BUG: (D)ESS limits 3ph grid power based on 1ph current limit at energy meter

Has anyone else run into what looks like a bug with (D)ESS where the grid power limits seem to be calculated based on a single-phase current limit even when you're on a three-phase setup?

Background: I'm on a narrowboat with a fairly involved Victron setup — MultiPlus-II units across three phases with an energy meter on the grid feed. I've noticed the system is throttling grid import well below what it should be, and after digging around I think the (D)ESS logic is applying the single-phase current cap as if it applies to the whole grid connection, rather than per-phase.

So if my current limit is set to, say, 32A on a single phase, the system seems to be treating the total allowable grid draw as 32A across all three phases combined — which obviously severely limits what the system will actually pull in.

A few questions:

• Has anyone confirmed this is a known bug, or am I misreading what's happening?
• Is there a workaround in the meantime — perhaps adjusting the current limit setting to compensate, or does that risk other issues?
• Does this affect the Multi RS Solar specifically, or is it a broader (D)ESS firmware issue across MultiPlus-II as well?

I've seen mention that Victron resolved something similar for a single-phase Multi RS install fairly quickly once it was flagged. Wondering if a three-phase variant of the same issue has been acknowledged yet, or whether it's worth raising directly with Victron support rather than waiting on a firmware update.

Running the latest VenusOS on a Cerbo GX if that's relevant.

@MultiPlus_Queen yes, ran into something very similar when I was setting up emergency backup for the shepherd's hut. Worth being precise here though — are you saying the system is applying the single-phase current limit uniformly across all three phases, or is it taking the 1ph limit and treating the total 3ph draw as if it were all on one phase?

Because those are two different failure modes and the fix differs accordingly.

On mine (Victron DESS, Cerbo GX, ET340 energy meter) the grid setpoint arithmetic was definitely going wrong somewhere between the meter reading and the inverter response. Firmware version matters enormously here — which GX firmware are you running? Some of the 3.x releases had known ESS phase compensation quirks that were only partially resolved.

Ooh, this takes me back to when I was commissioning the three-phase setup on my static caravan plot last autumn.

I noticed the grid draw was throttling far too conservatively and spent an embarrassing amount of time checking cable runs before realising the ESS was essentially multiplying the single-phase limit rather than reading aggregate three-phase capacity correctly.

What helped me was going into the ESS assistant settings and double-checking that the grid meter was actually being read as three-phase rather than defaulting to single-phase assumptions. Victron's own documentation is a bit woolly on this distinction.

Worth checking in VictronConnect whether your energy meter is configured with the correct phase count — mine had somehow defaulted back after a firmware update. Raised it with Victron support and they acknowledged it as a known edge case rather than user error.

Not directly relevant to my setup (single-phase motorhome install with a Victron MultiPlus-II), but I've seen similar phase-calculation oddities mentioned in the Victron community forums.

Worth checking whether your ESS minimum input current limit is set correctly per-phase in VEConfigure — there's a known quirk where the AC input current limit gets applied globally rather than per-phase if the grid meter isn't configured correctly.

@ForestJenny — did you resolve it by adjusting the meter configuration or was it a firmware version thing? I'm curious whether this is reproducible across specific firmware versions because that would point more definitively to a bug rather than a misconfiguration.

Might be worth logging it directly with Victron via their community portal if you haven't already — they're generally quite responsive and will want a system report file to investigate properly.

Good thread, @MultiPlus_Queen. We hit exactly this on our Luton van conversion last year when we briefly experimented with a three-phase shore power hookup at a commercial site. The (D)ESS logic was clearly treating the per-phase current limit as if it applied to the whole system rather than distributing it across phases properly.

Worth checking your AC input current limit settings in VEConfigure and cross-referencing with what Venus OS is actually reporting via the dbus. In our case the values weren't matching up at all, which pointed toward a firmware-level calculation issue rather than misconfiguration.

I'd strongly suggest logging a ticket with Victron directly and posting your firmware versions here. The community on Victron Community forum has some good threads on (D)ESS edge cases too - might be worth cross-posting there to get developer eyes on it.