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UAPachyderm · 07-07-2012, 11:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zigzagguzzi

Was the inverter factory installed. I do not have one in mine. Jim

No, it was added when I added solar.

Gene · 07-07-2012, 11:40 AM

Glad to hear Lew called since he knows your system better than anyone.

It was sounding to me like your main breaker had failed. Your OP seems to say your wife had the A/C, microwave and waffle iron all on at the same time. That would surely trip the main, 30 amp, breaker, if I am reading it right. If the breaker does not reset, it blew out inside. But I defer to Lew.

Gene

UAPachyderm · 07-07-2012, 11:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CrawfordGene

Glad to hear Lew called since he knows your system better than anyone.

It was sounding to me like your main breaker had failed. Your OP seems to say your wife had the A/C, microwave and waffle iron all on at the same time. That would surely trip the main, 30 amp, breaker, if I am reading it right. If the breaker does not reset, it blew out inside. But I defer to Lew.

Gene

Everything works when I power on inverter. That wouldn't be the case if the main breaker failed ... would it???

Gene · 07-07-2012, 12:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by UAPachyderm

Everything works when I power on inverter. That wouldn't be the case if the main breaker failed ... would it???

If the inverter is wired to bypass the converter main breaker, then everything would work. The inverter may have its own internal breaker to 120 v. and then the 120 v. from the inverter could go directly to the branch circuit breakers. That seems strange to me, but if the 120 v. supply from the inverter is attached to the buss bars after the main breaker, then that would mean the main breaker is bypassed. The buss bars are copper bars behind the breakers with one hot side and one common; breakers attach to the buss bars. If you have a multimeter (probably will have one soon) you can check each connection to see if it is hot.

I'm guessing (perhaps babbling); Lew knows all. There has to be some sort of switch to manage solar, shore power, inverter and converter. Each component may have a switch for these purposes and it sounds like the usual suspect is in the inverter.

Gene

UAPachyderm · 07-07-2012, 01:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CrawfordGene

If the inverter is wired to bypass the converter main breaker, then everything would work. The inverter may have its own internal breaker to 120 v. and then the 120 v. from the inverter could go directly to the branch circuit breakers. That seems strange to me, but if the 120 v. supply from the inverter is attached to the buss bars after the main breaker, then that would mean the main breaker is bypassed. The buss bars are copper bars behind the breakers with one hot side and one common; breakers attach to the buss bars. If you have a multimeter (probably will have one soon) you can check each connection to see if it is hot.

I'm guessing (perhaps babbling); Lew knows all. There has to be some sort of switch to manage solar, shore power, inverter and converter. Each component may have a switch for these purposes and it sounds like the usual suspect is in the inverter.

Gene

Haha, Gene ... you were right. Once I uninstalled the inverter a little button revealed itself on the lower side. Lew and I forgot about that little bugger! We now have air conditioning.

Gene · 07-07-2012, 02:00 PM

How did the reset breaker on the inverter trip? Was your wife using too many things while operating on batteries and inverter? It sounded like you were on shore power, but maybe 120 v. shore power is routed though the inverter and it would trip the breaker there instead of the converter main breaker.

Next time I see Lew I'll remind him that despite his master's degree in EE, he's still young and inexperienced by 11 years compared to me.

Glad to hear you are being cooled again. The owner's manual says not to run the A/C and a microwave or other high amp appliance at the same time. We have a smaller microwave and it may not combine to 30 amps with the A/C. A waffle iron certainly would if the other two are on. Most of the time we turn off the A/C when we run the microwave, but sometimes forget. It has never tripped the breaker, however.

Gene

UAPachyderm · 07-07-2012, 02:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CrawfordGene

How did the reset breaker on the inverter trip? Was your wife using too many things while operating on batteries and inverter? It sounded like you were on shore power, but maybe 120 v. shore power is routed though the inverter and it would trip the breaker there instead of the converter main breaker.

Next time I see Lew I'll remind him that despite his master's degree in EE, he's still young and inexperienced by 11 years compared to me.

Glad to hear you are being cooled again. The owner's manual says not to run the A/C and a microwave or other high amp appliance at the same time. We have a smaller microwave and it may not combine to 30 amps with the A/C. A waffle iron certainly would if the other two are on. Most of the time we turn off the A/C when we run the microwave, but sometimes forget. It has never tripped the breaker, however.

Gene

We know better than to run the air and another appliance, but somehow we simultaneously ran air, microwave, tv and a waffle iron this morning. Sooo, we experienced our mysterious power outage while on shore power. All the usual breakers and fuses remained in tact.

Yes, everything runs through my inverter. I isolated the issue to the inverter. I then completely uninstalled the inverter and bypassed it (with Lew's help over the phone) ... then noticed that cute little button was popped out. Called Lew, we laughed, then I put it all back together. The Silver Lining is that I now know how to make my air work if my inverter does decide to die. LOL ... Really enjoying the cool air now.

redwoodguy · 07-07-2012, 03:35 PM

Great ending! Dog gone reset button!

UAPachyderm · 07-07-2012, 03:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by redwoodguy

Great ending! Dog gone reset button!

Yes indeed ... and I'll never forget that little button exists again!!!

Wazbro · 07-07-2012, 05:57 PM

Wow lots of ambition in the heat. Once bypassed and working I would have left it bypassed until it cooled off.

UAPachyderm · 07-09-2012, 04:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CrawfordGene

How did the reset breaker on the inverter trip?

Gene

Well, it seems that this is still a question I don't know the answer to. Friday, the breaker on the inverter coming in from shore power tripped. All was well until Sunday evening.

At least twice Sunday night power went out and back on ... without tripping any breaker.

About 4am this morning the breaker on the site pole tripped. I inspected everything then reestablished power on the site pole.

A few minutes later the site pole breaker tripped again. However, this time I saw a small "flash" at my old converter. Oddly, nothing is wrong inside the Airstream (no bad fuses or tripped breakers) ... but the breaker on the site pole is tripped.

I tested the site pole and it appears to be in good order. I had maintenance come over and they said pole appeared good. However, I am not taking any chances and plan to change sites to be sure the problem isn't a surge issue from this site. I'm at Disney Fort Wilderness ... they are sending over their Forman of electricians at 8am.

Interestingly, when I turn my inverter on, everything works. So, I'm still having issues getting shore power and the cause is a mystery.

Perhaps it is the site. Could be I didn't reconnect everything super tight (double checking all that now). Could be my inverter as originally thought (it's been squirly since install and Lew and I have wondered if it had a bad board/relay). Perhaps it is some issue I haven't thought about yet.

Not hot here this Monday morning ... yet ...

UAPachyderm · 07-09-2012, 05:48 AM

No m

THEPILL · 07-09-2012, 06:55 AM

Glad things worked out,..little late reading here.

On the subject of running things,..we run our convection microwave,A/C, Television and charge our iPads and phones and turn the lights on and off At the same time,..and have never had any problems.

Are we asking for trouble?

Thanks,
Shane

UAPachyderm · 07-09-2012, 06:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by THEPILL

Glad things worked out,..little late reading here.

On the subject of running things,..we run our convection microwave,A/C, Television and charge our iPads and phones and turn the lights on and off At the same time,..and have never had any problems.

Are we asking for trouble?

Thanks,
Shane

They say not to do it. We've never ha issues until I added an inverter.

UAPachyderm · 07-09-2012, 07:01 AM

BTW, the breaker on site was on the fritz. It's been replaced (my situation may have caused it to go or it may have caused my situation ... who knows). We are back up and running. Hopefully it stays that way!

**DKB_SATX** · 07-09-2012, 07:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CrawfordGene

How did the reset breaker on the inverter trip? Was your wife using too many things while operating on batteries and inverter? It sounded like you were on shore power, but maybe 120 v. shore power is routed though the inverter and it would trip the breaker there instead of the converter main breaker.

~~
Gene

My supposition is that since the inverter has an automatic switchover from 30A shore power to inverter power, it has a 30A breaker to protect that circuit (fits with the label on that button). It seems that the inverter's breaker is a little more sensitive than the trailer's main breaker.

UAPachyderm: Is that breaker inaccessible when the inverter is installed? Or just hidden from view?

UAPachyderm · 07-09-2012, 02:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DKB_SATX

My supposition is that since the inverter has an automatic switchover from 30A shore power to inverter power, it has a 30A breaker to protect that circuit (fits with the label on that button). It seems that the inverter's breaker is a little more sensitive than the trailer's main breaker.

UAPachyderm: Is that breaker inaccessible when the inverter is installed? Or just hidden from view?

Accessible ... just not in plain view. LOL, no worries, there's an obvious label and arrow on top now!

Gene · 07-10-2012, 09:02 AM

Double diagnosis is a bad approach to problem solving, but sometimes 2 things do go bad.

It sure sounds like:

1. The campground breaker was bad, and

2. The inverter has a pre-existing condition.

Even if the new campground breaker is fine, the inverter may still need a new circuit board. If the company will send you a replacement without asking you return the inverter, I'd go for it.

Gene

UAPachyderm · 07-10-2012, 02:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CrawfordGene

Double diagnosis is a bad approach to problem solving, but sometimes 2 things do go bad.

It sure sounds like:

1. The campground breaker was bad, and

2. The inverter has a pre-existing condition.

Even if the new campground breaker is fine, the inverter may still need a new circuit board. If the company will send you a replacement without asking you return the inverter, I'd go for it.

Gene

Yep, the plan is to replace the circuit board upon return.