Question Inverter low battery

[sheridany]

It’s been a while since I ran the coach and have the gen on under load to exercise. I was scrolling through the panel and noticed low battery. I presume the inverter will charge up?

 

[sheridany]

Now it says inverter normal. Does the inverter get charged up when plugged into 110?

 

[TJ&LadyDi]

The inverter draws power from the batteries to provide 120V inside the coach when not plugged into shore power. The charger requires 120V to keep the batteries charged. When the batteries get low, the inverter detects that and tells you the batteries need charging.

It sounds like you did not have the coach plugged into shore power while in storage and the batteries got low from the residual loads. When you plugged into shore power, the charger topped off the batteries.

I'm thinking that since things returned to normal, all is working as it should. Can you keep the coach plugged into shore power while in storage? Or, at least, plug in more frequently?

TJ

 

[sheridany]

That’s what is weird. It Is plugged in all the time.

 

[sheridany]

I am back at storage. I checked the power at the outlet. 119. However i Don’t hear the transfer switch when I plug in. I see this as well.

 

[TJ&LadyDi]

I'm assuming this is A 50A connection using a standard 50A RV receptacle. It papers that it is mis-wired with a mixed ground and neutral. This can happen a couple of ways. The neutral and ground wire connections could be reversed on the receptacle. Or, another circuit in the box (a separate 20A receptacle, perhaps) could be improperly connected to one of the legs of the main feed.

There is a difference between "neutral" and "ground" even though they are at the same potential...most of the time. Looks to me like your EMS doesn't like the wiring configuration. Have you used this particular power connection previously? If so, have any recent changes been made to the electrical system?

I would have a qualified electrician look at the shore power connection and configure it correctly.

TJ

 

[sheridany]

No it’s a 120 outlet. I change the magnum remote to 15 amps and I have been storing this way for 3 years. All of the sudden it’s not working.

 

[TJ&LadyDi]

I'm running out of ideas. I assume you were using an adapter from the coach power cable to the 15A outlet? Same adapter as always? Are you sure you got the Magnum properly configured to 15A?

Has anything in the electrical system (outlet or coach) changed since the last time you used it?

TJ

 

[sheridany]

Nothing. Everything is the same as it has been for 3 years+ so tomorrow I am going to open the transfer switch box and see where that leads me hoping it’s a switch or loose wire. It could be the famous reel problem like @ARD and others have had for which I will be calling Sherry Monday am to get an appointment. So strange that it happened all of the sudden.

 

[RandyB]

I am back at storage. I checked the power at the outlet. 119. However i Don’t hear the transfer switch when I plug in. I see this as well.

View attachment 3078

I just went through the same process. The fix to mine was to assure that ALL 120VAC circuit breakers are ON.

Answered - Electrical Readings while on Generator

2017 Ventana LE 4037 Onan 8HDKAK-1046N MS2012 Inverter Precision Circuits Inc Central Monitor Panel No shore power. Generator running, and waiting for the 30 second delay before starting anything. I could here the "thump" of the relay pull in at 30 seconds, but it was not quite as loud as what...

rvforums.com

 

[sheridany]

All breakers are in my 1/2 bath. I checked that last night and they were all on.

 

[Neal]

No it’s a 120 outlet. I change the magnum remote to 15 amps and I have been storing this way for 3 years. All of the sudden it’s not working.

My understanding is when connecting to a 15A supply you need to make TWO changes:

1. On the EMS you need to press the down arrow button to change the incoming amps to 15. I think it auto switches between 50 and 30 but when you go lower you have to manually set it
2. The inverter (magnum RC50) control display needs the charge setup adjusted

There may be issues if connected to a GFCI, not sure. I had a problem when I first tried this but it may have been an insufficient gauge extension cord. I did connect to 15A when in for cummins service for a week (head gasket replacement) and made the two changes above and it kept the batteries at 100% without an issue.

 

[sheridany]

Just now I checked circuit breakers again. I also unplugged shore power and the monitor still shows the wiring status error. So it has to be in the coach somewhere.

 

[TJ&LadyDi]

Have you tried disconnecting from shore power and running the generator to see if the error message persists? Or, plugging into a different circuit? It is still possible that something in the15/20A circuit you are currently plugged into has gone bad.

TJ

 

[sheridany]

I did try a different outlet. Both are showing 119 on the meter. Sadly I am not electrical so I hesitate to do anything radical. I am going to back it out and run the gen. Yesterday I ran the gen and it seemed to be okay.

 

[TJ&LadyDi]

A "different outlet" on the same circuit will give the same result if the circuit itself is bad. Is there another outlet on a different circuit somewhere that you could try? Or, do you have access to the breaker panel for the circuit your current outlet is on? If so, try recycling the breaker 3-4 times to see if anything changes.

You may have an issue with the coach, but I'm still strongly suspecting that the problem is in the circuit feeding your outlet. If you are in a commercial storage facility, I would contact the management and have them send their electrician out to check.

TJ

 

[TJ&LadyDi]

One more thought; have you checked the breakers on the inverter itself? We had an issue a while back where one of the inverter breakers opened and it caused all kinds of issues, including low battery warnings. On our coach, the inverter has two button-style breakers on the back side. Our inverter is mounted between the frame rails above the pass-through storage bay. Not sure if the placement is the same on the 2017 Ventana. @Neal might have that information.

Might be worth a look.

TJ

 

[sheridany]

I fired up gen and it says wiring status ok.

when I shut the gen down. The wiring status goes to error.

 

[sheridany]

I crawled into drawer slide bay and looked at the inverter. I didn’t see any breakers or even a reset button.

 

[redbaron]

Guys...this is the load assist.

When it detects 24amps plus on the subpanel going thru the inverter, it will use a boost from the inverter, allowing more amps to come from ac. This is very useful in 30amp connections, but sucks when on 50amp. This feature will drain your batteries easily, and cause it to go into the mode you see here. While it says low battery, load assist is disabled.

It also reduces the charge rate.

I have found scenarios where this works against you in 50amp. My solution is to turn off the inverter when on 50 amp if I am going to be using the oven, and other iverter enabled outlet loads heavily.

Usually happens in the morning while wife is using curling iron, hair dryer, and oven is preheating.