Frustrated with battery install

[kangarooelaine]

We just had some batteries and an inverter installed so we could do more with the motorhome. I asked my husband to handle the specifics and discuss things with the installer but we went together and talked about it all. Well, first off they didn't seem to understand what we wanted and so then we had to wait for parts and cancel a trip because of this. Well then it was all done and I thought it was great. Nope.

I knew batteries wouldn't be able to power the a/c or power it for very long but on our battery shakedown I tested that and ran the a/c for a while. The inverter started smoking! We could have started a fire. So that was the first problem: there's no breaker/fuse/trip. So now I have to monitor my usage in order to prevent a fire? I understand having to monitor my usage so I have battery life left for what I want or so I can use all the appliances I want but maybe at different times. But to monitor it to prevent a fire seems like too much. I feel like maybe the install is wrong.

They also didn't seem to care at all about how dirt and water might get to the batteries and inverter. The equipment isn't protected. I now feel like it's unsafe.
I just dont know what I should do. My husband understands electricity and I thought he'd be interested in this but he really doesn't seem to care at all. What should I do?

 

[AbdRahim]

Take it back and explain what happened. Don’t think the inverter was designed to carry the load of the A/C. I could be wrong.

There should be a breaker on the inverter, as well as resettable breaker near the batteries.

I don’t know how old the rig is, but it sounds like the electrical system needs to be examined and repaired by a reputable repair entity.

rvservicereviews.com

 

[Gramps.busa]

From my limited knowledge 1 amp = 92 watts. Average A/C is 13 amps, = 1200 watts. Not including the startup surge load.

 

[kangarooelaine]

Rig is newish 2019. Was a rental before we bought it
Can’t bring it back yet. Not canceling another trip for this.
But also don’t want to take it back to an installer that didn’t install breakers etc. There’s a trust issue now.

 

[Joe Hogan]

Just a quick generic guide to power usage in an RV. BTW we have 600 amps of LiFEPO4 batteries and a 3000W inverter installed to run one A/C unit and residential refrigerator. Works fine for several hours. Also have 1400 watts of solar installed.
If you want to run A/C during the hot part of the day, this is a reasonable setup.

 

[redbaron]

We need to know what model inverter and the size and qty of batteries you have.

A few pictures will tell a lot.

 

[Kevin D Pem]

Also Wire size to the battery bank. I am not at all surprised that you have an install issue, when I look at some of the systems I fixed. Honestly I don't understand smoke coming from the inverter, more than likely from a bad connection or wire size issue.

 

[kangarooelaine]

2000w inverter
400 amp hour batteries

I wanted more but they complained about where to install it and said there wasn’t room. I think there’s room and they just didn’t want to figure it out. I’ve seen my rig in blog posts with set ups that are more powerful.

I’m not all that interested in being able to run a/c without the generator. But I do feel like if it can’t handle the a/c then it should have tripped a breaker, not started to smoke.

And now I’m discovering more issues. The batteries won’t charge. It was a constant issue on my last trip. I only had two days off hookups but since none of the batteries would charge I couldn’t even do very low power things like make my morning coffee. Had to pull out the Jackery.

 

[lemondrop9344]

As you have probably surmised already, your current setup appears to be inadequate for your electrical demand expectations. A coffee pot is not a low power appliance (see Joe's chart above). It's is, at times, difficult to find competent RV technicians. This is especially true when it comes to all the different wiring systems & components on a motor home.
I don't want to appear to be negative, but, I suspect there are a variety of issues at play.
Inverters will overheat if the wiring is inadequate or you exceed their capacity. That yours became so hot it started to smoke, should cause some concern. I would encourage you to have your entire 120 VAC electrical system checked out by a competent RV electrical technician.

 

[kangarooelaine]

1. how do I find a "competent RV electrical technician"? I'm so frustrated bc these guys charged so much and these batteries aren't even mounted to anything, only the inverter and 1 battery is mounted. They didn't design any custom rack to protect any of this. It looks nothing like any install I've seen on YouTube. We just trusted them because they seemed OK on a couple other jobs we had them do.

2. my husband had a BS in Electrical Engineering so he understands all this but simply doesn't think it's worth his time to do it himself or learn much about what's being done. (He does computer programming now and so it's not like he's really in that field of electrical engineering.) I felt like he could explain our requirements to the tech and he claims what we got should meet our needs. He says it's either manufacturer made bad product or installer screwed up - that the system should easily run any of our appliances and that if I overload it by doing multiple appliances at the same time it should trip a breaker. We are both confused as to why it even allowed the a/c to run at all. It really should have just tripped the breaker... which leads hubby to think it could be a bad inverter.

3. This is not a "your coffee pot takes too much power for your setup" situation. C'mon now. I can brew my keurig mini with my Jackery about 20 times! and this is supposed to be 4-5 times as much power. This isn't one little battery, this is four! with 100 amp hours each.

4. we were told it can't do a/c "yet" and that we'd have to install solar panels to get it to do a/c, WHICH DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE. (btw we aren't against solar panels, I just didn't want to add the height and weight to my rig just yet). Feels like they're just trying to get more money out of us.