Bounder: 1999 bounder- shore power plug into my 1500w inverter

[internetjax]

Hey guys.. I just got an upgrade rig, but I am having a hard time figuring out how to get my electricity to work 100%.

it has a starter battery, and a 12v battery that runs stuff inside the rig like the fans and lights. To charge that battery, there is a plug by the gray water flush that is a 30 amp male plug to plug in to shore power, or a generator etc. It came with a converter plug that changes it from
the dryer plug to a regular 3 prong ac plug and I run that cable to my 1500w inverter that runs off my solar system.

now when I leave this converted coach plug in the inverter, the inverter shuts itself off after a few minutes. I will have good working lights, water pump etc for a little bit, but for some reason its tripping the 1500w inverter if I leave it plugged in. even if i have no lights no fan nothing on. no fridge on either. the fridge plugs into the coach from a plug on the outside by the vent.

previously i would run a 5000 btu air conditioner well below the 1500w limit, but if it would be on for too long it would trip the breaker and shut the inverter off too. kinda rough during the summer.

so is the power to run the fridge on ac mode coming from the single 12v battery or is it going all the way thru the 30amp plug and drawing from my solar battery array? would it be more efficient in some way to have the ac plug in the back of the fridge directly into the inverter instead of through the coach and possibly that 30amp cable?


and how do I prevent that 30amp coach shore power cable from turning off the inverter? I want to just leave everything plugged in and on and not have to dealt with it and just everything works. is it possible the 1500w inverter is too small now? it shuts off after like 10 mins. the 12v appliances and fans and stuff will work for a little while after that but not for long. I dont think the battery in there is that good but im not sure if that matters. thanks for the help.

[twinboat]

Not sure what's going on but the 30 amp plug is a TT30-120 volt plug, made for Travel Trailers and other RVs, NOT a dryer plug.
Mix them up and you'll burn up stuff with 240 volts.

[TacomaJoe]

I think you are making a power loop. You have a 12V battery that runs the lights and stuff. It gets charged by the solar. You have an inverter that takes your 12V from the battery and turns it into 120VAC.

The shore cord feeds the 120VAC stuff when it is powered and there is probably a converter that makes 12V DC to charge the battery and run 12V stuff.

When you plug the shore cord into the inverter, you are using battery power to make 120VAC (through the inverter) then the converter takes that 120VAC and turns it back into DC to recharge the battery making a big loop. Each run through the inverter-converter process will lose a little bit from efficiency issues.

[Mark_K5LXP]

A basic power indicator like a Kill-A-Watt will reveal if the issue is power level drawn. One way to approach it is to connect the inverter with no loads at all, and add them selectively to see if it's a particular device or simple overload.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM

[internetjax]

Originally Posted by TacomaJoe

I think you are making a power loop. You have a 12V battery that runs the lights and stuff. It gets charged by the solar. You have an inverter that takes your 12V from the battery and turns it into 120VAC.

The shore cord feeds the 120VAC stuff when it is powered and there is probably a converter that makes 12V DC to charge the battery and run 12V stuff.

When you plug the shore cord into the inverter, you are using battery power to make 120VAC (through the inverter) then the converter takes that 120VAC and turns it back into DC to recharge the battery making a big loop. Each run through the inverter-converter process will lose a little bit from efficiency issues.

the 12v battery that is lights and vent fan etc isnt connected to any solar, the only time it gets any charge is when the engine is on or when i connect that 30amp plug into my inverter. that inverter is connected to a separate bank of 3 batteries that is charged by the solar. i was wondering if plugging that 30amp shore power plug is drawing too much energy into my single 12v accessory battery, in some type of way. is there a limiter or something i can put on the plug to prevent this? this is the only way i can think of the inverter getting overloaded. there is a converter thing under the sink but im not sure what it does. its plugged into the coach. maybe my inverter is too small?

i was thinking of running an extension cord from my fridge into the inverter direct instead of into the cabin since im not sure if the cabin electricity is coming direct from the 30amp plug or its getting routed into the single 12v accessory battery. I have 5 batteries total. 1 ignition, 1 12v accessory backup thing, and 3 deep cycle ones that are connected to my solar array. thanks

[SafariBen]

Originally Posted by internetjax

... I want to just leave everything plugged in and on and not have to dealt with it and just everything works...

Hahaha


Are you serious, or pulling our legs?

[chuckbear]

I can't understand what you have and what you're trying to do by your description. Maybe it's just my old brain. Post a few photos and perhaps it will be easy for someone to help you. Are you trying to connect to an existing outlet? Post a photo. Are you trying to plug your shore power cord into an inverter? Are you trying to plug your shore power cord into an extension cord connected to your inverter to be able to run the coach power? Why not just plug in to a power outlet? If you have no power outlet you cannot leave the coach connected to the inverter for very long. Chuck

[TacomaJoe]

Originally Posted by internetjax

the 12v battery that is lights and vent fan etc isnt connected to any solar, the only time it gets any charge is when the engine is on or when i connect that 30amp plug into my inverter. that inverter is connected to a separate bank of 3 batteries that is charged by the solar. i was wondering if plugging that 30amp shore power plug is drawing too much energy into my single 12v accessory battery, in some type of way. is there a limiter or something i can put on the plug to prevent this? this is the only way i can think of the inverter getting overloaded. there is a converter thing under the sink but im not sure what it does. its plugged into the coach. maybe my inverter is too small?

i was thinking of running an extension cord from my fridge into the inverter direct instead of into the cabin since im not sure if the cabin electricity is coming direct from the 30amp plug or its getting routed into the single 12v accessory battery. I have 5 batteries total. 1 ignition, 1 12v accessory backup thing, and 3 deep cycle ones that are connected to my solar array. thanks

Are the 3 deep cycle batteries that are connected to solar feeding anything other than the 1500W inverter? Do they run any 12V RV stuff or just power the inverter?

What type of refrigerator is it? Is it dual, runs on LP gas or shore power? Same questions for the water heater can it heat with LP and/or shore power?

My thinking is that if you plug the shore cord into the inverter, it will be powering the refrigerator, water heater and converter. Together those possibly exceed the 1500W capacity of the inverter. If you can run the refrigerator and water heater on LP, the inverter would be fine with just the converter.

[internetjax]

Originally Posted by TacomaJoe

Are the 3 deep cycle batteries that are connected to solar feeding anything other than the 1500W inverter? Do they run any 12V RV stuff or just power the inverter?

What type of refrigerator is it? Is it dual, runs on LP gas or shore power? Same questions for the water heater can it heat with LP and/or shore power?

My thinking is that if you plug the shore cord into the inverter, it will be powering the refrigerator, water heater and converter. Together those possibly exceed the 1500W capacity of the inverter. If you can run the refrigerator and water heater on LP, the inverter would be fine with just the converter.

its the rv plug- pic 1
that goes into this battery bank with the inverter-pic 2
and this battery bank- pic 3, is what powers the 12v system in the rv.


i have removed the extra funky batteries from pic 3 so its only one battery now. but when i plug that big plug from pic 1 into the inverter in pic 2, when it was off of a generator it would both power the coach and charge the 12v system. since its the solar battery array supplying power instead of a generator its not working in the same way


side note, my inverter has been shutting off at seeming random times even when not using that much power. i was charging a jackery and had 2 lights on and even then it turned the thing off. i was gonna have one of those mobile rv repair guys come check it out n tell me what device i need to buy to make it all work

[SafariBen]

There is no device that will make it all work. You have several systems that are not playing that well together, and having more systems makes the process more complicated to figure out what's wrong. It sounds like the inverter is one logical place to start, run that with a known load, like an electric heater at 900w, medium on most heaters. Then watch the DC input voltage to the inverter as it operates and especially when it shuts off. Some inverters will have alarms or codes indicating the problem when they shut off, or some systems like Victron will talk to all the components and show you what's happening. That still won't tell you the problem, or "make everything work", you basically need shore power to make everything work without operator control, though an automatic generator comes close.



The extra layer of conversion from DC solar to Li to AC to the charger and back to DC is doing nothing but wasting power. The shore power cord is designed with zero thought to efficiency, while the DC system is at least somewhat limiting to extend the battery life. Feeding the shore power cord off an inverter is not a good way to end up with a functional system.

[TacomaJoe]

Sounds like things run fine while on the generator and the generator handles the load.

I also think that the inverter is inverter system is the problem. Your wire size looks good for 1500W pull. What is your battery voltage? If you don't have a full charge on the batteries the inverter won't like the low voltage.

For testing I would turn off your breakers. With all of them off, check the DC voltage at the inverter terminals (there should be no load on the inverter with the breakers off). Turn on the main breaker then flip the others on while watching the 12V at the inverter. I would suspect low battery voltage.

[David 70]

If you are trying to run the fridge on ac while plugged in to the inverter you will never keep up. Run the fridge on propane. Also hook the 12volt coach batteries up to the solar and disconnect the converter (charger). You are wasting too much of your solar by converting to ac, then back to dc to charge the batteries. Those old coaches do not have efficient converters like the newer ones. They will charge the batteries at the same rate all the time. Your solar and battery bank will not keep up to plug in and leave everything all the time. If the single coach battery is bad it looks like you should be able to add another Life Po battery in there.

[internetjax]

Originally Posted by TacomaJoe

Sounds like things run fine while on the generator and the generator handles the load.

I also think that the inverter is inverter system is the problem. Your wire size looks good for 1500W pull. What is your battery voltage? If you don't have a full charge on the batteries the inverter won't like the low voltage.

For testing I would turn off your breakers. With all of them off, check the DC voltage at the inverter terminals (there should be no load on the inverter with the breakers off). Turn on the main breaker then flip the others on while watching the 12V at the inverter. I would suspect low battery voltage.

I have checked it when its at 13.3 or close to it, full charge according to what my charge controller says. ok so what you are saying is turn off the inverter and shut off all the breakers, these ones that i have posted a photo of. Then i plug in the shore power into a 3 prong on the inverter and turn it on. then i test the voltage where... on the inside of one of the 3 prong outlets? or on the back of the inverter where the red and black cables go to my battery bank? and then flip the breakers one by one and test the voltage? where do i test?

[internetjax]

Originally Posted by David 70

If you are trying to run the fridge on ac while plugged in to the inverter you will never keep up. Run the fridge on propane. Also hook the 12volt coach batteries up to the solar and disconnect the converter (charger). You are wasting too much of your solar by converting to ac, then back to dc to charge the batteries. Those old coaches do not have efficient converters like the newer ones. They will charge the batteries at the same rate all the time. Your solar and battery bank will not keep up to plug in and leave everything all the time. If the single coach battery is bad it looks like you should be able to add another Life Po battery in there.

so this is the converter thing.. u are saying I unplug this device or remove the red and black cables? which one?



(i put a diff battery on the 12v for this pic.) and then so i have to wire all of those 12v cables into my solar battery array? would I just put some kind of connector on the ends of each color of the terminals instead of having it hooked up to a battery, and then attach a big cable and run it to where I have my battery bank? so like where it attaches to the positive on the 12v battery instead combine them all together and run that to the battery bank, and then the same for the negatives? so in this way I would have no batteries on my 12v system, it would all just go into my solar system. so when i push the button to start the coach if the starter battery is dead its going to pull off of my solar bank. is that safe?