Anyone else had grief with a Victron MultiPlus 24/2000 tripping on overload when running a washing machine?

Picked up a second-hand MultiPlus 24/2000 a few months back and it's been brilliant for most things — runs the TV, router, a few lights, no bother at all. But I've been trying to get the washing machine sorted (it's a Bosch 7kg, nothing fancy) and it keeps tripping the overload protection mid-cycle. Usually happens around 10-15 minutes in, which I think is when the heating element kicks in properly.

The battery bank is 4x 100Ah AGM in a 24v setup, so 200Ah usable roughly, and resting voltage looks healthy enough — sitting around 26.2v before I start the wash. I've got the transfer switch set to 50A and I'm wondering if I've got something configured wrong in VE.Configure, or whether the 2000VA just genuinely isn't enough for a washing machine on a cold wash with the element drawing hard.

Has anyone got a similar setup running a washing machine successfully? I've seen people mention adjusting the PowerAssist settings but I'm not on shore power so that's not really applicable here. Also curious whether dropping to a 30°C eco wash makes any real difference to the peak draw — logically I'd think so but I honestly don't know if it changes when the element fires up or just for how long.

Hey @Brian1975, classic washing machine headache this one! The issue is almost certainly the motor startup surge rather than the running wattage. Even a modest washer can pull 3-4x its rated current for a split second on startup, and your 2000VA unit, whilst generally solid, can struggle with that depending on the programme selected.

A few things worth checking:

• What's your battery bank size and condition? Weak or undersized batteries sag under sudden loads and the MultiPlus will trip to protect itself
• Try starting the wash on a cooler/shorter cycle first — heating elements are often the real culprit, not the motor
• Check your VE.Config overload settings if you've got the USB interface

Second-hand units sometimes have conservative trip thresholds set by the previous owner too. Worth connecting to VictronConnect to see what's actually configured.

Good point from @HUO_Boats on the surge. One thing worth adding — have you checked what programme you're running? On my static caravan setup I found the cotton 60° cycle was the worst offender by miles compared to a quick wash, purely down to how long the heating element runs alongside the motor.

Also worth checking — is your battery bank in good shape? I've got Fogstar Drift cells and when mine were slightly undercharged the MultiPlus would get twitchy under load far more easily. What's your bank voltage actually sitting at when it trips?

There's also an assistants setting in VE.Configure that lets you tweak the overload trip sensitivity — did the previous owner mess with any settings? Second-hand units can come with all sorts of odd configurations lurking in there.

Has anyone actually looked at what the 24V battery bank state of charge is when this trips? I had a similar issue with my backup setup and it turned out the inverter was cutting out partly because the batteries were sagging under load — the MultiPlus can be quite sensitive to low voltage events during surge draws. Worth checking your battery voltage logs if you've got a Victron Cerbo or even a basic BMV monitor connected. Also, what's the battery cabling like? Undersized cables between battery and inverter can cause enough voltage drop to trigger a cutout that looks like an overload but isn't really one.

@Brian1975 my garden office MultiPlus laughs at the washing machine but weeps when the spin cycle kicks in — check your PowerAssist settings in VictronConnect because mine was set so conservatively it was basically refusing to do its actual job.