Multiplus 2 48/5000 install questions g98

[electric-alfie]

Hi all, were going to get a 48/5000 installed along with cerbo etc and batteries. Re the multiplus, I’ve read posts where some have installed and only used ac1 in and ignored ac1 + 2 out. and others who have used the opposite. any ideas why?

Re the install, going to get an electrician to wire from the meter box to the inverter, then from inverter to a consumer unit - from the consumer unit we are going to have a circuit to part of the kitchen and one to my home office. These will be independent of the house / mains circuits. This makes sense to us as it seems simpler and we want to be able to charge on a cheap rate and discharge when its more expensive. We have got a small amount of solar but due to roof orientation its on a summer house.

If the electrician has other ideas then we will listen to them. I am capable of wiring the dc side.
We won’t be exporting. And we will be downgrading it to g98 spec.
Questions are - if you’ve got a 48/5000 did the g98 require witness testing and sign off from an installer? if it does i assume i will need a Victron installer..
I know the idea of not powering the whole house seems odd but i think this may be a simpler setup for a electrician, also we can use the battery storage to power the kitchen when the rate is expensive, my office will be totally off grid. Things like the washer / dishwasher will stay on the mains as we can time these to come on at night, Any comments / thoughts.

One more thing, I believe the 48/5000 has an input of 50amps, i think that I can reduce this with the Victron apps, but should I get a connection capable of 50amps or will a 32amp suffice, this will only be used to charge the batteries, let me know what you think, cheers

[NoraBatty]

As i understand it.

If the multiplus is being installed straight to the grid meter, and the consumer unit and second CU from that is being linked to the victron, then it is my understanding this would be on on AC1 output, which means all of your consumer units will be run through the multiplus, and therefore all be on the UPS side of things to work in a power cut.

For the multiplus to work only on AC1In, then the consumer unit would have to be between the grid and inverter.

You can also request the inverters to be set and locked by the distributor (bimble do this) in order to meet the output requirements for g98 etc.
The 5000 will only ever export a max of 4000W.
Someone else will have to let you know if the DNO require more than that done in order to clip it to 3.68KW, but i imagine a CT clamp is a given

[NoraBatty]

50Amps at 240V is 12kw.
How big is your battery and what periods of cheap rate are you looking to exploit now and future?!

A set rate cheap period of 6hrs is alot easier to deal with than an agile, see whats cheapest for longest on the day.

[NoraBatty]

Alfie,



If you see here, most people would have their Consumer Unit on the essential loads side to provide power in a powercut. (AC1 out)

The loads that only have grid power and no back up are on the AC loads side. That doesnt touch the multiplus at all, but is able to draw the energy generatrd by the multiplus/solar when there is grid supply.

[Fintray]

Hi all, were going to get a 48/5000 installed along with cerbo etc and batteries. Re the multiplus, I’ve read posts where some have installed and only used ac1 in and ignored ac1 + 2 out. and others who have used the opposite. any ideas why?

Using AC1 in and ignoring AC1/2 out could be used with batteries to import when prices low and export when prices are high.
You need always to use AC1 in to charge the batteries from the mains via the built in charger.

Re the install, going to get an electrician to wire from the meter box to the inverter, then from inverter to a consumer unit - from the consumer unit we are going to have a circuit to part of the kitchen and one to my home office. These will be independent of the house / mains circuits. This makes sense to us as it seems simpler and we want to be able to charge on a cheap rate and discharge when its more expensive. We have got a small amount of solar but due to roof orientation its on a summer house.

If you do this it will limit your total house current to 50A, you would be best to do as NB shows in the diagram

If the electrician has other ideas then we will listen to them. I am capable of wiring the dc side.
We won’t be exporting. And we will be downgrading it to g98 spec.
Questions are - if you’ve got a 48/5000 did the g98 require witness testing and sign off from an installer? if it does i assume i will need a Victron installer..
I know the idea of not powering the whole house seems odd but i think this may be a simpler setup for a electrician, also we can use the battery storage to power the kitchen when the rate is expensive, my office will be totally off grid. Things like the washer / dishwasher will stay on the mains as we can time these to come on at night, Any comments / thoughts.

I power my whole house via the Multiplus (both consumer units are on AC1 out) which I think is simpler than having separately fed consumer units but either way should be easy enough for a qualified electrician.

One more thing, I believe the 48/5000 has an input of 50amps, i think that I can reduce this with the Victron apps, but should I get a connection capable of 50amps or will a 32amp suffice, this will only be used to charge the batteries, let me know what you think, cheers

You can limit the input amps to what you require but would probably be best to ensure a 50A connection for any future needs.

[sharpener]

Hi all, were going to get a 48/5000 installed along with cerbo etc and batteries. Re the multiplus, I’ve read posts where some have installed and only used ac1 in and ignored ac1 + 2 out. and others who have used the opposite. any ideas why?

All ports are actually bi-directional so you can export power out of ACIn and put PV into ACOut1. Like @Fintray we have the entire house on ACOut1. Then we don't need a separate CT on the input. It is worth installing a changeover switch to connect the loads direct to the grid for testing or in case the inverter packs up. You could also put the interruptible loads on ACOut2 but it would work fine as you/NB have planned it. Search online for Victron Wiring Unlimited for further ideas.

Re the install, going to get an electrician to wire from the meter box to the inverter, then from inverter to a consumer unit - from the consumer unit we are going to have a circuit to part of the kitchen and one to my home office. These will be independent of the house / mains circuits. This makes sense to us as it seems simpler and we want to be able to charge on a cheap rate and discharge when its more expensive. We have got a small amount of solar but due to roof orientation its on a summer house.

If the electrician has other ideas then we will listen to them. I am capable of wiring the dc side.
We won’t be exporting. And we will be downgrading it to g98 spec.
Questions are - if you’ve got a 48/5000 did the g98 require witness testing and sign off from an installer? if it does i assume i will need a Victron installer.

We didn't have to (WPD, now NGED). I just sent them screenshots of the restricted settings (inverter power and export limit).

I know the idea of not powering the whole house seems odd but i think this may be a simpler setup for a electrician, also we can use the battery storage to power the kitchen when the rate is expensive, my office will be totally off grid. Things like the washer / dishwasher will stay on the mains as we can time these to come on at night, Any comments / thoughts.

That will work but is more complicated. The Victron ESS software assistant sorts it all out anyway. Just program it for Scheduled Charging during the cheap rate and leave it to run.

One more thing, I believe the 48/5000 has an input of 50amps, i think that I can reduce this with the Victron apps, but should I get a connection capable of 50amps or will a 32amp suffice, this will only be used to charge the batteries, let me know what you think, cheers

No benefit, just fit a 50A circuit or you will not benefit from the 50A pass-through capability which you will surely need if you cook by electricity.

There needs to be a lockable isolator on the input and the inverter should not share an RCD with any other final circuits. Electrician needs to be familiar with IET Code of Practice for EESS as there is lots of other stuff as well. Make sure you understand the earthing provisions - see the current thread about earth rods.

[electric-alfie]

50Amps at 240V is 12kw.
How big is your battery and what periods of cheap rate are you looking to exploit now and future?!

A set rate cheap period of 6hrs is alot easier to deal with than an agile, see whats cheapest for longest on the day.

Hi, I was going to use agile as and when its at a cheap rate hence why i only want to use that stored power for stuff like my home office and airfryers kettle etc, we dont use the cooker oven and the hob is gas. Battery will be just under 15kwh - seplos 280 , I buildt a seplos and charged it in summer by my limited solar using the power for my computers printers phone etc . Ive not considered a whole house solution as i know that agile isnt a guaranteed low rate and you have to get it when you can. But its something that i will look into thanks.I ve also got a cuple of pylontechs, i had issues when i bought them and sent them back to the supplier, they were going to refund me but htne they sent 2 batteries, in the meantime i had buildt my seplos 280, i cant use them together as the pylontech are 15 cells mason is a standard 16.

[NoraBatty]

I understand what you are trying to do, however i do think the way you want it to work will not work without significant faffing.

If you have set the inverter up to discharge to the grid, then anything not connected to the inverter that is after the incoming grid meter, will run off of the batteries or solar when it is available.

If you only want to run certain loads off of the batteries, for example you want your kettle to run off of the batteries only, but you want the rest of the house to never pull from the batteries (grid tied only),
you will need to set the inverter to not export to the grid, or limit this non export to certain times when you will be usingyou grid tied only appliances.

You will also need to ensure all of your grid tied only loads, are on an AC loads consumer unit - see the picture i posted before.
Your kettle and whatever else you want to run off of the batteries would be on its own circuit, in its own consumer unit, wired up to AC1 out, which is called Essential loads in the picture.

Things have to be seperated that way, else i cant see how it would work.

With AC1 load (kettle) connected this way, it is still able to draw energy from the grid, if for example there was insufficient solar and battery to power it. Provided there is no powercut.


You can pull the full battery charging capacity of 4kW through the inverter to charge the battery, whilst simultaneously be using anything on the grid tied circuit, AND anything on the essential loads (ac1 out) circuit provided it is up to 12kw (50Amps) because the grid tied loads do their own thing independently and the loads and battery wired up to the victron, are not combined. Think of it like the ac1 output bypassing all of the internal wizardry, almost like being on its on its own circuit.

It would take the multiplus 4 hrs on full chat to charge a 15kwh battery. Recent agile prices here have only had 3hrs or so of cheaper electricity for about 2 or 3 months now. Once or twice in a week you get a decent low, but it seems to be less worthwhile than it was, however you can still utilise load shifting to certain times of the day and take advantage of it.
If it costs 16p to charge the battery at the cheapest rate, you may as well be using grid electricity at the cheap rate at the same time. It will cost the same regardless.

I am currently on agile myself, and planning a much larger battery solution. But the feesibility of agile with a large battery that needs charging and modest/small inverter size is getting harder to justify, as you either need a much larger charger, or a longer time on cheap. Last year i averaged 16p/kwh. This year i expect that to be higher because the price differences are not as wide.

[electric-alfie]

Hi, thank you for the input, its great to know that people are willing to take time to read and then post, and offer advice, if i can respond to your answer.

I dont want to export to the grid ever,
We will have new sockets that are only connected to the inverter circuit consumer unit.
I agree what you say about agile the prices dont go low on a regular basis, but we dont have an ev so i doubt if i will get a tarrif where every night i will get 7p per kwh.

However using the battery we will be able to shift the loads to the battery ( for the new sockets) when agile is at its most expensive,

Apart from when charging the system wont be connected to the grid.

I also have a ecoflow powerbank (3.6kwh) we take it when we go away in the motorhome, and charge it at home when agile is cheap , we use it to power our home TV (this uses 1kw per day) . i envisge using the battery in much the same way. However if we had a regulary cheap nightime tarrif then i would re think this and probably power the whole house, but without an ev I doubt if i will find one, if you know of one please let me know.

[electric-alfie]

Fogstar sell a 48volt charger could that be used at the same time as the inverter charger? its around £150 however there is no info re the charger voltage. ive got my seplos charge voltage set at 56.8 (max) Just went onto their site and its sold out.