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Victron's New Sustain Mode and Prioritizing Solar
Background
What I want my Victron setup to do is use solar power to generate 120vAC first before using shore power without incurring a battery charge cycle (using battery power to create inverted 120vAC). To those who know a bit about solar, in effect I want the Multiplus to act like a PV Inverter.
I've accomplished this goal by utilizing the Multiplus' ESS Assistant and various settings as documented in the reference thread documented at the end of this post. With fully charged batteries, solar power is converted in the Multiplus to 120vAC if there is a load somewhere in the camper. If the AC load exceeds what the solar array can generate, shore power adds the additional power needed.
Testing Sustain and Ignore AC Input
With the release of Venus 3.10 and Multiplus firmware 506, there's a new feature available to configure in the Multiplus called Sustain. So the question to myself was, "Can Sustain be used instead of the configuration I'm currently using?" (Spoiler alert: no.)
Sustain mode does a great job of using solar instead of shore power to charge the battery bank as it is intended to do. Unfortunately, Sustain does not use PV ("solar") to supplement 120vAC loads. I tested this by removing the ESS Assistant from the Multiplus and turning off DVCC. (The earlier thread explains all about these settings so I won't repeat it here.) The firmware in the Multiplus was updated to version 506 and the GX software to firmware version 3.10.
While researching I came across an article that references how to use the Multiplus' Ignore AC input functions. Could that be used either independently or in conjunction with Sustain to achieve my goal? (Again, no. /sad face)
The Multiplus' ignore AC input function (either option) uses battery power to invert/create 120vAC within parameters that the user can set. What this means is the battery bank goes through a charge cycle--potentially often--depending on loads and the battery state-of-charge. Using Sustain with the ignore AC input option also seemed to cause a weird pulsing sound (three times) from the Multiplus when it powered on after the configuration change, and it didn't work as outlined in the first paragraph of this post. So I abandoned any further testing.
So...the end of this tale is my configuration is back to the way it was, and as documented is not recommended by Victron. (I still don't fully understand why the configuration I'm using is "wrong".)
Howard
References
Prerequisites
What I want my Victron setup to do is use solar power to generate 120vAC first before using shore power without incurring a battery charge cycle (using battery power to create inverted 120vAC). To those who know a bit about solar, in effect I want the Multiplus to act like a PV Inverter.
I've accomplished this goal by utilizing the Multiplus' ESS Assistant and various settings as documented in the reference thread documented at the end of this post. With fully charged batteries, solar power is converted in the Multiplus to 120vAC if there is a load somewhere in the camper. If the AC load exceeds what the solar array can generate, shore power adds the additional power needed.
Testing Sustain and Ignore AC Input
With the release of Venus 3.10 and Multiplus firmware 506, there's a new feature available to configure in the Multiplus called Sustain. So the question to myself was, "Can Sustain be used instead of the configuration I'm currently using?" (Spoiler alert: no.)
Sustain mode does a great job of using solar instead of shore power to charge the battery bank as it is intended to do. Unfortunately, Sustain does not use PV ("solar") to supplement 120vAC loads. I tested this by removing the ESS Assistant from the Multiplus and turning off DVCC. (The earlier thread explains all about these settings so I won't repeat it here.) The firmware in the Multiplus was updated to version 506 and the GX software to firmware version 3.10.
While researching I came across an article that references how to use the Multiplus' Ignore AC input functions. Could that be used either independently or in conjunction with Sustain to achieve my goal? (Again, no. /sad face)
The Multiplus' ignore AC input function (either option) uses battery power to invert/create 120vAC within parameters that the user can set. What this means is the battery bank goes through a charge cycle--potentially often--depending on loads and the battery state-of-charge. Using Sustain with the ignore AC input option also seemed to cause a weird pulsing sound (three times) from the Multiplus when it powered on after the configuration change, and it didn't work as outlined in the first paragraph of this post. So I abandoned any further testing.
So...the end of this tale is my configuration is back to the way it was, and as documented is not recommended by Victron. (I still don't fully understand why the configuration I'm using is "wrong".)
Howard
References
- Earlier thread on how I prioritize solar over shore power: https://gdrvowners.com/forum/operati...on-setup-again
- Victron's new Sustain mode: https://www.victronenergy.com/live/v...-wind-priority
- Ben Stein's blog on how to use the Multiplus' ignore AC input feature: https://panbo.com/maximizing-solar-p...th-victron-gx/
- My thread Update Multiplus from VRM Portal: https://gdrvowners.com/forum/operati...the-vrm-portal
Prerequisites
- Venus 3.10 loaded on GX device (or Raspberry PI, etc)
- Multiplus Firmware 506 or later
- (See Victron's article linked above for complete documentation of prerequisites)
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