INVERTER Fault, resolved - email to Magnum

[TurnerFam]

Hi

We recently experienced an Inverter FAULT, and while it's been resolved, I wanted to pass along the info. These sudden faults and loss of power can be a real aggravation, especially when everything has been working so flawlessly while you are traveling...

to Magnum:
I'm the owner of a ME2012 Inverter and ME-RC remote in my Thor Palazzo motorhome.

A recent issue with an 'AC OVERLOAD', and then also a 'RELAY STUCK' fault, was resolved...here's the details if you have this happen with other owners:

- we arrived and parked with no outside 120v power, Inverter power only,
after several hours of travel and no faults or issues while traveling.

- suddenly we experienced the 'AC OVERLOAD' and RED Fault light associated
with it, shutting down any output of the Inverter to our Breaker sub-panel
which controls all 120v outlets within the coach.

- the manual states that this is due to an 'overload' thru the inverter, but not
much more details. It states to either try a 'soft' reset of the inverter, or a
'hard' POWER reset, otherwise.

- we tried both resets, nothing changed. I did notice both times, though, that
the inverter unit had a much louder 'BUZZ' during these resets, and the inverter would 'try' to power back on, but then would shut down, with the
ME-RC remote showing the 'AC OVERLOAD' again, or a few times showing a 'RELAY STUCK' fault when trying to use the Generator's 120v output to see if it would change anything.

- I then had the thought that it could be one of the circuits, outlets, or breaker
wiring in the coach's Inverter sub-panel, where the individual circuit breakers for
power from the Inverter are located.
- I tripped OFF the sub-panel's main 30amp breaker, and suddenly the Inverter
came back to life, the remote showed 'Inverting', as it should, and everything was 'back to normal'(with the exception that now nothing plugged into 120v outlets was powered, of course).

- I then realized that maybe one of the circuits, or breakers, had a loose wire, causing a short, or even something plugged into one of the associated outlets. I then decided to flip OFF all the individual sub-panel breakers, and flip back ON the main breaker, and flip back ON each of the individual breakers, one at a time.
- the first, second, and third breakers had no adverse effect, but the FOURTH breaker caused the Inverter to throw the 'AC OVERLOAD' fault again.
Now we had a suspect circuit, or maybe something plugged into that circuit, to blame.

- Here's the resolution:
A faulty power cord from a laptop computer was the issue. The power cord comes out of the computer, down around and thru a 'tilt out' computer desktop, and into the outlet nearby.
This 'tilt out' computer desktop uses a metal articulating hinge framework and the power cord from the laptop was getting 'pinched', which caused an internal short, causing the 'overload' FAULT to the Inverter.

All is good now. The power cord is repaired, plugged back in, and the ME2012 is back to normal operation.

[ducksface]

Thanks for an excellent follow up.
We get so few of them here.
(the first time we closed the desk after opening it just to see what's under it, we cut the 12 ft long USB power cord to our dash cam)