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gpshay · 09-12-2015, 12:55 AM

So my son-in-law is stationed in N.C and I am here in Az. .. he owns a 2000 Southwind 36T , ford V-10 .. the MH was last used 6 months ago [give or take a couple ?] a few days ago he discovered there was no inside power inside the coach so he plugged into his house/shore power .. he now had lights .. he disconnect the shore and started his generator and he has power once again inside the coach till he turned the generator off .. he reconnects to shore power and allows / hopes the house batteries will charge [they apparently do not ] he buys two new batteries today installs them but detects a "bubbling" sound coming from the engine battery .. we determine he has in fact replaced the batteries correctly [in series] the engine battery may have a bad cell ? in any event still no power .. after hours on the phone and pictures of what he is looking at we locate two terminal next to the coaches converter/inverter both terminals have reset button on the front that appears to have been tripped .. he pushes both buttons back in and he now has power back inside the coach ... my understanding is that if you leave the coach sit for extended periods of time the inverter will eventually drain the house batteries .. any speculation as to what might have caused the reset button to have tripped .. could the draining of the batteries along with plugging into shore power have caused the trip .. any ideas would be appreciated .. thanks glenn

BatteryPro · 09-12-2015, 07:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gpshay

... my understanding is that if you leave the coach sit for extended periods of time the inverter will eventually drain the house batteries .. any speculation as to what might have caused the reset button to have tripped .. could the draining of the batteries along with plugging into shore power have caused the trip .. any ideas would be appreciated .. thanks glenn

Hi Glenn,

Can you post more information about the make and model of the inverter?

If you have an inverter with charger built in, it will have an AC output breaker. This is usually a push button type. If the current through the inverter, while plugged into shore power or from a generator, exceeds the breaker, it will trip. I usually see this on inverters installed improperly where all shore power is routed through the inverters internal transfer switch. Is this the way your inverter is wired?

If you turn off the inverter and all loads, a healthy house battery can last for months. However, to properly care for your battery, I recommend fully charging them every 30 days while not in use. A PV solar system will take care of this for you.

Larry

gpshay · 09-12-2015, 10:51 AM

INTELI-POWER 9200 Series Operation
I believe this brand converter/inverter was installed here in phx .. I think it was done correctly because he had not had a problem until he allowed the house batteries to go dead and then replaced them .. they are leaving this weekend for a long week getaway .. so we will see if that same problem surfaces again . Glenn

Old Bounder · 09-12-2015, 12:26 PM

If (notice the if) your Son-in-law did not unplug from shore power while he replaced the house batteries, it's a very good bet that the positive cable still had power on it, coming from the converter (PD-9200), and was accidentally allowed to touch ground. This has happened many many times when replacing the house batteries on a Fleetwood coach. Just reset the breakers and go on with life.

The bubbling from the chassis battery should be your biggest concern. It may have been the result of the initial mishap, or it may be that the battery has a bad cell.

BTW - the PD-92XX (probably a PD-9260) is a CONVERTER, not an INVERTER. The 2000 Southwind does not have an inverter as delivered.