Very clear schematic. Good explaining why you did things the way you did. This will help me designing my own system. Thanks for the effort and sharing the video
Hi Eliot, thanks for the video. I like the mixture of block diagrams and actual install video, it works for me 👍. I would love to see a video (ie covers off) on how you wired in your two Multiplus II in parallel. Also any tips on what to do would be helpful.
It’s no different from a single victron really, each one has its own mains feed via a breaker and isolator and each one draws from the same bus bar - there’s no other wires between them apart from the comms cable
@@patricklyons7683 Not sure what you mean - they are in parallel - so i get double the capacity on a single phase. It’s not split phase if that’s what you are asking
I don’t believe you should need the type B RCD protection for the Victron equipment under BS7671 18th edition wiring regulations (however my knowledge ends there, not the new amendments.) Per the Victron installer training and manufacturers installation instructions the unit should be fine with a type A RCD. Specifically “The inverter does incorporate a mains frequency isolating transformer. This precludes the possibility of DC current at any AC port. Therefore type A RCD’s can be used.”
yeh maybe so, seemed to be the right thing to do given the hefty dc power that’s close to the ac. It does trip occasionally, which mainly turned out to be my florescent lights in the garage.
Hi, great video. I’ve pretty much duplicated this setup and it’s working fine. You say you’ve limited the charge current to 100amps. Whereabouts did you make that setting, my charging sits at 150amps which is too high? Thanks.
you set it in veconfigure - (not the cerbo gui) - mines parallel so it’s set to 50 amps to arrive at 100. Essentially you want to set the charge rate high enough to charge in your window - as there’s no value in charging them faster than required
@@eliotmansfieldthanks, luckily I had checked the box in veconfigure so was able to adjust in CERBO after all. Cheers. Can you tell me how you handled the neutral tails from the RCBOs, do they all common up and connect to the neutral under the changeover switch. I’ve commoned them up first and used a single cable to connect to neutral. Do you know what current would go through the tails? Graeme
@@graemekennedy7137 I’ve not removed the cover - so not sure how the. spark did it - but I would do as you describe personally. Total load is fairly low, say 20a or less, because it’s just led lights etc. I would probably squish the wires into a bit of 4mm cable personally
Hi why not use one or two of the L2 outs ports as I understand their amp can be higher. I like the flexibilty of victron but this being new to me requires a lot of research. I going off grid so interested in how people do it. Yours best wiring diagram seen paul
the internal contactor can only handle 50a (per unit) if your total loads will never exceed that and you have nothing upstream on ac in, then yes by all means use that. As you can see i have quite a complicated setup with multiple consumer units so it’s not physically practical for me to
How are you connecting the neutral wires of the RCBOs in protected circuits to the load out of the change-over switch - do you have another bar or all into the one terminal? Thanks.
Great informative video. You dont normally find any details in the UK as to how to wire up your inverter to the main consumer unit. When the inverter live comes from the MCB does it go straight into the main switch with the grid tails or is this fed into a henley block peior to a cable entering the main feed. Im currently doing research at the moment to make a self consuming zero feedback system with DIY LFP batterys but my feeback meter will be just before the CU as i have a car charge point that i want to run off the mains on cheap electricity and the is on its own henley block with split tails
I'm curious how you physically connected the main switch to the 20A Victron bypass MCB, as it requires 25mm section conductor from the line on the main switch (in the first board) to feed the type B rcd and another similar to the bypass MCB
I dont think you understand how it's wired. The 25mm tails go into the consumer units as normal. The two victrons are on their own 20A RCBO's, the only light loads (less than 10amps) are downstream. The entire house isn't downstream (after) the victrons, study the drawings again. The big red changeover switch is just switches the between Victron ACOUT1 and Normal Grid power - so allow those loads (the RCBO's on the lower half of the consumer unit) to work if the victrons are powered off/fail. (8:17 on the vid)
@@eliotmansfield Thanks. I see separate line conductors from the main switch, load side, to both the Victron RCD and bypass mcb as well as the busbar connection to the unprotected mbc section. Are they all connected to the same line terminal on the main switch?
@@eliotmansfield Yes the diagram. It is a practical question of wiring rather than operation theory. How you connect two large CSA conductors and a bus bar to the same terminal on the main switch.
quick question about installation, did you wire everything electrically on both inverters (so paralleled) then power everything on, and do all the firmware updates etc, then set up as ESS, then connect all the communication cables? my concern is having the 2 output of the inverters in parallel (and live) but not set up for it!? cheers!
It was originally a single unit then expanded to two units. You power the units from the battery pack with the ac isolated to do all the configuration, then you can add the ac side
Excellent info, cheers! Why are you using 20A breakers on the input to the multi? I thought i read that the smaller 3000 needed 32A on the input? I'm learning, not saying it's wrong! 👍
Victron state not to oversize the AC cabling on a parallel setup. So you either feed it with 2.5mm and 20A breaker or 4mm and 32A breaker, the latter would be in excess of what it will ever draw. Now I don’t know what Victron define as ‘oversizing’ and if 4mm/32a would be too much, so I went with the lower cable&breaker - at peak load I’ve only seen 18A being drawn, so under the capacity of the breaker just. I would sorta prefer 4mm/32a - but as i said, Victron dont explain what their definition of oversizing is. (bearing in mind that 18A x 2 x 240 is 8640 watts total). I’ve had a thermal camera on it and there’s no hot spots
@@eliotmansfield doesn't the Multiplus manual state that a 50A breaker should be used? Or does this change when you have two MP in parallel? I currently have a MP 5000kVA and my electrician used a 50A MCB with 10mm2 cable going to the MP AC_IN via a 63A isolator. I am thinking about getting a another MP to run them in parallel and I was thinking this would just mean another 50A MCB and isolator would be needed for the AC side so I am just curious why you have limited the MP to only 20A each?
@@pauldunn Because the loads on the output will never exceed 20A (or 40A parallel). 50A is the maximum downstream load, in which case you would use a 50A upstream breaker. It depends on your configuration - see my first video on the different ways of wiring these up
The type B is 30ma - as I already have 100ma in my upstream distribution box (which is not typical). Pressing the test button on the type A rcbo’s doesn’t cause the type b to trip. There is a chance that the type B could trip from a downstream load on a type A
@@eliotmansfield that’s interesting. Could you end up in a scenario where the downstream load trips the type b, the batteries kick in due to grid loss and then the rcbo trips? And so the trip time on the downstream load is too long?
@@jameswestcott4191 Yes that could happen. If I didn’t have upstream 100ma rcd’s I would of considered putting a 100ma type B in instead (if such a thing exists)
Thank you for sharing this information it has really helped me plan my system.
Very clear schematic. Good explaining why you did things the way you did. This will help me designing my own system. Thanks for the effort and sharing the video
Great vlog & nice installation. Thanks for this & the 1st vlog. Watched it several times 🙂
Very detailed and informative video, thank you.
Hi Eliot, thanks for the video. I like the mixture of block diagrams and actual install video, it works for me 👍. I would love to see a video (ie covers off) on how you wired in your two Multiplus II in parallel. Also any tips on what to do would be helpful.
It’s no different from a single victron really, each one has its own mains feed via a breaker and isolator and each one draws from the same bus bar - there’s no other wires between them apart from the comms cable
@@eliotmansfieldDo you use pure sine wave with two or interlaced sine wave?!
@@patricklyons7683 Not sure what you mean - they are in parallel - so i get double the capacity on a single phase. It’s not split phase if that’s what you are asking
I don’t believe you should need the type B RCD protection for the Victron equipment under BS7671 18th edition wiring regulations (however my knowledge ends there, not the new amendments.)
Per the Victron installer training and manufacturers installation instructions the unit should be fine with a type A RCD.
Specifically “The inverter does incorporate a mains frequency isolating transformer. This precludes the possibility of DC current at any AC port. Therefore type A RCD’s can be used.”
yeh maybe so, seemed to be the right thing to do given the hefty dc power that’s close to the ac. It does trip occasionally, which mainly turned out to be my florescent lights in the garage.
The MP 2 is transformer isolated so a type A should suffice.
Their are special switch over switches in the market, like from Hager. It’s like I-0-II with appropriate N timing.
Are the neutrals of the protected and unprotected circuits connected?
Hi, great video. I’ve pretty much duplicated this setup and it’s working fine. You say you’ve limited the charge current to 100amps. Whereabouts did you make that setting, my charging sits at 150amps which is too high? Thanks.
you set it in veconfigure - (not the cerbo gui) - mines parallel so it’s set to 50 amps to arrive at 100.
Essentially you want to set the charge rate high enough to charge in your window - as there’s no value in charging them faster than required
@@eliotmansfieldthanks, luckily I had checked the box in veconfigure so was able to adjust in CERBO after all. Cheers. Can you tell me how you handled the neutral tails from the RCBOs, do they all common up and connect to the neutral under the changeover switch. I’ve commoned them up first and used a single cable to connect to neutral. Do you know what current would go through the tails? Graeme
@@graemekennedy7137 I’ve not removed the cover - so not sure how the. spark did it - but I would do as you describe personally. Total load is fairly low, say 20a or less, because it’s just led lights etc. I would probably squish the wires into a bit of 4mm cable personally
Hi there amazing setup, quick question on your earthing setup. Is the ground relay in your victron turned on or off.
made no changes to the ground relay. It needs to be enabled otherwise the rcd (gfci) wont work.
Hi Eliot, very well done. I like the presentation SW. What kind of is it pls?
microsoft visio
Hi why not use one or two of the L2 outs ports as I understand their amp can be higher. I like the flexibilty of victron but this being new to me requires a lot of research. I going off grid so interested in how people do it. Yours best wiring diagram seen paul
the internal contactor can only handle 50a (per unit) if your total loads will never exceed that and you have nothing upstream on ac in, then yes by all means use that. As you can see i have quite a complicated setup with multiple consumer units so it’s not physically practical for me to
How are you connecting the neutral wires of the RCBOs in protected circuits to the load out of the change-over switch - do you have another bar or all into the one terminal? Thanks.
will take a look
Great informative video. You dont normally find any details in the UK as to how to wire up your inverter to the main consumer unit. When the inverter live comes from the MCB does it go straight into the main switch with the grid tails or is this fed into a henley block peior to a cable entering the main feed. Im currently doing research at the moment to make a self consuming zero feedback system with DIY LFP batterys but my feeback meter will be just before the CU as i have a car charge point that i want to run off the mains on cheap electricity and the is on its own henley block with split tails
not quite sure what you are asking - can you draw it out? eliot at mez.co.uk
I'm curious how you physically connected the main switch to the 20A Victron bypass MCB, as it requires 25mm section conductor from the line on the main switch (in the first board) to feed the type B rcd and another similar to the bypass MCB
I dont think you understand how it's wired. The 25mm tails go into the consumer units as normal. The two victrons are on their own 20A RCBO's, the only light loads (less than 10amps) are downstream. The entire house isn't downstream (after) the victrons, study the drawings again.
The big red changeover switch is just switches the between Victron ACOUT1 and Normal Grid power - so allow those loads (the RCBO's on the lower half of the consumer unit) to work if the victrons are powered off/fail. (8:17 on the vid)
@@eliotmansfield Thanks. I see separate line conductors from the main switch, load side, to both the Victron RCD and bypass mcb as well as the busbar connection to the unprotected mbc section. Are they all connected to the same line terminal on the main switch?
@@mfr58 the circuit diagram (visio) in the video - i don’t show live and neutral for simplicity. Is that what you are referring to?
@@eliotmansfield Yes the diagram. It is a practical question of wiring rather than operation theory. How you connect two large CSA conductors and a bus bar to the same terminal on the main switch.
@@mfr58 probably need to take it offline to explain - ping me an email.
quick question about installation, did you wire everything electrically on both inverters (so paralleled) then power everything on, and do all the firmware updates etc, then set up as ESS, then connect all the communication cables?
my concern is having the 2 output of the inverters in parallel (and live) but not set up for it!? cheers!
It was originally a single unit then expanded to two units. You power the units from the battery pack with the ac isolated to do all the configuration, then you can add the ac side
@@eliotmansfield cheers for the reply, I will do the set up with no AC cables connected to the inverters! 👍
Excellent info, cheers!
Why are you using 20A breakers on the input to the multi? I thought i read that the smaller 3000 needed 32A on the input? I'm learning, not saying it's wrong! 👍
Victron state not to oversize the AC cabling on a parallel setup. So you either feed it with 2.5mm and 20A breaker or 4mm and 32A breaker, the latter would be in excess of what it will ever draw. Now I don’t know what Victron define as ‘oversizing’ and if 4mm/32a would be too much, so I went with the lower cable&breaker - at peak load I’ve only seen 18A being drawn, so under the capacity of the breaker just. I would sorta prefer 4mm/32a - but as i said, Victron dont explain what their definition of oversizing is. (bearing in mind that 18A x 2 x 240 is 8640 watts total).
I’ve had a thermal camera on it and there’s no hot spots
Isn’t a 20A breaker cutting it a bit fine or do you never charge from the grid?
@@eliotmansfield doesn't the Multiplus manual state that a 50A breaker should be used? Or does this change when you have two MP in parallel? I currently have a MP 5000kVA and my electrician used a 50A MCB with 10mm2 cable going to the MP AC_IN via a 63A isolator. I am thinking about getting a another MP to run them in parallel and I was thinking this would just mean another 50A MCB and isolator would be needed for the AC side so I am just curious why you have limited the MP to only 20A each?
@@pauldunn Because the loads on the output will never exceed 20A (or 40A parallel). 50A is the maximum downstream load, in which case you would use a 50A upstream breaker. It depends on your configuration - see my first video on the different ways of wiring these up
Thanks for the info. What rating are you using for the type B RCD? I’m assuming 100mA and the protected load RCBOs are 30mA?
The type B is 30ma - as I already have 100ma in my upstream distribution box (which is not typical). Pressing the test button on the type A rcbo’s doesn’t cause the type b to trip. There is a chance that the type B could trip from a downstream load on a type A
@@eliotmansfield that’s interesting. Could you end up in a scenario where the downstream load trips the type b, the batteries kick in due to grid loss and then the rcbo trips? And so the trip time on the downstream load is too long?
@@jameswestcott4191 Yes that could happen. If I didn’t have upstream 100ma rcd’s I would of considered putting a 100ma type B in instead (if such a thing exists)
More vids plz