Any experience with Victron Multiplus II with power assist powering 2 hard start AirCond's on 30 amp?

[gofastnow]

Any of you guys have experience with Victron  Multiplus II with power assist powering 2 hard start AirCond's on 30 amp? Wondering if the added expense of this inverter would solve this age old problem without having to install soft starts in the AC units.

Thanks

[timaz996]

Your factory wiring will not have the A/Cs going through the inverter. I wired my bedroom A/C through the inverter box so I can run it for an hour or so off of me lithium batteries. I do have the Victron  Multiplus II. It will start and run one A/C off the batteries but I did add Micro Air soft starts so I could run both A/Cs off of 30 amps. It may do it but you will have to rewire them through the inverter. IMHO the micro air soft starts are the easier way to go.

Tim

Edited July 12, 2022 by Tim-AZ

[gofastnow]

4 minutes ago, Tim-AZ said:

Your factory wiring will not have the A/Cs going through the inverter. I wired my bedroom A/C through the inverter box so I can run it for an hour or so off of me lithium batteries. I do have the Victron  Multiplus II. It will start and run one A/C off the batteries but I did add Micro Air soft starts so I could run both A/Cs off of 30 amps. It may do it but you will have to rewire them through the inverter. IMHO the micro air soft starts are the easier way to go.

Tim

Thanks Tim, replacing my inverter is on my to do list and was hoping to kill two birds with one stone. Have you had any difficulty with breaker tripping on 30 amp after adding the soft starts?

[timaz996]

24 minutes ago, gofastnow said:

Thanks Tim, replacing my inverter is on my to do list and was hoping to kill two birds with one stone. Have you had any difficulty with breaker tripping on 30 amp after adding the soft starts?

No. The most I pull is 25 amps and usually 23-24 amps

Tim 

[JohnC3]

I've got the Victron 3000 2x120 Powershare inverter and rewired the inverter between the automatic transfer switch and the 120 breaker panel. This required the 2 circuits on the inverter to be moved to the breaker panel. I added a junction box about where the old inverter was and joined the 10Awg with one and ran a new 12Awg from the junction to the main panel for the other. I replaced the inverter breaker in the panel with a dual 20A breaker for these 2 circuits.

I have had the setup for several months and can run 2 ACs on 30A Shore power, but it takes 150A plus out of the batteries, so you need a big LiFeO4 battery bank (I have 1120AH). I also have soft starts in both ACs. 

One issue I solved was that the EMS will 'manage' your power and shut down  when you are on 30A shore power. To resolve this I used a 12v feed to trick the EMS to thinking I am on generator (the 12v is switched and goes into a 2 to 1 diode (from a trailer brakes  install kit) to prevent back feeding the generator (on advice of an Intellitec engineer. So if the generator is on the EMS gets 12v to pin2 on the 12v control plug, or, if I switch my switch, the EMS switches to generator mode and allow 

me to have upto 65A instead of 30A.

One note about wiring the Victron in this position... The Victron 3000/12 2x120 will shut off input from L2 when L1 and L2 are in phase. This comes into play when you engage the generator. The impact is you get all the power from one generator winding and nothing from the 2nd winding (L2). This has to do with the way the Victron works on single phase power input. I have seen a YouTube video where they resolved this by making L1 and L2 input from the generator both go to L1.  THIS IS NOT ADVICE TO DO THAT, JUST RECOGNITION OF THE POSSIBILITY. CONSULT A ELECTRICIAN! I am NOT an electrician and have not made this change.  I have run the generator with the Victron and it does seem to get all its power from L1, but I haven't used over 58A (33A from L1 on generator + 25A power share).

I am not sure if you will have issues without soft starts. I just didn't want to risk the inverter, my ACs, etc. 

I have run 2 ACs on 30A shore power. What happens is the Inverter still needs to power share (only about 45A DC) to cover the normal 120v load of the coach (about 4A 120v). I can run both ACs and the Microwave/convection over (but the Victron pulls about 180A out of the batteries). When one of the ACs cycles off, the inverter will start charging the batteries with as much power as is available. (Note you have to set your max shore power input to enable power share I have mine set to 30). It does not seem to impact the system when you are on 50A shore power, only when you are on 30A or less shore power. I guess the system recognizes the split phase input.

Hope this is helpful.

John

[gofastnow]

Good information John, I will have to digest this to see if my situation is the same, which at first glance, I believe it is. Thanks for the response, this forum is a level above in tech!

[gofastnow]

So John, do I have this correct, your genset is 120V output, not 240V? My genset is 240V, so I would not have to worry about the Victron going all to L1 only?