Quote:
Originally Posted by JamieGeek
I believe he is referring to this:
If you leave the existing 12V charger in place then you have the 120V running off the inverter from the 12V batteries but the 12V charger running off the 120V is trying to charge the 12V batteries.
The simplest thing here is simply to turn off the breaker to the 12V charger when you're running off the inverter.
Except, of course, the inverter you're talking about has a built in charger and transfer switch. In that case you can completely remove the existing 12V charger and not worry about it at all.
In fact, since your inverter has a built in transfer switch you won't need the 30A plug at all: As soon as "shore power" goes away the transfer switch in the inverter will switch over (if you have the inverter turned on).
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Thanks for the replies. I don’t know if this helps anyone else so just throwing it out here. No one has to read it if they don’t want to
I believe I have a solution and, like OldWeb suggested, the original xfr switch and converter/charger will be removed from the system and set aside for future consideration. I may remove it completely if the space proves useful for something else.
I have a question into AIMs. We’ll see if they answer. I don’t have a copy of that message because it’s all online and I forgot to capture a copy. I’ll replicate it best I can below.
The clincher in this setup was the 30A receptacle doesn’t exist yet. and I’d planned to install that in the electrical bay. If the invert is throwing 120 at the receptacle, I don’t know the inverter has the logic to say ‘I’m outputting that juice, so it’s not really coming from a power pole’. I believe it will interpret that 120 as shore power and say ‘hey, the batteries are getting low, let’s charge them’. The problem here is the batteries are supplying the 120 so the inverter draws on the batteries to charge the batteries – aka death loop or death spiral – and the batteries are toast in no time flat.
Possible solution:
The inverter has a Charger Input Circuit Breaker. The current solution out there for whole-house power is to throw the existing charger circuit breaker, effectively removing it from the system. Most don’t fool with the transfer switch. No need.
I believe I can simulate that behavior with the Charger Input Circuit Breaker and the steps in this process would be:
Inverter power:
1) open the Charger Input Circuit Breaker
2) plug the SP cord into the electrical bay receptacle
3) turn inverter on
Shore power:
Reverse the process with one extra step
1) turn inverter completely off
2) close the Charger Input Circuit Breaker
3) plug the SP cord into the power pole
4) turn the inverter on
In the shore power scenario, I don’t want the initial connection power pole surge to harm the inverter, though don’t know that turning it on manually will help much. I certainly don’t think it could be any worse but I’ve been wrong before.
In the inverter power scenario, I will have already disconnected from SP in some facility and rolled the cord up into the electrical bay.
Like I wrote, this may help someone else too so shoot holes in it if there’s the opportunity. I’d rather it turn into a piece of swiss cheese than cause someone heartache and expense (me included).
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