...today Electrical issue : / forewarning...
hi
been parked for months with no issues, but this morning, the electrical flickered, went off, came back on, went off again, for good. I jumped up and checked the Magnum Charger/Inverter panel above the door - INVERTING. : /
so, what's happened? Lights and fans still work. Both the front and rear air conditioners will work, so no loss of external power ...so why the INVERTING?
Basic Info, important. We use electric heaters mostly, rather than relying on the furnace, so having a heater plugged into different circuits makes sense, even one run from an outside separate outlet on our property. Works well, no issues, even during several overnights in the low 20's. This morning's low was only in the upper 30's.... So...
o.k., not to blame the wife, but while getting ready for work, she had the hair curlers plugged in, on the same circuit as one of the heaters, and also turned on the microwave, all while the coffee maker was working... all on the same circuit.
Would you think it'd tripped the GFCI? nope. the breaker for this GFCI circuit? nope. The main breaker for the coach? nope. the 30amp breaker for incoming power to the inverter? nope. Nothing.
so, in order to bypass any advice I'd given over the last several years of 'knowing' what to basically look for first, I jumped the gun and decided that it must be the outside power source, the main panel. Nope, no tripped breaker there either. Maybe it was a bad breaker in my own panel, nope, traded it out and still nothing - still INVERTING. Hmmmmmm.
well, you know what happened - I FINALLY decided to check that elusive device that, while seemed to be working and why would I need to: THE INVERTER ITSELF....DUHHHHH!!!!!! A fuse on it had popped. The one that allows outside power to flow into and thru the Inverter to the circuits. Push it in, done, all good. YEP, just that easy.
easy, but WHY oh WHY do I always try all the HARD things before trying the SIMPLEST first?????? Oh, who knows!
(assumption: the overuse of amperage tripped the Inverter's 20amp fuse, though you might suspect that this overuse would have tripped the circuit's 20amp Breaker FIRST, which is part of the confusion, but one tripped, which is all the protection you expect, I suppose.... I just don't immediately think of the INVERTER, which is outside, to be suspect!)
__________________
the Turners...
two Campers, two Electric cars
former diesel pusher traveler
|