2017 Classic FireFly Control Panel with Victron MultiPluss II

[HopJockey]

So, I'm considering moving to LifePo4 batteries with a Victron Multiplus II connected inline with the shorepower cord. Guessing this would eliminate the need for the 1,000 inverter and converter installed in the coach already. What I'm wondering is what might happen to the FireFly system onboard.

Here are my concerns:

1. If I take out the old inverter, what would happen to the display on the firefly lcd panel (see pic) at the galley that turns on and off the old inverter? Just go blank?...

2. Would the house power icon on the firefly control panel now read the voltage of the Lithium batteries (see pic) ?

[BigSxyWhtGuy]

Never disconnecting from shore power again? Most people end up rewiring their trailer and installing a larger inverter so the power can be used when not on hook ups and actually all plugs light up hot instead of just one when this happens.

[HopJockey]

Originally Posted by BigSxyWhtGuy

Never disconnecting from shore power again? Most people end up rewiring their trailer and installing a larger inverter so the power can be used when not on hook ups and actually all plugs light up hot instead of just one when this happens.

No, the plan is use shore power on occasion, it would just bypass inline through the inverter and boost it if necessary. This unit has a charger and converter built in one.

[BigSxyWhtGuy]

So, I’m not an electrician at all but usually the inverters are needed to switch DC to AC and I believe converters switch from AC to DC. If you remove your inverter, you’ll have to stay on shore power to run power in your plugs - otherwise you’ll just be sending DC to everything.

We run victron unit with a pass through inverter of sorts. So when we connect to shore power, we have to turn the inverter on to allow the batteries to charge and our plugs to go hot. Without it, the solar is the only thing that gives us a charge.

In fact a benefit of this is that when the power goes out on shore power, we typically don’t realize it unless we are running both ACs or a heavy load and the system trips.

Sorry, I may be telling you stuff you already know though.

Edit: I just googled your system and it looks similar to ours. We are saying the same thing!
Our firefly reads as normal on everything. This will obviously depend on how you wire everything.

[BigSxyWhtGuy]

Inverter button doesn’t do anything for us. I hear a relay click but nothing happens. The house battery reading there is semi accurate. I have two additional panels, one tells me how my batteries are doing as a % as well as any shore power or solar charge I am getting.

The other panel controls the built in inverter in the multiplex.

[uncle_bob]

Hi

We switched our 2017 to a Multi several years ago. Simple answer is that you just ignore that inver turn on thing on the Firefly. More complicated answer is to build a circuit that converts the output of the old system into something the Multi understands.

How to run the Multi? They have a dongle you can buy. Mount the Multi somewhere and run the dongle up to a place you can see it. I chopped the Multi down a bit and put it where the old inverter was. That let me put the dongle on the wall behind the sink.

Bob

[ejs5405]

Originally Posted by HopJockey

So, I'm considering moving to LifePo4 batteries with a Victron Multiplus II connected inline with the shorepower cord. Guessing this would eliminate the need for the 1,000 inverter and converter installed in the coach already. What I'm wondering is what might happen to the FireFly system onboard.



Here are my concerns:



1. If I take out the old inverter, what would happen to the display on the firefly lcd panel (see pic) at the galley that turns on and off the old inverter? Just go blank?...



2. Would the house power icon on the firefly control panel now read the voltage of the Lithium batteries (see pic) ?

As I understand it, the Victron Multiplus, is the inverter and converter. So you would remove the two separate original items. The firefly system is independent of your inverter and converter. It is powered off the dc system I believe and will continue to work. From my limited understanding.