Anyone else had grief with a Victron MultiPlus 24/2000 tripping on overload with a basic induction hob?

So I've been running a MultiPlus 24/2000 for about eight months now in my off-grid cabin setup — 24V 200Ah lithium bank, 600W of solar on the roof, and it's been rock solid for almost everything. Last week I finally caved and bought a cheap 1800W single-ring induction hob thinking it would be more efficient than the gas, and within about thirty seconds of it running the inverter cuts out on overload. Comes back fine once I reset it, but obviously that's not a workable situation.

The thing is, the hob is rated 1800W and the inverter should handle 2000W continuous with a 4000W surge for about 30 seconds, so on paper it ought to be fine. I've checked the DC wiring and the cable runs look solid — 70mm² from the battery to the inverter, fuses all correct. AC output cable to the hob is maybe 3 metres of 2.5mm twin and earth, which should be more than adequate.

My suspicion is that induction hobs pull a nasty spike on startup or maybe behave oddly enough with a modified sine wave that the MultiPlus doesn't like it — though I thought Victron ran pure sine? Has anyone successfully run an induction hob off a MultiPlus 2000, and if so is there a setting in VEConfigure I should be looking at, like adjusting the overload trip threshold or response time?

SarahClark75 | 📍 Mid Wales | Posts: 847

@DaiCole Induction hobs are notorious for this, even relatively modest ones. The issue isn't necessarily the running wattage — it's the initial surge when the element kicks in or changes power level. Even a "1800W" hob can pull 2.5-3kW momentarily.

Worth checking your MultiPlus settings in VEConfigure — specifically the overload trip delay. You can sometimes nudge a bit of tolerance there without compromising protection. Also, have you tried the hob on a lower power setting consistently rather than letting it ramp up and down? Some folks find that helps.

What hob model is it? Some are genuinely terrible for surge behaviour. Certain cheaper single-ring induction units are awful for this. A dedicated low-surge induction hob designed for off-grid/marine use might be worth investigating if you're set on induction.

Swap it for a halogen hob — your MultiPlus will suddenly discover it's been dramatising the whole time. 🍳

FellKev | 📍 Array | Posts: 312

Had the exact same drama with my static van setup. The MultiPlus 24/2000 isn't really the villain here — induction hobs throw a brutal startup spike that's nothing like their rated wattage suggests. My 1800W hob was pulling close to 3500W for a fraction of a second on ignition, and the inverter just said no.

What fixed it for me was dropping the transfer switch sensitivity in VictronConnect and also checking my DC cable sizing — undersized cables were adding to the voltage sag under load, which made the overload protection trigger even faster.

@MarineClare is right about halogen being gentler, but before you ditch the hob entirely, @DaiCole — check your battery connection integrity first. A dodgy terminal will make this ten times worse, especially at 24V.

SamBaker | 📍 Shropshire | Posts: 312

@DaiCole Worth checking whether your hob has a boost mode — many induction hobs will briefly draw two or three times their rated wattage during the initial heating phase, which is likely what's catching your MultiPlus out. The 2000W continuous rating sounds generous until you factor in that startup spike.

A couple of things to try: first, check the overload trip settings in VictronConnect — you may have some wiggle room there. Second, see if your hob has a power limiter setting buried in its menu, some do. Starting it on a lower power level before ramping up can also help enormously.

@MarineClare's suggestion isn't bad either if you want a fuss-free solution, though obviously halogen is less efficient day-to-day.

CopperGaffer | 📍 Yorkshire | Posts: 847

@DaiCole One thing nobody's mentioned yet — check your DC cable sizing between the battery and the MultiPlus. Even with a healthy 200Ah lithium bank, undersized or long DC runs create enough voltage drop under that initial inrush that the inverter sees a worse situation than it actually is, and trips early. Victron recommend keeping that run as short as practically possible. Also worth popping into VictronConnect and checking your overload trip history — it'll tell you whether you're genuinely hitting the 2000W ceiling or tripping on the surge spike. If it's purely the surge, the PowerAssist feature won't help you here since you're off-grid, but tweaking the AC input current limiter settings sometimes has an unexpected knock-on effect. What gauge are your DC cables currently?

MistyTrekker | 📍 Scottish Borders | Posts: 203

@DaiCole Something worth adding to what's already been said — have a look at your MultiPlus settings in VE.Configure, specifically the "AC Input Current Limit" and the overload trip curve. Victron's defaults are sometimes more conservative than necessary for inductive loads with high startup peaks. You can adjust the PowerControl and PowerAssist settings to let the inverter handle those brief spikes more gracefully rather than tripping straight away.

Also, what firmware version are you running? There were some known quirks with earlier versions that made overload responses a bit twitchy. Worth updating via VictronConnect if you haven't recently — made a noticeable difference on my own setup here in the Borders.

RetiredSquaddie | 📍 Array | Posts: 1,247

@DaiCole One thing worth pulling from VictronConnect is the actual trip point data — the app logs overload events with timestamps and load figures, so you can see whether you're hitting the 2000W continuous limit or the shorter-duration peaks. Induction hobs are notorious for a hard ~2,200–2,500W spike in the first few seconds of a heating cycle, even on lower power settings. The MultiPlus 24/2000 has a 4,000W surge rating but the overload curve is time-dependent. Dropping the hob's power setting one notch typically kills that initial spike entirely. Worth trying before anything else.

Jock90 | 📍 Array | Posts: 312

@DaiCole Ran into this exact circus on my narrowboat — turns out my 1800W "low power" induction hob was pulling a cheeky 2400W startup spike that the MultiPlus 24/2000 found deeply offensive. Dropped to a 1400W portable induction unit (the Cooks Professional ones from B&M are surprisingly decent) and she's not missed a beat since — sometimes the fix is just accepting your inverter has feelings too. 🍳

ColBurns63 | 📍 North Yorkshire | Posts: 578

@DaiCole Worth checking whether your hob has a boost function that kicks in at startup — even a "1500W" ring can spike well above 2kW momentarily. I had similar grief until I found a setting buried in the hob's menu to disable the power boost feature entirely. Knocked the startup surge right down and the tripping stopped completely. Also, are your battery cables adequately sized? Undersized cables cause voltage sag under load, which the MultiPlus interprets as an overload situation even when it technically isn't one. Proper 70mm² cabling made a noticeable difference on my setup.