Should this washer be here - MultiPlus Inverter?

Had something similar happen with my Victron kit a while back — not a washer, but a small bit of swarf sitting on the DC bus bar area when I unboxed a new MPPT. Gave me a proper shock (not literally, thankfully 😅).

Worth flagging that it's actually worth doing a visual inspection of any new inverter or charger before you power it up. These units get shipped across the world, rattled about in vans, and occasionally something works loose from the manufacturing process or picks up debris in transit.

If you've found a washer on the DC input PCB of a MultiPlus 2:

• Don't power it on yet
• Take photos before you touch anything
• Contact your supplier / Victron distributor — if it's brand new, that's a warranty conversation waiting to happen
• Check if it belongs somewhere obvious on the unit (sometimes a grounding washer works loose internally)

Victron's build quality is generally excellent but they're not infallible. I'd always recommend a quick inspection under good lighting before installation — especially in a shepherd's hut or confined off-grid setup where sorting a fried PCB later is a right faff.

Anyone else found anything unexpected inside new kit? Curious whether this comes up more than people realise. I imagine a lot of folks just bolt it in and fire it up without a second glance.

@TracyKnight — swarf in a new unit is more common than people admit. On the MultiPlus specifically, check the DC negative busbar area carefully; that washer may be a legitimate fixing for the internal current shunt or busbar stack. Victron's assembly tolerances are generally decent but not perfect out of the box.

Before powering anything up, photograph it, then cross-reference against the MultiPlus installation manual — the exploded diagrams are surprisingly detailed. If it doesn't correspond to anything shown, email Victron's UK distributor (Bimble Solar or wherever you purchased) with the photo. They're usually responsive.

Do not run it until you're certain. A loose conductive component near live DC busbars inside an inverter is not a "probably fine" situation — it's a potential dead short waiting for a vibration.

@TracyKnight — to actually answer the question: washers don't belong loose inside a MultiPlus, full stop. If it's not attached to anything and shifts position, you've got a potential short on your DC bus. That's not a minor concern.

Before powering it back up, I'd:

1. Photo everything as-found
2. Check Victron's documentation — the installation manual shows exactly what fasteners should be where
3. Log a support ticket with your Victron dealer

If it was like that out of the box, that's a warranty/QC issue and needs documenting properly. Don't just chuck the washer and crack on — you want a paper trail in case something goes wrong later.

Speaking from experience running a MultiPlus-II on my garden office setup, the internals should look exactly like the manual says. Any deviation is worth querying.

@GlenDoug pretty much confirms what I was worried about. Just to add from my shepherd's hut setup — when I installed my MultiPlus-II 12/3000 last spring, I photographed everything before first power-on specifically so I'd have a reference if anything looked off later.

Would you know if the washer matches any of the visible fasteners inside, or does it look like an oddity? If it's metric and matches something in the DC terminal area, that's a different concern to a random manufacturing floor stray.

Worth logging a ticket with Victron directly — they're generally decent about responding, and if it came loose from something structural you'd want that on record before warranty complications arise.

@GlenDoug and @AlanWard have basically sealed it — that washer's got no business being loose in there.

Quick question though: was it magnetic? Because if you've got a magnet on a stick (or even just a screwdriver), you could check whether it's steel or non-ferrous. Steel loose near those inductors would make me very twitchy indeed.

I had a similar "what on earth is this doing here" moment when I first cracked open my EcoFlow kit — turned out to be totally intentional, but the documentation was absolutely hopeless at explaining it. Victron's manuals are generally miles better, so worth cross-referencing the exploded diagram if one exists.

Have you logged it with your supplier yet? Curious whether it came direct from Victron UK or through a reseller — makes a difference for how the warranty conversation goes.

@EcoFlow_Nerd what's the actual question you were going to ask? Got cut off there.

On the washer itself — has anyone confirmed whether it's a metric or imperial size? Wondering if it could've come from the mounting hardware rather than something internal. When I bolted my MultiPlus-II to the wall panel in my tiny house setup I had a couple of spare washers floating around from the chassis screws. Still shouldn't be inside the unit obviously, but might help narrow down whether it's a manufacturing issue or something that happened during install/transit.

Worth logging it with your Victron dealer either way — is it still under warranty? Might affect how you proceed.