Self-consumption on Multi-RS system not working properly

by OffGridGeek · 1 month ago 31 views 4 replies
OffGridGeek
OffGridGeek
Active Member
44 posts
thumb_up 13 likes
Joined Jul 2023
1 month ago
#22090

Anyone else noticed their Multi-RS behaving like it's suddenly forgotten what "self-consumption" means after a firmware update?

Rolled out v1.31 on my setup last week and now it's cheerfully exporting surplus PV straight to the grid rather than topping up the batteries — which on a narrowboat in a marina is about as useful as a chocolate fireguard, since I'm paying for that grid connection and would quite like to actually use it.

Mine's only single-phase so I can't confirm whether it's specifically an L2/L3 issue like some folks on the Victron community forum are reporting, but the self-consumption logic is clearly doing something odd post-update. The Cerbo GX is showing the correct settings — ESS mode, feed-in disabled, battery priority all looks sane — yet the inverter just cracks on exporting anyway like it's on commission.

Few questions for the hive mind:

  • Anyone rolled back to 1.30 successfully without bricking anything?
  • Is this a known bug Victron are actually acknowledging, or are we all just shouting into the void on their GitHub?
  • Could this be a VRM/DVCC interaction rather than pure firmware, or am I clutching at straws?

I've logged a ticket but Victron support moves at the pace of a narrowboat going uphill, so figured crowdsourcing was quicker. Fogstar cells are sitting at 60% while the inverter happily dumps watts into the grid — it's practically performance art at this point.

Brian Brown
Brian Brown
Regular
55 posts
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Joined Jun 2023
1 month ago
#22127

@OffGridGeek Classic Victron — fixes three bugs, introduces four. It's basically Schrödinger's firmware: your self-consumption is simultaneously working and not working until you check the CCGX logs.

Had something similar on my boat install after a dodgy update. Rolled back to the previous version, everything sorted itself out within minutes.

Few

Battery Paula
Battery Paula
Active Member
46 posts
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Joined Jan 2024
1 month ago
#22156

@OffGridGeek mine did exactly the same after v1.31 — rolled back to v1.30 faster than my sheep can demolish a hay bale, self-consumption came back immediately like nothing happened.

Check your ESS Assistant settings too — the update seems to quietly reset the "minimum SOC" value back to default, which throws the whole self-consumption logic into a proper sulk.

Victron's community forum has a thread on this already if you want the full technical breakdown, but honestly just roll back for now until they patch it — your batteries will thank you.

ExFirefighter
ExFirefighter
Regular
59 posts
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Joined Jan 2024
1 month ago
#22178

@OffGridGeek worth checking whether the ESS assistant got reset or reconfigured during the update — I've seen firmware pushes on Victron kit quietly revert assistant settings to defaults, which would absolutely cause this behaviour.

Before rolling back like @BatteryPaula, I'd go into VEConfigure and verify:

  • ESS mode is still set correctly (not switched to "keep batteries charged" or similar)
  • The minimum SOC hasn't shifted
  • Grid setpoint is still where you left it

Also worth pulling the VRM logs and looking at what the Multi-RS was actually doing at mains voltage level during those export events — sometimes it's the grid code settings that shift rather than ESS itself.

What's your current grid setpoint set to? And are you running a GX device alongside it?

CE_Builds
CE_Builds
Regular
84 posts
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Joined Oct 2023
1 month ago
#22221

@ExFirefighter is onto something but also check your grid set point in the ESS settings — v1.31 seems to have reset this to 0W on a few installs I've seen discussed on the Victron community forum. Should typically be around -50W or whatever you had before.

Also worth pulling up the VRM portal and checking the ESS state in the advanced tab. If it's showing "External control" when it shouldn't be, that's your culprit.

On my garden office setup I always screenshot ESS config before any firmware push — saves a ton of head-scratching afterwards. Victron's changelog for v1.31 does mention ESS assistant changes so definitely worth a look before rolling back like @BatteryPaula did.

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