Thanks Adam for a great tutorial. I liked your idea so much I've implemented it on my home Victron based system. It works great. I noticed on the Multiplus assistant as I was stepping through it, that if the voltage signal that you're sending to the Aux 2 relay on the Multiplus is set at a voltage between the high and low voltage limits, it will prorate the charger current going to the batteries between the high and low charger current limits. I'm going to play around with that concept to see if I can fine tune the charge current without having to upload a new configuration to the Multiplus if I want to tweak the amount of charge current.
Thanks Bruce!
Keep me in the loop with what you find! I would be very interested in that.
@@AdamDeLayDIY Following up on this topic. After researching how the Multiplus Aux2 input works, I found that it is pulled up to a 5V signal through a 10k ohm resister.
When the input is open (eg. the Cerbo Aux2 relay contacts are open) the signal is 5V. Of course the signal drops to 0V when the input is shorted (eg. the Cerbo Aux2 relay contacts are closed). This enables/disables the charger as you noted in your video. But in addition, the 'charge current control' assistant also allows you to linearly control the magnitude of the charger current if the signal voltage on the Aux2 input varies between the low and high voltage limits set in the assistant. Thus, by wiring two pins (the center and one of the outside pins) of a three pin 20k ohm potentiometer in parallel with the Aux2 input on the Multiplus (or the Aux2 relay on the Cerbo) and setting the Charger Current Control Assistant parameters to 0A when voltage is lower than 0.50V and maxA when voltage is higher than 3.3V, you can now control the magnitude of the DC charge current using the full range of the 20k ohm pot when the Charger is enabled. And you don't have to upload a new configuration to the Multiplus. It works great!
@@brucebugbee6604 that's really slick Bruce! Great job! So the pot would adjust the charge current based up to what you have set as the charge current in the assistant?
@@AdamDeLayDIY Yes the charger current adjusts proportionally based on the Aux2 signal voltage, ranging from 0A at 0.5V up to the charger current setting at 3.3V in my setup. The voltage signal across Aux2 is defined by the following equation when the Cerbo relay contacts are open (charger enabled): Vsignal = 5V x pot kohms setting/(10k ohms + pot kohms setting). When the pot is turned 'up' to 20kohm, I end up with a 3.3 volt signal (5V x 20kohm/30kohm) on Aux2 input. So if I set the charge current to be 50A at a 3.3V threshold in the assistant, I get 50A on the charger when the pot is turned all the way "up" to 20k ohms. When the pot is turned down halfway to 10kohms, the signal voltage on Aux2 drops to ~2.5V (5V x 10kohm/20kohm) and the charger current drops to about 35.7A. When the pot is turned down to 5kohms, the signal voltage drops to ~1.7V (5V x 5kohm/15kohm) and the charger current drops to 20.8A. When the pot is turned down to 2 kohms, the signal voltage is 0.83V and the charger current is about 6.0A. I set my disable charger voltage to be 0.5V so the charger is disabled when I reach about 1 kohm or below on the pot. Of course if the Cerbo relay contacts are closed (charger disabled) the pot setting is irrelevant in that scenario.
@@brucebugbee6604 that’s awesome! Thanks for sharing what you found!
Hi Adam, great Vid. I wasn't aware of this feature, and ended up using a Leviton 15a wifi switch feeding to a contactor which in turn sends 16a to each of my Quattro's... with all the cloud cover we've had this month, I just let the Leviton automation charge the batteries between 11pm-7am (@ 2.8cents/kW)
Thanks! Always nice to have different options!
For those of us living in Michigan, its time to flip the switch and get the batteries charged up from AC Input for the big winter storm this weekend. My solar input has been dreadful this past month in southern Michigan.
Yep, mine has as well. Spent a lot more time on grid than I really want to. I've already gone out once this morning to clear snow off the panels and there's still more coming down. Waiting on an official forecast from my weather guy this afternoon for the storm. Stay safe!
Very informative tutorial, I’m in the process of completing my Victron system. Only problem is the cerbo gx not connecting to the internet steadily. I was told to connect the cerbo straight to the router not a share portal. Love the flexibility of the system but my Schneider system is a work horse that keeps going. I’m just upgrading to the Victron for more options.
Thanks Pete. Sorry you're having connectivity issues with the Cerbo. I'm using wifi on mine, but the access point is only a few feet away on the other side of the wall.
Hi Adam, good Video thanks mate, just so you know the only reason you get the VE BUS config opening first is because you have more than one Inverter and you can choose which one to edit. I have just one Multi 10/18Kw and when I click on the download and then the file, for me it just opens directly into the config editor.
Thanks for letting me know! Makes perfect sense!
Which physical relay terminals are controlled by the manual "Relay 2" switch? Thanks! Great video!
Thanks!
That would be the "Relay 2" terminal block on the bottom of the Cerbo.
Great video! Is there a way to have charging from the grid based on a current value from a separate CT (e.g via a VM-3P75CT)? I have a separate grid-tied PV system that exports to the grid for a pittance. I'd like to measure this grid export and authomatically push the excess power into my Victron system (so a variable current equal to what is being exported) . Do you know if this can also be done via VE Connect?
Thanks.
That's not something I'm familiar with. I would recommend asking that question on the Victron Community forum (community.victronenergy.com/index.html). If it's been done, someone's done it on that site.
Good work
How we can turn the charger on when the system feed to the grid by the solar system and turn the charger off when the load is consumed from the grid? I am looking to add the battery to the existing solar system. Thank you so much.
I'm not sure you can push power to the grid and charge the batteries at the same time. Power only flows in a single direction. You would have to charge the batteries first and then have power get pushed back to the grid.
You may want to look into the ESS Assistant.
I m using MultiPlus-II GX 48v 3000va, I followed the instructions settings on this video for relay open and close via VRM, to ignore Grid when SOC is above 40% and open relay when SOC 30% but it's not working.
The relay for grid charging is manual and it's separate from the ability to ignore AC Input. So which isn't working? Grid charging or ignoring AC Input?
What is different between this approach and simply controlling using the MultiPlus’ mode (on, charger only, inverter only, off)?
That's a great question. I'm trying to think back to the reasoning, but I believe it had to do with the fact that when AC IN is detected, the inverter automatically switches over to that to supply power to the loads and start charging the battery (I have a solution for this aspect in another video).
I don't believe the "inverter only" works when it's in AC bypass mode (unless something has changed). So it would always try and charge the batteries whenever AC IN was connected. This relay option allows me to selectively choose when I want to charge from AC IN.
@@AdamDeLayDIY I think you're correct. I am currently running both my systems in "Prioritize Wind and Solar" mode, so they don't charge from AC unless I tell them to. So I flip between "Charger Only" and "On" as necessary.
@@adamsherman Yeah that feature came out after this video I believe. If I remember correctly, that feature will force charge you from the grid/AC IN if your batteries go a certain amount of time without hitting 100%. Does it abide by the setting you have set for "inverter only"?
@ pretty sure inverter only is just that. No matter what.
@@adamsherman Good to hear! Thanks for sharing!
Hi & thanks. I was trying to find such a solution for a while. But a couple of questions: should it work on a Multiplus I (Cerbo GX v3.13)? Could you show details of the wiring cerbo-multiplus? In the relays settings, I can't change the relay name, and I don't have the option to show the relay in overview, does it come from UPDATE?
I’m not 100% sure if it works on the MultiPlus 1 or not. I know there were some differences between the two models. Provably wouldn’t hurt to test it though.
The relay name and the overview options were all a part of the GuiMods changes I did a few weeks ago.
th-cam.com/video/RVkTFtDDvfQ/w-d-xo.html
As far as the wiring goes, there’s not much to it. I just took a Cat5 wire and connected it to the terminal blocks on the Cerbo and MP like I showed in the video.
What would be the purpose of this Aux 2 setup if you already have Aux 1 setup like your previous video? Wouldn’t “Start Generator” do the same thing? I typically use the VRM for all my monitoring needs.
By default, when in passthrough mode, the inverter also charges from the grid. Now you can disable this in VE Config, but then you would have to re-enable if you had to charge from the grid for whatever reason.
So even when my system switches over to grid (using the generator setup from the last video), I don't want to charge from the grid. I want to primarily charge from solar only.
Like the generator setup, this gives me the ability to use the Cerbo (or the VRM) to enable or disable charging from the grid.
@@AdamDeLayDIY I think I'm following. I have an 50 amp RV with a MP-II x120. I'm trying to do somewhat the same. Run loads and charge from solar and only use grid when the loads are high or the SOC is low. I'm not sure what value it would be for me to separate out the charger function when the mains / generator connect. In my case (say after many crappy days of no sun) I'm going to want the batteries charged from AC. It looks like the Aux 1 / Generator function would be all I need. Are you using the Aux 1 setup primarily for running high loads and using the Aux 2 for finer control of grid battery charging?
@@williamsmith648 Pretty much. Aux 1 is being used for low SOC switching back to grid as well as high loads. The generator function of the cerbo lets me really dial in those numbers without having to constantly make changes using VE Config.
Aux2 is very rarely used. My charger is set to 0a in VE Config, so the only way I can enable charging is using the Aux2 relay. I might use it a few times during the winter if I go weeks at a time without a full charge, just to let the batteries refill, but most of the time that relay will be turned off.
OK I need help here. Had my multiplus 2 setup for a week and for the most part it works OK. Coming from a setup of 2 seperate inverters with ats's etc and even though the whole thing looked like a mess it worked beautifully. I'm really struggling to get the multiplus 2 to do exactly what I want. Which is essentially what you have kinda done. However... I've followed this video and your previous to ignore ac input. I have cheap power at nighttime so I was hoping I could blend these two to work for me. However this doesn't seem to be the case. This "one switch charging" doesn't work if my assistant is currently ignoring my ac input. And frustratingly my battery won't charge at night with my current set to 0A. There has to be something very obvious I'm overlooking.
You'll have to be on grid power in order for the grid charging to work. So if you configured your "Ignore AC Input" by using the Cerbo generator feature, you'll have to "start the generator" to switch to grid and then switch the grid charging relay.
If you want to do this on its own, I believe you can set a time based condition in the generator settings on the cerbo for your overnight hours. The only thing that can't be automatic is the relay switch for grid charging. You would have to turn that on manually and then when the "generator" turned on, it would start charging from the grid.
If you wanted to have it all be automatic, you might have to look at setting up Node Red for more fine grained control.
if the charge current + loads are higher than the grid (shore input limit), does it throttle down the charge current?
I very rarely use the grid charging option, but I believe it does throttle down charging if output power gets too high. Someone else might be able to comment more.
It would be fun (and nice) if you could also add the opposite of this: manual dump energy from the battery to the grid! (In some countries - like The Netherlands - you can earn some money by selling your energy to the grid.
Do you have a solution for that?
Thank you 🙏
I believe that when you use ESS, there’s a grid set-point option. A positive number will draw from the grid and a negative number will push back to the grid.
www.victronenergy.com/live/ess:ess_mode_2_and_3
I use Home assistant and have it connected to my Victron setup and at 90% battery it will turn on some loads that are nice to have but not needed, and at 97% I start turning on dump loads. Right now in winter in Wisconsin those are a heat pump at 90% and at 97% some heaters. On the opposite end to preserve power I have it switch things off starting at 30%.
Unfortunately in the US since the inverters aren't UL listed, they cannot be configured for selling back to the grid.
What to do if your using a raspberry pi. Can you show how to configure it and what hats are needed for the pi.
I got a multiplus-II gx so the gx is in the inverter so i dont hv a relay.
Ohh you have done a video on raspberry pi. Just watching it.
Just in case anyone else is looking for the answer to this: th-cam.com/video/lv5rqqbDFL0/w-d-xo.html
Hi;
Why did you switch to Victron Inverters?
We're your EG4 6500EX'S giving you a lot of problems?
The biggest reason was that Current Connected sent me the Victron inverters for some long-term testing. If you go back through my videos, you'll see I did end up having a lot of issues with the 6500s. Unfortunately, the biggest issue I had was with the lack of communication from support though.
@@AdamDeLayDIY
I have been watching your videos for quite a while, and I did see some of the difficulties you were having, I was kinda surprised seeing your 6500's replaced with Victron.
I have a couple of 6500's but I am only using one of them so far mounted on a hand truck for a temporary power source which so far works well, but I am always apprehensive especially after seeing problems others have experienced.
Thank You for all the great information you have passed along, I very much enjoy your videos.
@@LincolnSP150 Glad to be able to help out.
When people ask if they'll have problems with the 6500s, from what I've seen it always ends up being the flip of a coin. Some have no issues at all and others have a lot of issues. Some issues are self-inflicted due to improper installation/understanding but not all of them.
For a hand-truck installation, I doubt you would see a lot of the issues people experienced because you're only using it as temporary power.
Good luck and have fun!
Hey Adam - hope all is well :-) Would you happen to know a way to tell the Multiplus II to charge manually via VRM from the VenusOS Rasberry Pi? There ins't a relay aux input on the Rasberry Pi so unless I missed it in the video talking about that... I cant tell the MP-II to charge my batteries outside of my charger fixed/adaptive settings for voltage and absorption repeat. I can get it to manually charge but its through a VRM restart command to the MP-II as a whole haha... but dont like to do that.
If the RPi is used for Venus OS, where there are no relays like on Cerbo, it is possible to connect a PCB board with one or more relays to the RPi and install it in the Venus OS, where it is then used just like the relays from Cerbo. I've seen videos of how to add PCB relay boards to the RPi Venus OS.
Actually yes. I've done this before on my old 12v system. I purchased a relay board and wired it to two of the GIPO pins. Let me do some digging and see if I can find the details again.
Ok, so here's what I found.
The VenusOS install has 1 "relay" enabled by default (I found this out because I had to wipe my own Raspberry Pi and start over). You can add others if you want by installing the RpiGpioSetup from KWindrem.
So the "relay" option for the raspberry pi basically just turns a pin on or off on the gpio header. You actually need to add your own relay to control whatever you want to switch. Years ago I wanted to be able to turn my giandel inverter on/off through the VRM. So I bought one of these relays (www.adafruit.com/product/2895) and wired it to the GPIO pins on the pi. I'm sure there's other options out there, but these were cheap. You only have to solder 3 pins (3v, gnd and signal).
I then purchased these breadboard wires (amzn.to/3M1OC4D) to connect the pi to the featherwing. I used 3 female to female wires. My raspberry pi is a 2B (so you might have to double check your specific pi gpio pinout)
3v on featherwing -> GPIO header 17
Gnd on featherwing -> GPIO header 39
Signal on featherwing -> GPIO header 40
Then all you have to do is set the Relay to "Manual" in the Remote Console and you should be good to go.
I'll see if I can throw together a quick video to better show what I'm talking about.
Why can't all this be done automatically with the Cerbo or using ESS?
@@joeboxter3635 the relay controls can be handled through the cerbo, but not the AC in options.
I haven’t messed with the ESS assistant. Enabling that allows for potential power to flow backwards to the grid, even if not on purpose. Using the “ignore AC In” option, either all your power comes from the grid or it all comes from the battery. There is no blending.
that's it, thanks
very cool
You changed the intro!
I updated it a little while ago
@@AdamDeLayDIY that shows how much I pay attention. 🙄
@@GavinStoneDIY🤣🤣🤣
Don't you just love it when someone puts up videos with incorrect information then follows up with a correction BUT leaves the old video up.. Just STUPID!!!!!
Thanks for the comment. Really helps out the TH-cam algorithm.