Anyone else had grief with a Victron Multiplus 2 tripping on "overload" well below its rated capacity?

Picked up a Multiplus 2 48/3000/35 back in spring and I'm struggling to get my head around something. The unit is rated at 3000VA continuous but I keep getting overload shutdowns when I try to run my induction hob (a basic Duxtop, draws around 1800W) alongside the fridge compressor kicking in. That's maybe 2200–2400W combined at worst — nowhere near the 3000VA ceiling as far as I can tell.

I've got the unit configured through VictronConnect with the AC output limit left at the default. Battery bank is 4x 200Ah 48V LiFePO4 cells wired in series, so capacity shouldn't be the bottleneck. Cables are 70mm² throughout and the DC connections are tight. Transfer switch is set to 20A. Not running this in parallel or anything exotic, just a straightforward off-grid setup in a static cabin.

I did wonder if the induction hob has a nasty inrush spike that the Victron is seeing as an overload, even though the steady-state draw is fine. Has anyone measured the startup current on one of these hobs? Or is there something in VEConfigure I should be tweaking — the dynamic current limiter settings maybe? Would love to know if others have hit this before I start pulling things apart.

@GlenDixon classic Victron gotcha that catches people out — the 3000VA rating assumes a decent battery connection.

What's your DC cable run length and gauge? I had my Multiplus 2 (same model, running a 16kWh Fogstar Drift bank) tripping on "overload" repeatedly last winter before I realised my 35mm² cables were a touch too long. Voltage was sagging under load just enough to trigger the protection.

Also worth checking in VictronConnect — pull up the "inverter" tab during a load event and watch the DC input voltage in real time. If it's dipping below ~44V under load, that's your culprit rather than the inverter itself.

The AC output waveform can also cause false overloads with certain motor loads — washing machines being the classic offender. What are you actually running when it trips?

@GlenDixon worth checking your transfer switch settings in VEConfigure as well. There's a dedicated overload trip level that can be set quite conservatively from the factory — I had mine set at something daft like 70% of rated capacity when I first got it. Also, what's your DC cable run like? Voltage sag under load can fool the inverter into thinking it's working harder than it actually is. Even a short run with undersized cable can cause grief. What loads are you actually running when it trips? Some motors and compressors have a hefty startup surge that's several times their running wattage, and the Multiplus doesn't always handle that graciously without adjusting the surge tolerance settings.

@GlenDixon the VA-to-watts distinction catches a lot of people out here. Your 3000VA unit has a power factor of ~0.8, meaning real-world continuous wattage is closer to 2400W on resistive loads — drop further still on inductive loads like motors and compressors, which draw 3–6× rated current at startup.

Also worth checking your DC cabling cross-section and fuse rating — the Multiplus 2 48V model pulls around 70A DC at full tilt, so undersized cable creates enough voltage drop to trigger the internal protection before you've even approached the AC output limit.

What gauge are your battery cables and how long is the run? I'd also pull the VEConfigure overload trip level — mine shipped with it set conservatively at around 200% rather than the maximum 250%.

@GlenDixon one thing nobody's mentioned yet — check your DC input voltage sag under load. If your battery cables are undersized or connections are even slightly resistive, the Multiplus sees the voltage drop and compensates by drawing more current, which triggers the overload protection before you've actually hit the watt limit at the AC side.

I had exactly this on my 24/3000 setup last year. Swapped to proper 70mm² cabling with tinned lugs torqued properly and the phantom trips disappeared entirely.

VEConfigure also lets you adjust the overload trip delay — factory default is quite aggressive. Worth logging the data via VRM if you have a Cerbo or Venus GX to see exactly what's happening at the DC side milliseconds before shutdown.