Coachman Inverter Upgrade

[TheLooks]

If you are permanently hooked up to shore power your inverter will never operate. So it is your converter that is charging your house batteries and it is not working or the batteries are dead. The inverter should never come on with shore power.

 

[Val]

Thanks for the info. How do I come off the inverter and have shore power direct to the rig?

 

[Rich W.]

Thanks for the info. How do I come off the inverter and have shore power direct to the rig?

That depends on how thigns are wired, but you should be able to plug in to shore power and turn that green thing off and still have power to your outlets and all your 120v appliances. Also since it is reading 14.4v on the battery meter, I’d say that the charger is working and chances are the converter is working as well. I’m still trying to make sense of this thing. Do you have any solar panels? Was this in the RV when you acquired it? Does it have a manual? Also where did the 4000w figure come from?

Given the line diagram and indicator lights on the unit, I’d say it’s operating as designed. You have AC in, AC passing through, AC out and its keeping your battery bank charged. If you weren’t plugged in, the AC in and by-pass lights would be off, the inverter light should come on and you should still have AC out, although limited to the capabilities of the inverter and battery bank. Since you are plugged in the inverter should be off and it is. So all that is probably good, and the fan running all the time may be normal.

The over heating and burning electrical smell though are definitely indicators that something is wrong and I’d turn the thing off and see if you still have AC while plugged in. If not, call an electrician. I had a 5500w Xantrex inverter fail and catch fire in my well pump house years ago. Fortunately the fire was confined to the inverter. But my policy is when in doubt, shut it down. You can’t live and sleep in an RV with an electrical appliance that is unusually hot and smells like it’s burning.

 

[Rich W.]

Your picture is a screenshot from this video. Do you have a photo of your unit?

 

[Val]

Hi Rich
I have attached the photo's of the Inverter and the UPS connected to it. Yes, it came with the RV and no manual for it. Not sure where I got 4000W, must have been a typo error.

When the shore power is off, the inverter is still on, but, the AC is down and the AC (flashing) but, the UPS is down. The UPS is plugged into shore power. All 120V in the RV is down.

Is there any way to bypass these and have shore power direct to the RV?

Thanks
Valtyn

 

[Rich W.]

Hi Rich
I have attached the photo's of the Inverter and the UPS connected to it. Yes, it came with the RV and no manual for it. Not sure where I got 4000W, must have been a typo error.

When the shore power is off, the inverter is still on, but, the AC is down and the AC (flashing) but, the UPS is down. The UPS is plugged into shore power. All 120V in the RV is down.

Is there any way to bypass these and have shore power direct to the RV?

Thanks
Valtyn

Yes it can be by-passed/abandoned and that’s what I would do but I can’t advise you on how to do it other than get a qualified person there to determine what was done to retro this stuff in, undo whatever that is, re-wire it the way it came from the factory, and start over.

Given your semi-permenant status with shore power, all you need is the ability to plug in with a shore cord. You don’t need an inverter, and unless you have frequent power outages or sensitive computer stuff, you don’t need UPS either. The UPS was probably chosen as a boondocking battery bank (and has its own inverter?) and the inverter, as stated above, is to make 120v ac from your house 12v dc batteries. Niether of which you need if you can simply plug in to a pedestal or whatever.

It might be a worthwhile challenge to get this stuff cooperating and working properly if you hadn’t noted that it is over-heating and smells like burning electrical. Your inverter indicates power coming from solar (do you have solar panels?), it shows the inverter is on, and also shows it by-passing. Maybe because of the UPS wired in somewhere along the way? Hard saying from here.

But given that, the above mentioned conditions, and the fact that you don’t seem to have 120v ac coming from the unit(s), this tells me either something is wrong with the equipment or its hooked up wrong. Either way, unless you are good with electricity and a multi-meter, my advice is still to shut it all down and call an electrician.

 

[Val]

Hi Rich
I have switched the inverter off on Monday. But, now battery level indicator has dropped. Does that mean the batteries need to be replaced?

 

[Rich W.]

Your batteries are probably ok. That is an inverter/charger designed to be used with solar panels to maintain a battery bank for the inverter to use to make 120v. So with it off, and apparently no working or connected OE converter, you have nothing charging your batteries.

You really need to find someone local who understands these systems to look at what’s been done/modified/added/deleted/abandoned on your coach, make a plan as to what you want it to do, based on what you consider a reasonable budget, and then carry out that plan. In the mean time you could turn on your inverter/charger and bring your batteries back up.

But since you feel its running too hot and you smell electrical burning, do not leave it unattended, and do not leave it on while you are sleeping. It will take several hours to charge your batteries so plan accordingly. As an alternative maybe you can borrow or buy a portable battery charger to use until you get this resolved.

 

[Val]

Thanks Rich
Very good advice. I have booked an electrician for Wed to check it out.
I have attached photo's of the coach battery level, since the inverter was switched off. Does this mean the Converter is charging the coach batteries or is this the battery power itself?

 

[Rich W.]

I don’t know and can’t specifically tell from those pics, but it does seem to indicate that your batteries are getting low, so maybe the converter is not charging the batteries and that is your current SOC. On the plus side, Gallagher‘s in Eureka Ca is service a special fresh hallibut fish and chips tonight and they have a very nice pilsner on tap.