Solar and alternator charging at same time. (1 Viewer)

[Boldly]

Can this cause a problem with overcharging. The reason I ask is I have recently fitted solar and my (cheap) inverter blew up on the trip down Spain. It was always turned on when driving as I only have a 240 volt domestic fridge. The inverter has 2 internal fuses both of which are fine. There was a loud bang and a flash of smoke but sadly no genie to grant my three wishes.should I just replace the inverter with a better one or do I need to change something else?

 

[Googlebot]

It will only draw what it needs, it’s probably the inverter.

A decent make like Victron will probably be cheaper in the long run. If you have your controllers setup properly, they won’t charge the battery from solar once it’s full at anything more than a tiny trickle.

 

[Stealaway]

Can this cause a problem with overcharging. The reason I ask is I have recently fitted solar and my (cheap) inverter blew up on the trip down Spain. It was always turned on when driving as I only have a 240 volt domestic fridge. The inverter has 2 internal fuses both of which are fine. There was a loud bang and a flash of smoke but sadly no genie to grant my three wishes.should I just replace the inverter with a better one or do I need to change something else?

It depends on the wattage of the fridge. If its an average 230v fridge it could be pulling 250Watts - so 20 amps at 12V.
Even with the engine running that's a big load.
I would recommend at least 1000w inverter. It probably got too hot and you would not hear the cooling fans running.

 

[Boldly]

Had fridge on hook up at house yesterday 45 watts when running but couldn't test with inverter as had previously blown up. Was only 800 watt inverter. Think when they say overheat overvoltage protection etc. they just mean the alarm sounds. Can't hear it above meatloaf cd.

 

[Googlebot]

A compressor fridge wouldn’t put much load on an inverter. It’s probably just poorly cooled and protected and self combusted. A cheap one I had got so hot that it melted the cable insulation.

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