Inverter adventures

[jello_jeep]

Well, I got here to Havasu where my bus lives these days and started doing some tasks that needed done.

One thing that bugs me, is the remote heads for my inverters have no backlighting. So every time I want to change settings on them, I have to have a little flashlight on hand to see the displays.

As I was checking out the function of my AutoGen (thanks to Tom for help) I noted once again that the inverters (screwed to the ceiling of one of the bays) have control heads that are backlit. So I decided to swap them out so I could have the neat lighted ones inside where I use them.

Marathon built a nice enclosure for them, and I pulled the four screws that hold the cover on to start working. I could hear fans running inside the inverters, and noted that the air temp inside the enclosure seemed high.

I also noted that there was a 24VDC muffin fan in the enclosure, but it was not running. Tracing the wires, the hot wire goes through a thermostat mounted on a piece of plastic between the two inverters. I thought I had found the easy fix as I found the wire up on top of the thermostat was disconnected. Soo I hooked it back up.

Still no fan. A check with a multimeter showed voltage on both sides of the thermostat, as well as at the terminal strip where the wires from the fan tie in. So the fan is dead..:mad:

Not that changing out a muffin fan should be a big deal.. But they chose to use ny-lock nuts on the fan, and the heads of the screws/bolts are not accesible from the inverter side. They are inside a chase Marathon built to channel the hot fan driven air from the compartment, to a verticle vent pipe going down through the floor of the compartment.

So if you try to put a wrench on the nuts, they just spin the bolts along with them.

I think the answer is to use a dremel & cutoff on the two that are easy to get at, then just break the fan out on the other two, then try to replace it with a new fan and use self tappers & loctite from the front side to hold it into place.

There is not much room between the inverter and the wall to get in and work on it. I had to go buy a small angle type screw gun (dang, had to buy another tool) :D

I took some pictures, and of course found I didn't leave a memory card reader in my camera bag... Sheesh.

Also come to find out, that the remote heads that were so easy to get out inside the bus, are mounted inside the inverter housing. I am not sure if I will be able to get them out with out dismounting them. And that looks to be a major chore!

If the wind quits howling out here, I will attack again tomorrow! Will have to start the search for a replacement fan as well.

Tom, does your bus have this little fan setup too ?? :confused:

[Jon Wehrenberg]

WE REALLY NEED TO HAVE SOME CONVERTER SPECIFIC SEMINARS.

Anyway, as a general comment, on our coach the inverters have internal pancake fans. The air flow to and from the inverters is ducted.

But I think as an added source of protection we have a pair of external fans that we can manually control via a switch so it has been our practice when using the coach that we turn these fans on and allow them to run continuously.

When the bus is in the garage I have those external fans off, but I will load up the inverters and just listen for the inverter fans to kick in to make sure they are also working.

There is a ton of little things to think about on these coaches and I don't know if any of us has figured it all out yet.

[truk4u]

Jeep,
Your the man, another new tool!:D I think mine has the same fan setup, when the outside temps get warm I can hear the fan cycle on and off and if really hot, it stays on a long time. Let me know if you need help, I can pull the panel and check it out. You have a good idea changing out the head if it works, keep us posted.

By the way, your post was at 12:33 AM and your working on the bus! We're not worthy, we're not worthy....................:eek:

[Joe Cannarozzi]

Im told that at Lake Havasu City anything goes. We have a retiered friend down the block that goes there the beginning of Nov. every year and stays for 5 months, this place is in our future. Jeep, ever been down to Quartsite? If ya wanna post the reply elsware we will follow:rolleyes:

[jello_jeep]

Jon, boy you are right, there are so many systems in here, it gets to be mind boggling. My inverters have internal fans too, but the enclosure is not much bigger than the two inverters and a few inches on either end. So I am not sure what good the fans inside do, it just moves air around in the box.

After thinking about it, I almost wonder what good the muffin fan does either, becasue without any vent hole in the enclosure, how does the little fan move air in or out. I would think it would be a good idea to put a vent in the enclosure itself so once the fan is working again, it can move the air in or out as needed..

Tom, well it was all worth it to get a new tool :) As far as midnight goes, well ya have to do what you have to do!! Lets go back and talk more about tools :) I will let you know how it all comes out.

Joe, where exactly are your friends ? We are at the Havasu RV Park on Victoria Farms Rd #117. It is a neat place, espceially when the wind stops! I have been to quartsite to buy solar stuff, but never when the big festival is on. I am not crazy about taking my new baby Marathon out in the dirt. It seems to be much happier on the blacktop!

Come on down, I'll buy you a martini! :D :rolleyes:

[Jeff Bayley]

I was just about to make a new thread but my question can be catagorized under Warrens topic so I'll interlope here rather than tax this forum with another thread.

Does anyone know of a wireless sender and receiver unit I could use to monitor my house battery voltage from the bedroom instead of getting up to go to the front and check it when I'm dry camping. I don't like using the autostart for some reason. I'd like to monitor it from the bedroom but not bad enough to try to hardwire it in. Anyone else ever looked up a device like this ?.

[Joe Cannarozzi]

Warren,
The gentlmans name is Don Sikora, hes a widower, hes down there alone and a really great guy. I gave him your name and lot # and if I had to guess Ill bet he will stop!

[jello_jeep]

Here are some pics of the operation

[jello_jeep]

Here are the offending fan, and the thermostat removed.

Also the heads removed from the inverters without pulling the entire units out. This took most of the day.. Sheesh my back hurts! New backlit heads shown installed inside the bus now.

I will be on the hunt for a 24VDC fan.. Also found there is an outbound duct which also has a fan, which also does not work. This will be on my list of stuff to get done!!

I like the backlit heads already though.. And now that its done, I suppose it was well worth it :)

Although I have to tell you, if you are going to be camping and doing some repairs, having a Lowes store within 500 yards, is the best!! :D

[jello_jeep]

Joe, be happy to meet your friend, hope he comes over! We will be making Christmas dinner for a couple of other rv friends if he needs something to do tomorrow.. Dinner @ 4pm AZ time. (Smoked turykey) MMMMmmm:p

[truk4u]

Great job Jeep, here's a link for fans: http://www.orientalmotor.com/products/ac-dc-cooling-fans/index.htm

Let me know where the fan is located in the duct.

[Lee Bornstein]

Jello_Jeep:

Your fan in photo is made by Sunon. Just bought a Sunon SP101A (120V) from Jameco Electronics www.jameco.com and they should have your fan too if you can get model number off the Sunon Label. My fan was $13.95 + postage.

see the following link:

http://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CatalogSearchResultView?langId=-1&storeId=10001&catalogId=10001&searchType=m&searchValue=sunon&categoryId=371555
Lee

[jello_jeep]

Tom, the second fan in the back of the inverter cabinet and looks like it is ducted over to the forward side of the bay wall, then down to the ground.

The fan pictured, looks like it was setup to pull air in, and I assume the other is configured to push air out.

May as well replace both I reckon! I was wondering why there were two sets of wires on the terminal block where the fan connects!

[jello_jeep]

Well here are some pix from fanII. It ends up it has the same fan in it, Sunon
kde2412pms1-6a. These are no longer available from Jameco and they list no sub, thanks Lee for the link.

I found another one that is the same size & voltage of course, moves a little more air, they are on the way from Jameco for delivery tomorrow I hope!

One pic shows the duct, one shows how they just put the fan into a little sheet metal box they bent up, after covering the fan with foam tape, they crammed it in there. This of course means you have to pull the cover off the duct work which is no big deal on one side, screws plainly visable. I couldn't see the any screws in the other side and with no further options, I convince it to come out. Turns out they "toe nailed" it with two drywall screws, and had slit the carpet so the heads were covered.. All this on the ceiling of a bay! Sheesh talk about anal.

They other pic shows where the master ground point is, lots of ground leads there, checked for tightness, all seems good. Nice to know where it is!

Sorry for the out of focus issues, but the little cam is auto focus, and its closer than it likes it down there!

The other pic is just in case you ever wonder what my wife, Kelly Jo looks like when I am in the bay working, and she is standing guard duty outside!

The keen eyed among you will notice, she is holding a VOM (a tool) as well!!! ;) :D

[Jon Wehrenberg]

I got my inverter fans from WW Grainger. They were in stock and were in my hands one day after ordering them. The best part is they were correct for the application. The ones I replaced were for vertical mounting onlyh, but were mounted in a horizontal position, so when I ordered the replacements I not only got fans acceptable for horizontal mounting, but I got fans with slightly more air flow.

[jello_jeep]

Well the wind finally quit blowing here in AZ, or at least died down to sub gale force, and I got time to put the fans in. They are nice and quiet indeed! Nice to get it all buttoned up again, I was tired of having it all torn apart.

I have an oil leak from my alternator that was supposedly fixed when the bus was at PV Mira Loma, they said they put a new seal in it but its still dripping oil from a large line that comes out from the bottom of it.

I called a place here in Lake Havasu City to see if they would work on it as I am storing the bus out here. They offered to come and pick it up, fix it and then put it in the storage unit when done. Sounded good!

After thinking more about it though, and stopping by and looking at the place I wasn't sure I was comfortable just giving my keys to persons unknown for one thing, and the temp storage unit is 40' and so is the bus. I end up with about 3/4" on either end and have to turn one mirror in to shut the door, plus dump the air to avoid hitting a cb antenna on the way in.

The more I thought about it, even though its a 5.5 hour drive one way, I decided to drive it back to PV and have them do it and then bring it back on another weekend. Pricey but gives me peace of mind (what little is left) and could actually be cheaper in the long run I suspect.

I will have them fix my dash temp control (if you turn on hot air, you cant turn it back down) and install the air brake line for the trailer while they are at it.

Plus I get to drive the bus :) :D :rolleyes:

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Warren,

The large line is an oil return line if I understand you correctly, and with a little wrench turning you can have it apart, find out what you need and have it back together before you load the refrigerator for the trip for repairs.

We're talking a few wrenches for tools so it is not like this is going to require something special. Anybody that can deal with the fans can handle this.

[truk4u]

Jeep,
I had the same temp control problem, it was the in-line valve located on the top of the compartment inside the front bumper. That's the control valve actuated by your dash dial and let's hot coolant flow for heat, just like a car heater core. You can shut off the water to the system on the port side engine compartment, the valve is located under the radiator fan assembley. I ran a couple months with it shut off until I could get to it.;)

[jello_jeep]

Thanks for the replies.

Jon, I spoke to the PV guys, and they said there were like five places it could be coming from. I paid them to fix it already, so it will be on them for that part, plus I had already ordered the heater control, which has arrived there, plus I need the air brake for the trailer hooked up... sooo I am already home with it, had a great trip home and a nice drive.

Tom, I had a service bulliten on the hot air issue in the paperwork for the bus. If I remember right, there were two things it could be, the valve or the control.. Can't remember.

Saw two other Prevost's coming home too! Any of you guys running on I10 in California toady?