Victron Multiplus in 2005 Journey

jonnshell30 · 04-19-2023, 01:59 PM

Good afternoon all!
We have an 05 Journey. I have upgraded to 300 amps of Lithium, and now want to upgrade our original inverter. I am 100% going with the Victron Multiplus 3000w because it will power both sides of the 120 system. My question is what do I need to do to make this work? Do I need to completely require from my inverter to 120V panel? Do I just add a new leg?
Thanks for any assistance

tim myers · 04-19-2023, 09:24 PM

A note of caution, from my research the Multi-Plus will pass through both of the 120V power feeds, but when you disconnect from shore power it only inverts one of those legs. This information is not prominently noted in the Victron literature. If you want both legs to be powered from the inverter, you need a Victron Multi-Plus 2x120. https://www.victronenergy.com/invert...lus-ii-2x-120v

JimStreit · 05-03-2023, 05:02 PM

Tim is correct, if you want both legs powered while using the Multiplus inverter you will have to go with the 2x120 model that he has listed. I'm currently using the same model in my 2007 Tour. The way I wired mine is in-line between the automatic transfer switch and the main circuit panel so that I can have everything running on the inverter, as well as control the power input if I'm plugged into a 15/20 amp plug. I physically located the Multiplus in the same storage bay as the transfer switch so that I could reuse the wiring to the main panel. I needed to provide new wiring from the transfer switch to the Multiplus.

Original way. Shore power --> transfer switch --> main breaker panel.
New way. Shore power --> transfer switch --> Multiplus --> main breaker panel.

I also located my lithium batteries in the same storage bay as the Multiplus to keep the 12v cables as short as possible.

In my case I had an inverter between the main breaker panel and a sub-panel which would only power the sub-panel circuits. I removed the old inverter and used a junction box in it's place to tie the existing wiring between the panels together.

tim myers · 05-03-2023, 05:20 PM

You must have a larger electric bay than I have in my Journey. I cannot fit a 2x120 in mine in any fashion. I do have room for a multi-plus and was just going to rearrange my ac panel so I had inverter power to the circuits I really need it on. Outlets Ckt, 1, 2, and 3 and the circuit to the Microwave.

In discussion with the EMS manufacturer, he said that only providing inverted power to one leg of the system could cause issues with the EMS, and strongly advised I go with the sub-panel set up Wbgo used. My Journey came with the small 600W inverter and does not have an inverter sub panel.

jonnshell30 · 11-25-2023, 09:41 AM

Hey Jim,
Sorry to revisit. If I am reading correctly, my current Dimension inverter has battery input the inverter sub panel output, and the main panel is powered only by shore power through the ATS. That being said, if I connect ATS to one "in" side then one out to main panel and the other out to sub panel, I'd be good. The other option is to combine panels. Am I on the right path? (No pun intended ��)

JimStreit · 11-28-2023, 02:34 PM

Hi Jonnshell30,
I don't think what you are proposing will work correctly. Feeding power into the main panel via the breaker that goes to the inverter is only on one power leg. You wouldn't have power going to the other leg so those would be dead. Additionally I think it's only a 30 amp breaker, even swapping it for a 50 amp you would still only have one leg. Without assuming too much I drew a picture of what I thought you where asking. If the picture is wrong then my comment would also be wrong.

I'm also including a picture of how I wired mine.

jonnshell30 · 11-28-2023, 07:33 PM

Hey Jim.
Completely get what you're saying. You're configuration is what I was going for, with one change. Instead of a j box from main to sub, I was going from AC out 2 directly to sub. As I look at it, maybe I would need to upgrade the sub panel seeing as normally get 30amp from inverter and I'm proposing 50?

tim myers · 11-29-2023, 09:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimStreit

Hi Jonnshell30,
I don't think what you are proposing will work correctly. Feeding power into the main panel via the breaker that goes to the inverter is only on one power leg. You wouldn't have power going to the other leg so those would be dead. Additionally I think it's only a 30 amp breaker, even swapping it for a 50 amp you would still only have one leg. Without assuming too much I drew a picture of what I thought you where asking. If the picture is wrong then my comment would also be wrong.

I'm also including a picture of how I wired mine.

Jim, I am assuming you have the EMS that monitors incoming power and sheds loads if you are on 30A or 15A power. How did you deal with that, in my phone conversations with the Mfg they have discouraged the setup I wanted to do which is very similar to yours

JimStreit · 11-29-2023, 05:01 PM

Jonnshell30,
OK, yeah, I think that would work. Your sub panel is only a single leg so you would just need to pick L1 or L2 for its power. You would probably want to keep the original 30 amp breaker as I'm not sure if the sub panel is rated for 50 amps.

JimStreit · 11-29-2023, 05:15 PM

Hey Tim,
Yep, I still have the EMS in place. I didn't make any changes with that. I use the Victron Digital Multi Control to set what I want for incoming amps and the EMS never really sees the lower 30 or 15a restriction. With this configuration I do need to be mindful not to try run too many appliances as I don't think the EMS would automatically shed the loads for me. I believe the Multiplus would get overloaded first. I've ran my basement AC, microwave and electric water heater (not all at the same time) off minimal shore power (10a) and the inverter and batteries make up the difference perfectly well.

JimStreit · 11-29-2023, 05:45 PM

Here are some early pictures of before and after. The electrical bay before with the original inverter was very empty.

This was the initial setup to make sure everything was working and has evolved since this picture, but you can see how I installed the inverter. After taking the picture I immediately realized that I placed my fuse on the inverter power rather than the batter power. That was corrected right away.

I also moved my house batteries into the bay. The original location exposed them to weather elements and heat from the engine, in addition to being about 15 feet away from the Multiplus. Even with 4/0 cable that was going to be too far. I routed the 50a shore power cable to where the house batteries were originally.

My electrical bay might be a different size than yours.

tim myers · 11-29-2023, 06:27 PM

yes considerably different See attached, Original 600W Inverter above left, chassis electric lower left. then three pictures with a cardboard mock-up of a Multi-Plus 3k in different positions. The oter option I might have is to put a 3KW under the bed adjacent to the main panel and install a sub panel like my journey would have been from the factory with a 2KW inverter

jonnshell30 · 02-27-2024, 01:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimStreit

Hi Jonnshell30,
I don't think what you are proposing will work correctly. Feeding power into the main panel via the breaker that goes to the inverter is only on one power leg. You wouldn't have power going to the other leg so those would be dead. Additionally I think it's only a 30 amp breaker, even swapping it for a 50 amp you would still only have one leg. Without assuming too much I drew a picture of what I thought you where asking. If the picture is wrong then my comment would also be wrong.

I'm also including a picture of how I wired mine.

You ever have that "When the LIGHTS come on" moment? I had mine this weekend. My transfer switch burnt up, but luckily, didn't cause the rest of my rig to do the same! As I was researching the replacement, and i dug deep into the wiring diagrams, the switch flipped. It makes total sense now, Jim. Xfer switch to AC IN and AC out to main panel. Remove the old inverter and tie the 30A breaker directly to the sub. Thanks so much for the guidance.

JimStreit · 02-27-2024, 04:53 PM

Hi jonnshell30,
Great that you had an ah-ha moment and figured it out. How you are describing it is exactly what I did. We've got about 360+ days of use in this configuration without issues.

If you are also doing solar the newer Multiplus firmware (506+ I think) allows you to set a charging priority for your batteries. Now I can use solar to keep the batteries charged even when I'm plugged into shore power. It's handy when we are at a campground where we have to pay electric meter charges. It's not a lot of $$ but saves us few bucks.

Keep us updated with your install, looking forward to seeing the results.