Trying to turn off TV's completely, no standby

[gwexco]

Bought a 2019 Southwind and had new Magnum 3k inverter installed with 200Ah Lithium and 400watts of Solar. This doesn't appear to be enough battery to support the coach even for one night, there's a steady 4amp draw on the batteries which goes to 15amp when fridge/freezer kicks in. This is a residential fridge and consumes way more power than expected compared to our 10cuft boat fridge. I now turn off most of the breakers, i.e. induction stove, washer/dryer, fireplace, etc but have been unable to turn off the standby power to the four TVs. Any ideas, other than actually unplugging the units.

Another item we came across is that the Inverter appears to only support the fridge, not any of the electrical plugs (USBs) or Induction stove, or microwave. I'm suspecting we're going to need the 120v AC panel to be rewired to support this.

Thanks for any assistance or suggestions.

Graeme

 

[MemoriesByTheMile]

Parasitic draw of 4a is in the right ballpark, we see around 3.5-3.7 typically, but we have a different brand of inverter.

200ah isn’t much, especially when running a residential fridge.

We have 900ah with a residential fridge, and it can power it a couple days.

We have tvs that stay in standby, have not yet found a way to stop that besides unplugging them. Standby is what makes it possible for remote controls to “power it on”.

Yes, if you want to change what is powered by the inverter will require a change in the wiring of the breaker panels. I don’t know you unit at all, but in the units I have seen there are 2 breaker panels. 1 panel is powered by shore/gen power only and the other panel is where inverter supported circuits are located. If those panels are right next to each other, it is a relatively short exercise to move things around, provided there is enough wire length and appropriate breakers. Of course, need to work safely and shutdown all power and follow all safety practices.

 

[Kevin D Pem]

3000w inverter should keep everything up and running. That said, the BMS in the battery may be the issue, as there is a load limit. Just to keep up with the inverter may require more than one battery. That discharge capacity is in your battery literature.

Typically in standby mode the inverter will draw .5amps. Everything with wake-up capabilities draws a parasitic load. This however is not your problem!

Before I added batteries to the system, I would add more solar, as you know lithium is not cheap, so why abuse it???

Everything else I told you should be addressed, but when you calculate 3000÷12 and compare the amperage draw, you will see the numbers don't match the batteries ability to provide!

My 3000w inverter sits unused except during sunny days. At that time a good share of the load is provided by my 3000w of solar.

 

[Rosy]

I would just unplug them. Or put them on power bars you can switch off.

Also check if you have a "cable booster" that can be turned off.

 

[Wemustrv]

Do you only have one 200 ah battery? if so I would start there and increase you battery bank. we have (4) 240 amp hour AGM batteries. (I know the AGMs perform differently from the Lithium so Lithium may give you more energy storage.) This supports our need when off grid for 14 hours. We run two resi fridges, 12 volt LED lighting, my CPAP and TVs. When no lighting or TVs running we draw 2 amps. Also 400 watts is not much solar capability. There are smart power strips that will turn everything off however I am not sure how much difference that will make for you.

 

[gwexco]

3000w inverter should keep everything up and running. That said, the BMS in the battery may be the issue, as there is a load limit. Just to keep up with the inverter may require more than one battery. That discharge capacity is in your battery literature.

Typically in standby mode the inverter will draw .5amps. Everything with wake-up capabilities draws a parasitic load. This however is not your problem!

Before I added batteries to the system, I would add more solar, as you know lithium is not cheap, so why abuse it???

Everything else I told you should be addressed, but when you calculate 3000÷12 and compare the amperage draw, you will see the numbers don't match the batteries ability to provide!

My 3000w inverter sits unused except during sunny days. At that time a good share of the load is provided by my 3000w of solar.

I got the 3kw inverter mostly for the 125amp charge capability, and the occasional usage of two high load items, i.e. toaster and kettle which would not be running for any length of time. This has suited us well with the same setup on our boat, which has 960 ah of battery. We managed to travel 6k miles with half our battery with much more load than what we have on the RV hence my confusion on why 200ah of battery is not enough. Last night we turned off everything including the fridge and the batteries still died. We don't have a separate shunt and I'm dependent on the Magnum shunt which probably isn't telling the whole truth on power usage. At this stage I think we're into buying two more 100ah batteries, putting in a real shunt and rewiring the AC panel.

 

[Diesel Pusher]

I originally used small 3 outlet power bars to turn off the TVs, sound bars etc. until I found in-line switches which were very easy to install on the power cords. I can easily turn them on/off when boondocking for extended periods

 

[Kevin D Pem]

Let me get my head around what you're saying!
No load and the battery is still shutting down. Any battery monitor requires it be setup when battery is fully charged. Did you fully charge the battery before setting your system up? If not you have no base setting. Monitors can be real cheap.
If the bms shut down only a small charge will make it to the cells. It can be jumpered to start the charge cycle quicker.

I am quick to point out that electronics are the weak link in lithium batteries. Check out the bms if you can.

Did your boat have lithium?