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Old 04-22-2019, 09:44 PM   #1
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THOR #3785
HELP! - Stuck without house power

Hi All!

So I unplugged my rig from shore power at my house for our first trip of the season. Now, the refrigerator and TV outlets don’t work when I switch the inverter on and use the house batteries.

- They work on shore power
- They work on generator power
- Ceiling lights, water pump and other stuff connected to inverter work on house batteries

I’m dry camping on Assateague now, and I’m worried my food will go bad overnight as I have to turn off my generator.

2016 Challenger 37TB with Xantrex pro 1800 inverter

Can anyone offer some suggestions?

Thanks in advance,

Bill

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Old 04-22-2019, 10:37 PM   #2
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Are you able to measure the power output from the inverter?
I'd put a meter on it, and see if it's putting out power...
Then I'd start looking "downstream" from the batteries.
Good luck in your search!
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Old 04-22-2019, 10:41 PM   #3
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I would look for the breaker near the house batteries. Look for a little box with a red button on it (and perhaps a yellow flag--if the flag is showing push it back in).

Of course: Not completely sure a Challenger has a breaker but since almost all the other Thor coaches have one I'm reasonably sure there is one.
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Old 04-22-2019, 10:43 PM   #4
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Thanks, jamie: I forgot to throw that one onto the pile...
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Old 04-22-2019, 10:48 PM   #5
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THOR #4488
On my Miramar (2016) the inverter (2000 watt) runs the fridge and a few plugins on the passenger side, such as the TV outlets. The inverter doesn't operate the water pump or ceiling lights since they are DC current. The inverter just converts DC battery to AC current for the plugins I mentioned and the fridge.

With all that said, are your sure the inverter is turned on? I also believe there is a breaker on the inverter itself...speaking from memory so not sure.

In any case your residential fridge will be fine overnight from 10pm until 7am. I have dry camped without running the generator over night and bad batteries running the fridge...that's how I know. Just don't open the fridge door until you retstart the genny.

Hope this helps
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Old 04-22-2019, 10:52 PM   #6
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Exclamation

Quote:
Originally Posted by BillT View Post
- Ceiling lights, water pump and other stuff connected to inverter work on house batteries...

those items AREN'T connected thru the Inverter, but thru the fuse panel, and the battery bank

it sounds like either you Inverter is not actually ON, or the batteries are low enough that the Inverter has hit it's LBCO(low battery cutoff) and will not continue providing 120v power.
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Old 04-22-2019, 10:58 PM   #7
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Hmmm. Got it.

The inverter is on. At least the switch in the coach for the inverter is on and says 13.5 and 01.

So with my limited knowledge it looks like it’s on and the batteries are ok.

Is there something I’m missing?
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Old 04-22-2019, 11:00 PM   #8
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check your breakers in your Main panel box...
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Old 04-22-2019, 11:04 PM   #9
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Your inverter has its own Automatic Transfer Switch (ATS) which allows 120 VAC to flow to the fridge and TV outlets when supplied by Shore Power (SP) or the generator, but switches to the Inverter output of 120 VAC when those two sources are not available. So either the Inverter ATS has failed or the 120 VAC output from the inverter is not being applied to the Inverter ATS: maybe the Inverter output breakers need to be reset? Maybe the entire Inverter needs to be powered down and reset.
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Old 04-22-2019, 11:17 PM   #10
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THOR #3785
Ok.

- Checked the switch with the flag in the battery compartment. Tripped it and reset it. All good.

- I’ve attached a picture of the inverter panel. Click image for larger version

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I don’t have a tester unfortunately. But us there anything else I can check?

Thanks everyone,

Bill
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Old 04-22-2019, 11:18 PM   #11
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Could the switch on the panel be on and the inverter off?
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Old 04-22-2019, 11:22 PM   #12
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sounds like you have a tripped output breaker on the Inverter, if you have not tripped breakers in your Main panel...
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Old 04-22-2019, 11:42 PM   #13
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That’s music to my ears because it sounds like an easy fix. But I searched around the inverter and couldn’t find anything except two cables and a wire that looks like a telephone plug. Which I assume is the lead to the panel. No switches, breakers etc.

It’s a Xantrex Pro 1800.

Where is the output breaker?
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Old 04-22-2019, 11:47 PM   #14
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Find your inverter...probably on the wall in one of your storage compartments. It may need to be reset.

The picture you show of the inverter panel inside the coach is displaying the pass through voltage, as someone already said. So that doesn't mean the inverter is working or that the batteries are fully charged. When unplugged and genny off, then it will display the pass through voltage of just the batteries.
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Old 04-23-2019, 01:14 AM   #15
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THOR #3785
Ok. I already looked around the inverter. There are no switches or controls. The only switch is the power switch inside the coach. Is there a hidden switch somewhere? Do I have to take it apart to reset it? All I can do is turn it on and off, but you folks are telling me that doesn’t mean it was ever on to begin with.
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Old 04-23-2019, 03:45 PM   #16
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You have a 15amp circuit breaker on the inverter.
User manual : http://www.xantrex.com/documents/Pow...ork)%20(1).pdf
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Old 04-23-2019, 04:19 PM   #17
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THOR #3785
Solved. Bad inverter. Mobile tech and Xantrex confirmed. $2100.00 bucks but it’s covered by my extended warranty.

Thank you all!
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Old 04-23-2019, 05:00 PM   #18
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Glad to hear that the mystery has been solved, and that the warranty will be footing the bill!
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Old 04-23-2019, 05:10 PM   #19
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Thanks. I hear a lot of horror stories about warranties, but this one has paid for itself 3 times and I still have 2 more years.
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Old 04-23-2019, 06:16 PM   #20
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Here's to hoping that this is the last time, that you need to use it!
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