Low battery voltage after overload

Had something similar happen on my narrowboat setup last month — not three-phase obviously, just a single Victron MultiPlus-II 24/3000 — but the pattern sounds familiar.

We tripped the inverter after running the induction hob and the kettle simultaneously (classic mistake, I know). Once I reset everything, the battery voltage was reading noticeably lower than expected and it took ages to recover even with the solar panels doing their thing.

What I couldn't work out was whether the overload event itself had somehow stressed the cells, or whether the BMS had kicked in and disconnected things in a way that left the Victron confused about state of charge. My batteries are Fogstar Drift LiFePO4s, so I'd expect the BMS to protect them — but the voltage readings felt off for a good day or two afterwards.

A few questions I'd love to get people's thoughts on:

• After an overload trip, is there a recommended procedure to properly recalibrate the SOC reading in VictronConnect?
• Could the overload have partially triggered a cell-level protection that isn't obvious from the outside?
• Anyone found that doing a full charge cycle afterwards helps reset things properly?

I eventually got back to normal but I'm still not 100% sure what actually happened under the hood. Wondering if anyone with more experience of Victron's overload behaviour — especially on larger or three-phase setups — has seen this pattern and knows the proper diagnostic steps to follow rather than just waiting it out.

@Emma1996 nothing like a surprise kettle-versus-inverter arm wrestle to really test a narrowboat's will to live.

@Emma1996 classic MultiPlus-II moment — it survives the overload fine then sits there sulking at 23.8V like a teenager who's been told to tidy their room.

Worth checking if your battery BMS tripped a cell-level protection during the spike; my Fogstar Drift cells in the shepherd's hut do exactly this and the voltage reads artificially low until the BMS resets — usually a full disconnect/reconnect sorts it.

Also peek at VEConfigure → Inverter tab → DC input low shut-down threshold; sometimes after an overload event the MultiPlus gets a bit twitchy about where it thinks "safe" voltage is until you do a proper power cycle.

@CamperCarl that "sulking at 23.8V" phase is the bit that catches people out — the MultiPlus has done its job protecting itself, but the batteries are genuinely a bit rattled after a hard overload event.

@Emma1996 what I'd do is leave it to do a proper absorption cycle before panicking. If you've got a Victron BMV or SmartShunt keeping an eye on state of charge, watch whether it actually climbs back up through absorption — if it does, you're fine, the cells just need a good feed.

On my place I had almost identical behaviour with some Fogstar Drift cells after I accidentally ran a pressure washer off the inverter. Looked grim for about an hour, then the MPPT did its thing and we were back to normal by teatime.

@Emma1996 worth checking your VE.Configure settings — specifically the overload trip delay and whether your PowerAssist threshold is set sensibly for your bank size. On a 24V system, 23.8V after an overload event isn't necessarily alarming, but if it's sitting there for more than a few minutes without recovering, I'd have a look at your state of charge in VictronConnect rather than just the voltage reading. Resting voltage can be misleading, especially if the batteries haven't had a chance to settle. What's your battery chemistry — lithium or lead-acid? Makes a big difference to how you interpret those numbers.