Solar panel/investor problems (1 Viewer)

[Another Lesley]

We had new solar panels and an inverter fitted about 18 weeks ago and everything worked fine. A couple of weeks ago we had a batter master fitted also ready for the winter. Now we have been living in the MH for about 16 weeks this year and until last week everything was tickety boo. Now however every time we try and use the invertor we are immediately getting an audible low power signal followed by the invertor shutting down. The batteries are showing as being at full top up, so can't understand the problem. Does anyone have any ideas please ?

 

[pappajohn]

check the wiring and terminals for the inverter.

fitting the battery master may have disturbed the terminals at the battery....especially the negative/earth.....and the inverter, due to a poor connection, thinks the battery is low

 

[eddie]

faulty inverter, faulty installation or flat batteries.

You say that the batteries are fully charged, how do you know this? are you using a multi meter? If so look at the voltage whilst turning the inverter on.

It could be that the batteries are flat but the voltage is high due to your solar panels creating an artificially high reading disguising the true situation.

Try taking a battery reading tonight once it is dark if you don't have access to a multi meter.

Let us know how you get on. Who fitted the equipment?

Eddie

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[BwB]

Might be a loose connection somewhere, probably between the battery and the inverter but worth checking everything. Sometimes the connectors corrode which won't help.

Could also be a faulty inverter. Could you try it on a different battery just to see?

 

[pappajohn]

Eddie is of course correct....i missed the bit about solar panels which will show around 14volts even with a flat battery.

 

[Another Lesley]

Thanks everyone for your input, I very much appreciate it.. Being very non techie and barely recognising a spanner from a wheel jack all the kit was supplied and fitted by the dealership I bought the MH from. According to the read outs from the control panels, taken last night about 11 pm the leisure battery and vehicle battery are fully charged. I think though that if the leisure battery was failing to charge or not keeping a charge I would have problems running my electric stuff stuff.? I have checked where I can for loose connections, but found now't:Sad:. It look like a trip back to the dealership. :shout: Thanks again though everyone. :thumb:

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[eddie]

Could you post a picture of the inverter and the cable that they have used?

We had a "dealer" fit system in the other day as the "customer" was fed up with going back yet not being able to use his inverter.

a 2000 watt inverter fused with a 80 amp fuse! oh:

So they had followed the instructions re cable size but just didn't understand the concept of what they were about.

The customer made us laugh though when we told him what it was, as he was complaining it was such a simple (simple read "cheap") fix until we asked him if he would have preferred a major problem with a big bill?

He laughed and saw the point

Eddie

 

[Another Lesley]

The invertor is now functioning again. When the lovely chap at the dealership tested the input from the leisure batteries (We have two, but not bragging) he found that we were getting only 10.8v when the control panel said we had 13.5v available. Problem was that somewhere at some time we had had a power surge (I never felt a thing) and we had popped a fuse. Lovely chap put in a new fuse.....gave me some spares and showed me where to put them ....ooooh errrr Missus. Cost to me?????......Now't, except an early morning trip to be first to be seen Thanks again folks for your help.

 

[eddie]

The invertor is now functioning again. When the lovely chap at the dealership tested the input from the leisure batteries (We have two, but not bragging) he found that we were getting only 10.8v when the control panel said we had 13.5v available. Problem was that somewhere at some time we had had a power surge (I never felt a thing) and we had popped a fuse. Lovely chap put in a new fuse.....gave me some spares and showed me where to put them ....ooooh errrr Missus. Cost to me?????......Now't, except an early morning trip to be first to be seen Thanks again folks for your help.

None of that makes sense. If you have two batteries the inverter should be connected across the batteries. IE The Positive of the inverter to battery one and the negative of the inverter to battery two.

The inverter should not be connected to a single battery in a multiple battery set up.

That's why they gave you the spare fuses I suspect.

How big is the inverter?

Eddie

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[Steve]

The beeping on my inverter means something ie 1 beep low battery 2 beeps too hot etc does yours do the same thing?