Inverter won't turn on 2019 FC 27-what to check

[Piggy Bank]

We have a 2019 Flying Cloud 27 FB Twin. 50 Amp.
We purchased new about a year ago. Last season we had full hookups during all trips.

We are getting ready for a longer trip in a couple of weeks and will have a week with no hookups (we have a Honda generator).

Went to the rig yesterday (we store off-site) to get some things ready.

Tested out the generator-seems to work fine.

Batteries are the AS issued standard Interstate. They read 12.5 as I recall.

Batteries are working fine (lights turn on inside).

We stored the batteries at home over the winter on a charger.

We can't get the inverter to turn on. The switch to turn on is on the wall under the switch for the tank monitors.

We did a look-see and didn't see anything that looked amiss. How do we trouble shoot this issue? Where do we check for things that may be tripped, or such?

Also, please chime in on the situation, particularly the stuff below.

ASSUMPTION 1--Not really concerned about the trip overall, since we can run the generator a couple of hours each day to top off the batteries, and make due without the TV, etc. when we aren't generating.
IS THERE ANYTHING WRONG ABOUT THIS ASSUMPTION?

ASSUMPTION 2--Not 100% sure we know for sure it worked before. I assume that we looked at this at the walk through, but as you know those days are a bit of a blur.

ASSUMPTION 3--Assuming that there is not something easy we find--it appears that the inverter is under the platform between the twin beds and would be a fair bit of work to get to. As we have the 3 year warranty, this would be a warranty job?

Any advice is welcome
Thanks in advance.

[BayouBiker]

The inverter won't "turn on" with shore or generator power connected as an internal override is activated when it senses 120VAC. So be sure you're testing it without shore power. with just the battery it should activate. If it does not, check the large fuse in the battery compartment, Check that you have all wires connected so both batteries are connected in parallel with both jumpers and there are two large positive and two large negative cables connected (one set goes to the power distribution and the other to the inverter). After that it gets a bit more complicated to continue testing so check the easy stuff first.

[Piggy Bank]

Brian,

Thanks for your reply.

We went to the rig today again and there was a reset button that was there with the batteries. Is this the same thing as the fuse in the battery compartment you mentioned?

We did check without the generator attached.

Since we had the batteries removed for the winter, is it possible that they are working correctly (meaning that the battery runs the interior lights) but still somehow not hooked up correctly? Is it worth taking it all off and doing it again? What would be wrong at this area to try and find and correct?

[BayouBiker]

As far as I know the stock set-up is a 100 amp fuse, generally installed on one of the battery posts. You may have a re-settable thermal breaker instead. It would have to be rated between 90 and 100 amps unless you upgraded the stock 1000W inverter. A picture or two of the batteries, cables and switches would help.

It is possible the power center is getting power from at least one battery and the still have the inverter cables or the required parallel jumpers not connected correctly so the inveter won't function.

It may well be worth taking some or all of the connections apart, inspecting and cleaning them and putting it back together, again a picture or two would help.

It's fine to camp without the inverter, but you will want to be sure you're drawing power from and charging both batteries.

you are correct about where the inverter is located. It is not as hard to get to as it seems. You take the mattress off the bed and there is a removable access hatch.

[Dmmdtm]

Make sure the use/store switch is in the use position.

[telcoman]

a lot depends on the type of inverter. Mine has 3 modes to it and it has to be int he correct one to automatically kick in when 120 is not available. This is a small button that has a yellow, red and green indicator light and the modes are selected by pressing it until the green appears. Also as someone else said it probably has a breaker on it. This may be the auto reset type and they can go bad. It will be a small aluminum thing with 2 posts on it. They are cheap to replace. i would look for that first

[JohnandLinda]

We have a 2005 30' Classic. We had the exact same issue during a trip to Alaska several years ago. Here is what we found out after lots of trial and error. Our inverter is under the sofa -- they always put them in inaccessible places. In the back of our inverter there is a small 12V, two-legged fuse like is used in automobiles (20 or 30 amps). It was blown. I, too, had removed my batteries for the winter. I think what happened is that when I was putting them back in the small compartments where they sit, I shorted one of them and blew the 12V fuse. It was a real knuckle scraper to get my hand into the back of the inverter, remove the blown fuse, and replace it. Once it was replaced, the inverter hummed right away and we had plenty of juice for the rest of the trip.

I don't know how similar your situation may be, but you might check for a fuse on the back of the inverter.

Good luck!!!

[Presitla99]

My inverter has a “reset” button on the inverter itself. Give it a push if yours has one too.

[MissingLink5]

Piggy Bank:
It is possibly the converter/charger. While wintering in TX last year we thought we had an inverter problem; batteries would continually run down while hooked to 50amp shore power. We tried inverter switch below tank monitor but was on and working. Went to trap door (small oval shaped door under curb side twin bed mattress) and found switch on inverter. It wouldn’t move as if it was frozen up.
End up, it was the converter, not the inverter, behind the fuse/breaker box. We had it checked and it was bad. Ordered a new one, but went with a little higher amps since we have two AC’s, and all seems to work fine now!

[jeffmc306]

Hey Piggybank, sorry to hear about your inverter issue.

JohnandLinda mentioned the automotive fuse - according to the inverter’s manual, it’s on the front of the unit. Check the pouch of manuals that came with your trailer; should be one for the inverter.

Also, since you mentioned removing the batteries, check the 100A fuse that BayouBiker mentioned. It’s on the positive lead on the battery between the cable to the inverter (top right on FC battery photo below).

The inverter on our 27’ GT is under the curb side bed (twins). Good luck with your troubleshooting!

[juliesAS22]

Originally Posted by Piggy Bank

We have a 2019 Flying Cloud 27 FB Twin. 50 Amp.
We purchased new about a year ago. Last season we had full hookups during all trips.

We are getting ready for a longer trip in a couple of weeks and will have a week with no hookups (we have a Honda generator).

Went to the rig yesterday (we store off-site) to get some things ready.

Tested out the generator-seems to work fine.

Batteries are the AS issued standard Interstate. They read 12.5 as I recall.

Batteries are working fine (lights turn on inside).

We stored the batteries at home over the winter on a charger.

We can't get the inverter to turn on. The switch to turn on is on the wall under the switch for the tank monitors.

We did a look-see and didn't see anything that looked amiss. How do we trouble shoot this issue? Where do we check for things that may be tripped, or such?

Also, please chime in on the situation, particularly the stuff below.

ASSUMPTION 1--Not really concerned about the trip overall, since we can run the generator a couple of hours each day to top off the batteries, and make due without the TV, etc. when we aren't generating.
IS THERE ANYTHING WRONG ABOUT THIS ASSUMPTION?

ASSUMPTION 2--Not 100% sure we know for sure it worked before. I assume that we looked at this at the walk through, but as you know those days are a bit of a blur.

ASSUMPTION 3--Assuming that there is not something easy we find--it appears that the inverter is under the platform between the twin beds and would be a fair bit of work to get to. As we have the 3 year warranty, this would be a warranty job?

Any advice is welcome
Thanks in advance.

I had a similar problem with my inverter. What got the system to begin functioning normally was to fully charge my batteries, that is nearly 100% state of charge, then plug into shore power. Give it a try if you have not already done so. Good luck.

[Piggy Bank]

Thank you for all of the replies.

It's really hot hear-approaching 100 degrees. Yesterday my husband went to the rig and tried a few things without success. This gives us a few more things to check.

This so far has not been an easy one.