Inverters

[garyde]

One of my inverters for the Coach Batteries keeps charging. The Coach hasn't been used since POG ll and the Batteries are new. I am plugged in and nothing is on except the Refer. When I turn everything off, the inverter is still charging.
I checked it after work each night this week . The other inverter is not charging.
The Coach is new to me so I am still figuring out what is normal and what's not. (for the Coach)

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Gary,

Ditto. I used to worry about this because of several reasons, but I now assume this is normal.

I came to this conclusion for the following reasons. First, our inverters are supposed to "load share", a term that was used to describe that both chargers would work together. So far I have seen one or the other carry the bulk of the charging load. When you are on shore power your 120V loads such as the refrigerator will be handled by the shore power, but the bus still has some 24V loads, such as the head hunter system.

Unless you can sneak into the coach without turning on lights you will see the house batteries being charged because the charger is providing power to the batteries to replace the load from the lights.

The key that put my mind at ease was I checked the voltage at the batteries and as it turned out my voltages were always OK, and that is the key to whether the charging system is doing its job

[truk4u]

Gary,
I have Trace Inverters and occasionally one will get stuck on (bulk) charge and I have to reset the inverter at the remote to get it to float.

Since we're on inverters, no thread creeping here, there is an excellant article on the other site about adjusting the bulk charge time. I have been doing this since I bought the bus and it works great. When on generator for dry camping, I use 2 hrs for bulk charging and then change the settings to 20 minutes when plugging in, since the batteries are full after driving. If I have to plug into 30 amp, I cancel the bulk charge all together in order to have enough amps to power the necessities.;)

[garyde]

I waited an hour and snuck back in without turning on anything and discovered the Inverters were not charging. So, they fire up the minute you turn on the lights even though I am on Shore power, because those loads feed thru the inverter/battery system. I am still learning. Gary

[Joe Cannarozzi]

I always wondered why we all dont have "converters"[ A/C to D/C] to go along with everything else. It would tax the batteries way less and we would also have FULL voltage to all the DC stuff when on shore/generator AND the chargers would run less also?

[truk4u]

Gary,
What kind of inverter to you have? The Trace has a "search" function that basically puts the inverter to sleep until is senses a predetermined amp usage then comes alive. This function is selectable and not automatic, maybe yours is in this mode. The A/C flows through mine, but I can turn off the inverters, select charge, and they are completley off line. 12v consumption is handled by the chargers and all A/C is available.

Joe - Our inverters are converters, Bulk, Absortion, Float charge, A/C to D/C.

[Joe Cannarozzi]

Where could I view one of these units that inverts DC to AC AND converts AC to DC both?

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Gary,

Our first coach had converters (three: 2 house and one for the bus batteries). It also had an inverter (not inverter charger). The simple answer is that the way our coaches are now set up is much more user friendly.

There were advantages to the early Liberty system we had but ease of use was not one of them.

[truk4u]

Joe,
Go here: http://www.xantrex.com/web/id/8/learn.asp;)

[garyde]

Gary,
What kind of inverter to you have? The Trace has a "search" function that basically puts the inverter to sleep until is senses a predetermined amp usage then comes alive. This function is selectable and not automatic, maybe yours is in this mode. The A/C flows through mine, but I can turn off the inverters, select charge, and they are completley off line. 12v consumption is handled by the chargers and all A/C is available.

Joe - Our inverters are converters, Bulk, Absortion, Float charge, A/C to D/C.

Xantrex, Heart Interface Model 25 ,Freedom (Qty of two) I do not see any program capability. It looks like strait transfer/charge/Inverter.

[Joe Cannarozzi]

Jon, would you like to expand on your last post to this thread, Im a little confused. 3 converters? Also Im curious as to the referance to the ease of opporations or lack there of. All of our previous campers had converters and they all had auto-switch gear.

Truck4-U, If Gary can get his charger to fire up, while plugged into shore power, buy turning on 12volt accessories I would not think that the coach is CONVERTING 110A/C to 12voltD/C because if it were the power would not be comming from the batteries but the converter instead, therefore not drawing on the batteries and causing the charger to start? What am I missing.Thank you for the Zantex web sight. A quick look didnt produce fruit I will however call in the morning to try to educate myself.

[Ben]

Tom,

Your link got messed up by the smiley you tried to add...try this instead:
http://www.xantrex.com/web/id/8/learn.asp ("http://www.xantrex.com/web/id/8/learn.asp")

[truk4u]

Joe,
I see your point. The 12v source would be the batteries, I doubt any 12v usage would be picked up directly from the charger. I don't understand why the inverters would come on when 12v is needed, that doesn't make any sense. The Freedom 25's do have an idle function when inverting, but if the inverters are turned off, the 12v usage should just come from the batteries and the chargers would maintain voltage and stay in float. Mine never comes out of float even with a full load of 12v and the digital meters show the float charge maintaining the voltage.:confused:

Gary - Trying to help, but at a loss as to why the inverters would come alive for 12v usage.

Joe - Sorry for the link screw up, Ben fixed it.:rolleyes:

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Reply to Joe.

Our 87 had a selector knob that had the following positions. Off, shore, inverter, and generator. We had to manually select the source of 120 V power with the inverter being a single 200 watt unit that supplied power to only a few circuits such as the outlets, microwave or TVs.

The bus had the normal 4 bus starting batteries, and if they needed charging, a single 24 volt converter was provided for that purpose. That converter could be fed power from shore or generator through the 120V circuits.

The house had 6 batteries, set up into two banks of three, each bank providing power to bus bars. Each of the house circuits was set up so the converters could be used to charge the batteries or provide 12 V power to the house circuit bus bars. We could literally turn off the battery master switches, turn on the converters and all of the 12 volt circuits would still function. That is how we were able to live in the coach for the three days after the engine compartment fire melted all 10 batteries.

[Jeff Bayley]

Dear Abby- Unrelated to this specific thread but posting here to avoid cluttering the site with a new thread.

Regarding my Trace Inverters and power consuption at night while dry camping:

Can I avoid draw on my batteries by shutting the inverter (not running the fridge) down at night OR does it help to turn the 12 or 24 volt mains (in the engine bay) off at night ? I never do either of these. I can always here the inverters internal fans running when I walk by the battery bay where they are located. Seems like these internal fans are making some draw also. Should they run even in mild 60 degree weather at night ?

Also, with the Inverters in with the lead acid batteries, are there fumes that are harming the inverters ?

[Joe Cannarozzi]

Its usually the battery charger that causes the inverter cooling fans to come on on ours.

[dalej]

I think my IOTA brand ITS-50R automatic transfer switch is bad, so I ordered a new one $126 from RVPowerhouse.com I got a note from them saying if you have questions or need parts try Master Techs at 800.848.0558 Thought if anyone is using IOTA this might be helpful. I was going to try Lyght power systems but thought I would stay with what I had, any thoughts?

I'm very tempted to get a power thing that will keep me from spikes and low voltage, seems like I'm getting my share of electrial problems. Microwaves, coffee makers and transfer switches, these are the items I replace the most.

If anyone has any solutions for me, let me know. In 9 years this will be my
3rd transfer switch, 3rd microwave and we burnt up 2 nice coffee makers. Now we use a $10 one from ace.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Dale, I'm real weak in this area, but anytime you transfer loads it is not as simple as just the switching action. To protect devices there is a lot of technology and it involves shutting off power to devices (shedding load), making the power switch under little or no load, and then ramping up the restoration of power to the devices to avoid the very things you mentioned.

I think some of the converters have some real expertise in this area and it might be worth talking to them. I also think we have some of the expertise showing up at POG III.

[matsprt]

Dale,

I have a brand new ITS-50R sitting in the livingroom of my CC. I have by need become way more knowledgable about this than I ever intended. Jon is right about shedding power before switching. In my plastic CC power is switched and then put in a delay of 2:15 seconds by the Surge Guard. Once the Surge Guard "evaluates" the power and after it deems it ok, it will allow everything to come back up.
I currently own a healthy "fear factor" about the complexity of the electrical systems on buses as compared to my reasonably simple plastic CC. At times MPD pales in the shadow of electrical nightmares...only briefly.:D

Michael


I think my IOTA brand ITS-50R automatic transfer switch is bad, so I ordered a new one $126 from RVPowerhouse.com I got a note from them saying if you have questions or need parts try Master Techs at 800.848.0558 Thought if anyone is using IOTA this might be helpful. I was going to try Lyght power systems but thought I would stay with what I had, any thoughts?

I'm very tempted to get a power thing that will keep me from spikes and low voltage, seems like I'm getting my share of electrial problems. Microwaves, coffee makers and transfer switches, these are the items I replace the most.

If anyone has any solutions for me, let me know. In 9 years this will be my
3rd transfer switch, 3rd microwave and we burnt up 2 nice coffee makers. Now we use a $10 one from ace.