Inverter Problem (1 Viewer)

[ruffingitsmoothly]

Hi just back today from Ireland after 2 weeks had areally good time met some great people and had a few Guiness'

The only problem we had was last night having arrived in Rosslare to catch this mornings ferry tried to swich on the inverter the green light came on and it bleeped but got no power to the sockets! We have been on hook up all week and the charger part of the inverter seems to be working ok, haven't had a chance to look at it today as we only arrived home at 6pm but did check the inverter in the locker last night and swiched the manual swich on and off and checked all connections!

I believe that it is a Trace Legend Inverter.

Now can any of you learned people point me in the right direction?

Regards Pat

 

[martyn]

Wecome home Pat, hope you had a good
time. Can't help you with the electrics if it
was a V8 problem, maybe !!!!!!!

 

[ruffingitsmoothly]

Thanks Martyn I knew I could rely on you mate

Link Removed

Regards Pat

 

[TJ-RV]

In addition to circuit breakers on the outside of the inverter, have you checked any GFI (ground fault interrupters) inside the motorhome?

I don't know what motorhome you have, or what it might have for ground (earth) fault protection. Here in the U.S., a GFI is incorporated into a duplex (double socket outlet) at each potentially wet location, e.g. the galley, bathroom, near a washing machine. Sometimes they're hard to find and I've even seen them hidden inside cupboards. Another sneaky hiding place is in the basement.

 

[olley]

Hi Pat simple things first, check 12v supply into the inverter, you may have a large fuse in this line 300-400amps, next check the outgoing 110 at the inverter if possible.


Olley

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[ruffingitsmoothly]

Hi Olley

Thanks for that I will be having a good look at it this weekend.

One thing did spring to mind is that about 3 or 4 weeks ago when I moved the Monaco I did notice that the inverter was switched on and working as my dehumidifier was still working after disconnecting the hook up! However when I tried to switch the inverter off by the remote switch it wouldn't but I did switch it off by using the manual switch on the unit itself. I switched it back on and then everything seemed normal as it would switch on and off by the remote switch on inside the RV!

Does this give any pointers?

Regards Pat

 

[Thepips]

We have a similarly recalcitrant inverter. Sometimes it won't turn on no matter what I do and sometimes it'll turn on if I press the remote button a couple of dozen times. It ALWAYS seems to come on if I get fed up of waiting and start the generator instead. I'm pretty certain that ours is a Trace as well, maybe standard fitment on Monacos? I think it's supposed to be auto-sensing so perhaps try it again with a device turned on?

Best of luck

Regards
Doug

 

[TJ-RV]

The inverter on our boat occasionally goes into a lockout condition. When this happens, the only thing that will get it to work is to disconnect the 12V to the inverter (it has a separate battery bank) and the shore power. Turning them both back on returns the inverter to its normal state.

If this happened on my Monaco, I'd turn off the house battery switch and unplug the shore power.

Haven't taken the time to call the inverter manufacturer to understand why. (FWIW most of the inverter companies, including Trace and Heart, are now owned by Xantrex.)

 

[ruffingitsmoothly]

Well got home from work an hour earlier than expected so thought that I would investigate this inverter problem.

First checked all fuses/switches they were fine so unscrewed the remote switch panel to look behind and found it to be a sealed unit! then slid out the locker tray to get access to the inverter through the locker checked that there was 12 volts on the main leads coming in found no power coming out! So then decided to remove the inverter cover not easy in such a confined space could see nothing wrong in there so put everthing back together thinking that a new inverter was required.

Went into the Monaco and sat bemused so just out of curiosity tried the inverter again guess what the bloody thing worked!!

I have switched it on and off several times now and seems ok! I suppose that is until I need to use it again!!!!:Angry::Angry:

Thanks for all the tips I wish I knew what cured it or what the problem was so I could share it with you so here's till next time.

Regards Pat

 

[TJ-RV]

Pat,

You're now the resident inverter expert

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[PeteH]

Inverter(s)

Hi

Inverters are just a collection of (oversized) electronics, I have found that switching electronic stuff OFF waitng a few (seconds/minutes) and switching back on sometimes does do the trick, I suspect that its because some components (like say capacitors) "hold" onto switching voltages and they only release it when the voltage drops back to zero? In the (very) old days of Valve Radio, you could get a nasy "belt" from a disconected set, if you did not "discharge" some of the big capacitors to earth first, usually with the (insulated) screwdriver!!.

any way its a theory!!!

pete

 

[ruffingitsmoothly]

Problem with the inverter again it is only giving approx 55 volts instead of 110 volts is there a trip/trips that can knock out 1/2 of the inverter? Batteries are fully charged and showing 12.8 volts at the input to the inverter.

Its Trace Legend inverter as fitted from new.

Any ideas any one?

Regards Pat

 

[Thepips]

Hi Pat,
Not wanting to teach anyone to suck eggs but 55v makes me think you might be using the wrong scale on your multi-meter
AC goes from -55v to +55v. I'd check it to see if you're on the AC scale.
My inverter remote switch is exactly the same as yours. I've found it quicker and easier to go out and switch the inverter on manually.

Regards
Doug

 

[ruffingitsmoothly]

Hi Pat,
Not wanting to teach anyone to suck eggs but 55v makes me think you might be using the wrong scale on your multi-meter
AC goes from -55v to +55v. I'd check it to see if you're on the AC scale.
My inverter remote switch is exactly the same as yours. I've found it quicker and easier to go out and switch the inverter on manually.

Regards
Doug[/QUOTE

Hi Doug no I have checked that, the problem was my front TV would not work or should I say start up but if I started the generator it would! Then if I switched off the generator it would continue ok when I checked the voltage it was approx 110 volts at the TV's socket, I checked all the sockets on the 240 volt ring all were excatly the same so traced back to the inverter and transformer and sure enough it was only pushing out 55 volts which obviously when put through the 110/240 transformer would only give me 110 volts!

Regards Pat