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Old 01-06-2019, 01:57 PM   #1
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Brand: Thor Motor Coach
State: New York
Posts: 55
THOR #10644
Xantrex ProSeries 1800 reads low & cuts out

My 2016 Outlaw 37RB came with a Xantrex Pro 1800 inverter installed.
Since new, the voltage has always read a bit low - about 0.5V.

It's not an issue unless I'm boondocking somewhere and the coach batteries are down to about 75%.

At that point, the Xantrex is reading 11.9V but a voltmeter both at the batteries and at the input of the inverter reads ~12.3V. Still no big deal, right?

Well, except that when the residential (never again!) fridge kicks on, the rotor lock draw is significant and momentarily pulls the voltage down on the Xantrex to about 11.6V.

Even though there should be no alarm until 11.0V, the Xantrex throws one single beep and "reboots?" That is; it beeps once, shuts down and immediately restarts. So TVs, Electronics all get shutoff. And this happens about every 20min!

Is there a way for me to configure or adjust the reading on the Xantrex? The website was ZERO help - and I scoured it!
Any other ideas, short of adding more battery? - which I already replaced to have 520Ah.

Anybody ever replace the residential fridge in their Thor MH:
https://www.whirlpool.com/kitchen/re...rt111sfdm.html
with a drop-in multi-mode replacement? What did you replace it with??

Thanks for all your support!

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Old 01-06-2019, 04:04 PM   #2
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Brand: Thor Motor Coach
State: Georgia
Posts: 2,585
THOR #4735
first, I would not guess that your fridge has anything to do with this...though it is the 'thing' that the symptom points to when the Inverter shuts down and resets. The fridge uses a compressor, and therefore has a fairly large 'draw' of power when it first comes on, several times per hour.

While most any Inverter is designed with a built-in LBCO(Low Battery Cut Out) to save the battery bank from undue usage by the Inverter's 120v needs, some also will have an LBCO that can also be set by the owner, though it is not designed to 'immediately' cut off the Inverter, but is usually designed with a 30second to 2minute period where that low voltage reading must be continuously below the trigger point before that happens.

I would suggest that you may have a battery issue, similar to the one I experienced last month: one of my 4 6v House batteries had several LOW cells(specific gravity reading). My inverter would suddenly cut off for no reason, while simply watching TV with the sat receiver, but not much of anything else. Strange.
I eventually realized that when the Fridge's compressor kicked on, the sudden draw thru the Inverter for the additional 12v amperage to maintain the Inverter's 120v output was not supported by the House batteries due to the low cells in one battery. The Inverter is designed to only operate with '12v' power, and when the load was applied and the suspect battery cells could not muster the full output needed, the Inverter would think that the 12v power was lost, if even for a fraction of a second, and shut down, as it's programmed to - just as it does when I turn the Use/Store switch off.

What was aggravating for me, was that my Magnum inverter does not automatically come back ON when the power is restored, the USE/STORE switch is ON, or when the battery bank is 'back up' to 12v output. So I would have to get up and turn the Inverter back on from the panel.
One of the things that helped me eventually find the problem was the 'flickering' of the 12v lights when I turned the Inverter back ON. Strange...and it had never happened before, though I realize now that I remember the fridge's light would also flicker whenever we were on the inverter only, for several months before this...

as for the Battery - I drained it, refilled it with distilled water and ran it thru several cycles of full charging, drained it again, and refilled it with battery acid and more distilled water, before finally recharging it several overnights. It's now back to it's old self and the Inverter is no longer shutting off, no matter the fridge, the microwave, or the vacuum.

: ) You could be experiencing an issue with a bad battery, new or not... but, no, you don't need 'more' batteries to solve this issue, you probably have enough already : )
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Old 01-06-2019, 04:15 PM   #3
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Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: Freedom Elite 29fe
State: Florida
Posts: 700
THOR #4656
Agree with the above. Battery issue.
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Old 01-09-2019, 11:25 AM   #4
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Brand: Thor Motor Coach
State: New York
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THOR #10644
Xantrex ProSeries 1800 reads low & cuts out

I get your point that it could also be a battery issue.
Here's some evidence that has me convinced otherwise:
- The specific gravity of each cell in the four Trojan T-145s reads between 1.270 and 1.290. (measured when the converter is down to supplying less than 5 amps)
- The symptom existed since the RV was purchased new in 2016. Of course Camping World wouldn't do anything about it. Which is why I gave up and swapped out the stock batteries for the T-145s.
- A battery issue doesn't explain why there is a difference between the voltage measured at the battery and the Xantrex display voltage.
- The batteries all hold a charge. If I top them off, turn off the breaker to the converter and let the bank sit 24hrs, the SG doesn't change more than .005

What I noticed is that the residential fridge is turning on the frost-free heater a couple times per day. It's drawing 30 amps from the battery bank for 15min intervals. However when the fridge is just cooling, it is only drawing 8 amps. Thor says: the stock battery bank is designed to run the fridge for a weekend and no more. Yeah... I need more than that. Especially since the crappy, unreliable generator in the 2016 has always overheated and shutdown after about 45min - another thing Camping World can't seem to fix.
I'm going to do the calculations using the bank of T-145s. Now that I know the current draw and duty cycle, I should be able to determine the kWh required. Then, I'm going to load the bank with a similar draw (motor?) and eliminate the Xantrex and the fridge. Let's see how they perform..
Thanks for your input! Valuable info
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Old 01-09-2019, 02:37 PM   #5
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Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: 2013 ACE 30.1
State: Alberta
Posts: 1,410
THOR #2631
When I first read your original post I thought it very strange that your measured battery voltage at the Xantrex DC input terminals was 0.5v higher than the Xantrex readout indicated. So if the Xantrex unit is shutting down on its monitor voltage sense level (which it seems to have been doing from day one) then you seem to be losing load operation due to voltage sense errors. Since I don’t own this type of inverter I cannot advise you on if this is normal or not......but I would suggest that either your multimeter is wrong or the Xantrex remote is and it might be worth calling Xantrex tech support and request some assistance/verification. I would think the voltage monitor readings should be the same as the battery input terminal voltage.



Regarding your generator overheat, (not familiar with your specific coach or gen setup), if it is overheating with the Ford engine shut off, I would suspect critters may have nested in the intake air spaces of the generator causing vent blockage or cooling restriction. Also do not run the gen for long periods with the gen (onan) green door removed (affects gen cooling) and your coach gen access door closed or you will find a very hot and possibly warped coach door a while later. Leave the Onan gen (green) door on the unit when running and prop open the coach access door......does the gen still overheat?
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Old 01-10-2019, 05:49 PM   #6
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Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: Chateau Super C 33SW
State: Florida
Posts: 92
THOR #10499
I had a similar issue. Was pulling my hair out, looking at new batteries and a new inverter. It ended up that EVERY connection on the input side of the inverter was so loose that I was able to get several turns by hand without contacting the cables. Check all of your battery cable connections to make sure they are tight, and every connection between the batteries and inverter. CHECK THEM ALL, tighten them appropriately. And BTW, now my residential fridge will run for 2 days on my (3) 12V batteries without a E01 or E02. I was seriously ready to throw out the res fridge also, now wouldn't trade it.
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Old 01-10-2019, 05:51 PM   #7
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Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: Chateau Super C 33SW
State: Florida
Posts: 92
THOR #10499
I should add that the probable reason that your Xantreex panel is 0.5V lower than a meter reading on the batteries is the loose connections are not allowing a "good" reading to be had. Then when a load is applied, i.e. refrigerator starts, no solid contact between the cables and inverter posts is causing it to go into overload. I hope this works out for you like it did for me.
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