Greetings fellow RVers:
We have been off the grid in our 2015 36FB several times over the last year and the systems, including 100 watts of Zamp solar and 5500 Owen Generator, have worked well. However, recently, after driving all day and wanting to stay off grid, with full batteries, our residential refrigerator shut off after about 2 hours, but our power guage read 12.6 volts. Generally, the power doesnt shut down till around 11. The lights worked and the pump worked. After charging the system up with our generator, the regrigerator shut down again within about 2 hours. This had never happened before. The previous night, the refrigerator ran all night from the solar and battteries from driving. Any ideas where we start to get this resolved?
Thanks
Geoff Gempeler
Greetings fellow RVers:
We have been off the grid in our 2015 36FB several times over the last year and the systems, including 100 watts of Zamp solar and 5500 Owen Generator, have worked well. However, recently, after driving all day and wanting to stay off grid, with full batteries, our residential refrigerator shut off after about 2 hours, but our power guage read 12.6 volts. Generally, the power doesnt shut down till around 11. The lights worked and the pump worked. After charging the system up with our generator, the regrigerator shut down again within about 2 hours. This had never happened before. The previous night, the refrigerator ran all night from the solar and battteries from driving. Any ideas where we start to get this resolved?
Thanks
Geoff Gempeler
A few questions first...
After the 2 hours, does it reset on it's own?
Is your RV level?
Does the Inverter trip out or just the refrigerator?
When was the last time you cleaned your coils?
Do you have pets on board?
Are you full time?
Have you checked your battery connections? How about the panel and inverter connections?
Are you experiencing heat gain behind the refrigerator for any reason?
It's assumed that the doors are properly shut.
GipCTravelers
Thanks for your interest. It does not reset on its own. The RV was level, just the refrigerator tripped. I have not cleaned the coils, but no pets. We are full timers. The battery connections and inverter connections seem tight to me, and I have not noticed any heat gain. Finally, yes the doors were shut.
geoff
Geoff,
I had my inverter give up the ghost. It is a 1000w magnum combination inverter/converter. First, the converter failed. Then on an 8 hour trip, the inverter failed.
The inverter has a reset button. When that didn't work, I called magnum, they ran me though a series of codes and determined the unit went bad. It was repaired under warranty. I suggest calling magnum if in fact that is the inverter brand.
Ken
How about other 110 V appliances. Do they also shut down with the fridge.
If yes, I suspect a problem with the inverter. We have a solar system and inverter and also had the inverter changed under warranty.
Oriana & Goeff
Just so we don't send Goeff down the wrong road, if his Redwood is like mine, there are no 110 outlets on the inverter side with the exception of the refer. Clearly there would be with your solar install.
The way my Redwood is wired, there is a dedicated circuit that goes to the inverter. On the input side, there is a branch that powers the entertainment slide that is BEFORE the inverter. The inverter has a transfer switch that will determine if there is shore power or not. If there is shore power, it by passes the inverter and sends the 110 along to the refer plug. If no shore power, it takes the battery power, inverts the 12v to 110 and sends it along to the refer plug.
My refer plug is behind the bottom drawer next to the refer. You can test the inverter by turning off the shore power. Making sure the inverter is on, try an 110 appliance, light, etc. If that works, your inverter is functioning.
Not sure why it would shut off after a few hours of operation however. I'd try to test it on inverter power until it fails and try to test the plug. If the batteries are still good as Goeff said, and there is no 110 at the refer plug, i would suspect the inverter. I'd press the rest button to see if that brings it back up. Also, it should throw a code on the display if there is a fault. A list of faults are in the magnum manual or call magnum.
Ken
I would also rule out problems with the inverter by plugging the refrigerator directly into 110V Shore power. If it has been tripping frequently, it should also trip shore power.
The inverter was my first suspicion. Dirty coils would have been second. Refrigerant may have been third.
There are stories on the internet about inverter failures. Some with catastrophic fires.
Anyway, please let us know what you have found out thus far.
GipCTravelers
Folks, I thought I would ciircle back and let you know what I found with my inverter/battery problem. I thank each of you for your advice and help. I believe the problem is solved. Through a process of elimination and experimentation, and removing the batteries, I believe the problem and solution was quite simple. First. the back battery (tightly encased in its box) had a loose connection. So, I replaced the two twelve volt batteries separately installed with two 6 volt in a sequential installation. We now have a much stronger battery system, much more power for a longer time. The problem was not the inverter, but was the loose cable and the batteries. Thanks again.
