Victron SmartShunt

[Bala]

You are describing a 13A fuse in an ac plug. That is not something I have seen but I'm in Australia.


To help Is the inverter pure or modified sine wave.

What is the voltage in the circuit that the fuse is in.

[ShedPower]

Yeah it’s a U.K. 13amp plug, 240v AC from the inverter which is 12v

[SunEagle]

I have a problem on my system. I have a 1000w inverter which is fine feeding just our freezer, at about 50-70w continuous, often less. I have added our tv which runs at about 100w. However, the 13amp fuse in the plug that comes from the inverter to feed these two appliances, keeps blowing. Its a fairly simple system, and all the connections are good and well made. I haven't yet grounded the system in terms of a rod into the ground. Any ideas as to what might be causing the problem? Many thanks.

Fuses blow for a couple of reasons.

the first is that they get hot due to amps going through them higher then the rating

The second can be due to the high inrush amps that a load can cause when it starts. It is possible that while your loads may have a low running amp rating the freezer may have a high start up amp draw which could be making the fuse blow.

[ShedPower]

That makes sense, though not sure what to do about it. The output from the inverter had to come through a plug and a plug has to have a fuse and 13amp is the biggest plug fuse you can get. Any suggestions?

[Bala]

So it a 240v 10a lead protected by a13a fuse. Assuming both those items run fine off your mains power through that lead then your stand alone system is the problem.

You said cheap batteries, possibly the cables are to small and insufficiently terminated. Cheap inverter?

What to do about it? Spend more money on bigger better quality components or go back to using grid power.

[SunEagle]

That makes sense, though not sure what to do about it. The output from the inverter had to come through a plug and a plug has to have a fuse and 13amp is the biggest plug fuse you can get. Any suggestions?

You may need to have a separate system to power your TV. One thing is that a lot of loads that have motors or electronics require a Pure Sine Wave inverter. Some of the cheap Modified Sine wave ones do not work well with those types of loads and end up either hurting the load or having issues. It is possible that the fuse really protected your inverter

[ShedPower]

It is a fairly cheap inverter, although it is a pure sign wave. Inverter might be the problem. Most of the components are not budget, eg Two Victron chargers, Victron smart shunt, Victron Temperature senser, Automatic transfer switch. The batteries seem fine now I have four of them.

I think next step is to replace the inverter.

[Bala]

If you don't already then it's in your best interest to understand ohms law, cable size calculating, fusing requirements and how to terminate cable properly.

[ShedPower]

Batteries in series & paralell.

hi, I currently have 4 12v lead acid batteries in paralell. I have heard and read that 24v is safer and preferable to 12v so I’m thinking of doing two pairs in series and then connect both pairs in paralell. However, would this not mean that I need twice as many batteries to get the same amp hours as I have now in paralell?

[Bala]

Two batteries in parallel @ 12v have the same capacity if they are in series @ 24v. Ohms law.

Higher voltage on the DC side is not necessarily safer as such but allows you use smaller cable. 48v is better than 24v. Depends what your endgame is.

The AC Side still has the same danger. If you have a fixed system like a house the you can have RCDs fitted the same as for mains.

For mobile systems there are Rvd units available.

Depends how safe you want. My house 24v system had Rcds for the Ac, my caravan and Ute 12v systems don't have Ac protection. I rarely use ac in those so it is a risk I take.

[ShedPower]

I’m a bit confused on this. I thought in series the volts increase but in paralelll the ah increases. So two batteries @130ah in series is still 130ah but in paralell they are 260ah. Or what am I missing?

[SunEagle]

I’m a bit confused on this. I thought in series the volts increase but in paralelll the ah increases. So two batteries @130ah in series is still 130ah but in paralell they are 260ah. Or what am I missing?

You are correct that the Ah rating stays at 130 but with the higher voltage of 24V you calculate the same amount of watt hours;

12V x 260Ah = 3120wh
24V x 130Ah = 3120wh

So technically you will not need more batteries to generate the same amount of power.

[ShedPower]

Ah, that makes sense, thanks. I need to upgrade my inverter so I may change the whole system to 24v.

[ShedPower]

Question. If you have appliances running off your inverter in your house and you need to disconnect your batteries for maintenance etc. does anyone have a set up that allows you to switch over to grid power while you do this?

thanks.

[Bala]

I don't have mains power but I can change over to generator. I have a manual change over switch.