No power to inverter

[Jim Flower]

Thanks for your input Lewster. I appreciate it a lot. Jim

[Jim Flower]

Originally Posted by TG Twinkie

Most manufactures of inverters recommend not loading the inverter to more than 80% of the rated capacity. Especially if that load is constant.
Even if the #4 wire is THWN-2 it is only rated at 95 amps which equates to 1140 watts at 12 volts.
Not much point in using a 2,000 watt inverter.
Whereas THWN 2/0 wire is rated at 175 amps. That's 2,100 watt capacity.
How much trouble is it to pull in new wire?

Thanks. I now understand why Airstream is limiting their factory inverter to 1000 watts. My biggest draw comes from the coffee pot for 10 minutes in the morning and it is 980 watts. Jim

[lsbrodsky]

Lewster is a pro and must do what is technically and legally correct. His advice is always good as gold. But, his customers pay for the very best installations.
I have found during years of boat ownership and now an Airstream that some requirements are excessive and the effort for a DIY'er is too much to undertake.
As an example, I needed to put a shunt in the battery box and run some new wire into the trailer. The pro would have cleaned all of the sealant out of the penetration, run some different DC cables, put the shunt in the trailer...all in an area where access is difficult. The labor cost for a pro would have been steep. I fought my way through it and made minimal changes to what was already there, albeit not up to a pro's standards. My install works just fine and is just as safe as the original trailer. So, I suggest that a guy can do modifications safely without having to gold plate the installation.
Larry

[Jim Flower]

Thanks for the input Larry. I think I may be at a " don't sacrifice the good for the sake of the perfect" moment. Seems to me that fuses were invented to protect wires from excess current so as long as the fuse is appropriate for the wire gauge, I should be a happy DIY camper. The size of the inverter is actually irrelevant and given the cost of the fuse, one would be inclined to be prudent in his use of electricity, just like at home. I can sleep comfortably with that. Jim

[TG Twinkie]

With a 2,000 watt inverter. You will take the fuses out pretty easily. Unless they are rated for the inverter load. Which you will not be able to accomplish with smaller wire.
If you install fuses rated at 95 amps. You will blow them when the inverter reaches about half of it's rated load.
Without an ammeter to monitor the load and even with one. You won't know when you reach that threshold until it is too late.
Like you said, the fuses are not cheap.

[Rich W]

Originally Posted by BAB

Rich, there is a very substantial in-line fuse that you've blown. (They cost around $40, BTW). It is located behind a black plastic shield that's located in the box that you can't get to. The heavy positive battery wire goes from your battery to one side of the fuse. Then you have the fuse. On the other side you'll find the red wire that goes to the positive side of your inverter. How do I know this? Well, I replaced my 700 W inverter with a 2000 W model and inadvertently touched the positive to ground. (Accidents happen?) I traced the circuit and found the fuse. NOT easy to get to, and not cheap to replace. Barry

Well, Barry, I got the storage box out without too much trouble at all. I removed the 4 screws from the top, then found 3 more under the L-Lounge. I took those out and the whole box just lifted out, exposing the entire front.

I opened the black cover and found the A3T110 fuse and removed it, checked it, and it is blown. I found a replacement on eBay for about $23 including shipping. It should arrive by 2/25.

I had contacted Airstream and they told me it was an auto-reset breaker in this model. Either it's been replaced with a fuse or it has always been a fuse. I know the PO had never replaced it. Airstream also told me I'd have to remove the entire lounge to get to it and that proved not to be correct either. PO had the couch recovered in leather but I'm pretty sure the support boxes are original.

All in all, I think I was lucky and I've learned a lot about at least the front of my AS.

Rich

[Jim Flower]

Mine is also all fixed now. It seems that when I was installing the new inverter, I touched something, created a short and blue a fuse. The fuse is located in the positive line between the inverter, the inside battery bank and the inside battery bank's connection point to the outside batteries at the battery side of the solenoid switch. This means that since the solar panels are connected to the controller and then to the inside battery bank, and there is a disconnect to the outside batteries (blown fuse), the outside batteries were receiving no input from the solar panels while the inside batteries were receiving a charge. Since the Airstream is in storage and only being maintained by solar, and the solenoid switch is in "use", the outside batteries eventually died. The controller is only getting information from the inside bank so all appears ok. Clearly, I need battery a monitor that reports on each bank independently. Too cold to do this now so I will fiddle with it in the summer. It will also be interesting to see if I was able to rescue the the two AGM batteries that have been on a smart charger for several weeks after being deader than a door nail for a week. Jim