SLSettles

I may end up doing that, just don't want to find out down the road that it's the equivalent to using Fix-a-Flat or LiquidPlumber... doesn't really work and makes proper repair later more difficult.

My dash air was working sporadically last year when we bought our 2004 Revolution (by Fleetwood model 40D on Freightliner chassis, side-breathing radiator with Cummin ISC diesel power plant... cause I know someone will ask ;-) It would blow cold for a few minutes after starting and then peter out. But now it is warm from the start. I know that I might have multiple problems. A tech told me the initial problem sounds like heater air is mixing with the cooled air, so it only blew cold until the engine heated up. But I suspect that the lack of any cooling now is likely due to lack of refrigerant. I am considering purchasing a vacuum pump and manifold set so that I can properly recharge the system myself (the equipment is about the price of an hour at Cummins-Atlantic!). My main concern is that the low-point cap is at the front of the coach and the high-point is at the rear, so obviously the manifold hoses cannot be plugged into both at once. How should I go about drawing-down and refilling the system? Or should I hang it up and pay Cummins?

I live in NC and was researching max trailer width because I want a golf-cart that can be carried sideways on our TandemTow dolly. As I was reading I found that the maximum combination length for tow vehicle and trailer is 60'. I have a 40' Revolution, the TandemTow is 11' from ball to tire well, and our toad (Prius V) is 12' from front tire center to rear bumper... 63' minimum! And with a cart I'd have to move the tire wells back a foot or so, so 64'. I know people tow bigger enclosed car trailers than this. Am I reading the law wrong? Are larger trailers allowed if you have your class B? Or does everyone just ignore the law? I must be misunderstanding something because folks with 45' DPs wouldn't even be able to tow a midsize car much less a full-size truck. Please illuminate me.

I have asked this same question on another forum and have been speaking with another coach owner with a nearly identical setup who also tried the PROwatt 1000 and had very similar experience with it. He is convinced that it was surging just slightly higher than the 9.6 max amps that the inverter is rated for, about 1200 watts of surge. So he got the 2000w version (with a 19a max) and has had no further problems. I'm still a bit irate that Xantrex would even call this a 1000/2000w inverter when it's really a 900w continuous and 1200w surge, but it is what it is, and they have lost whatever "brand-loyalty" I had. Again, my thanks to those who have been patient and helpful.

First, thanks for the perseverance to read through all this! I did not do any other tests on the inverter, other than to see if it worked on batteries, on shore with the MSW off, on shore with the MSW on, and with the coach running. Once I found that it would not work in two key conditions I called Xantrex and talked with a tech. The result of that call was the suggestion that I try larger cables (which I dismissed out of hand, #1 18" cables do not have significant drop at these loads) or upgrade to a 2000w version. As for the fridge, yes, it has had an extended burn-in period... we have used it at home for years. And yes, I have run it with a Kill-A-Watt many times to evaluate it's consumption, including a couple of days right before moving it to the motorhome to confirm that the numbers were in line with what my batteries can provide. Thanks again

I'm not trying to defend, challenge or attack anything or anyone. I am asking if anyone knows why, given these facts, this inverter didn't work. If someone has an idea about why a 1000/2000w inverter could not handle the actual load of 170w, I am very open to hear it.

Battery voltage was about 12.4 (under load) when the inverter went into shutdown, so it never approached the specified low voltage rating. The second inverter was not "installed" it temporarily hooked up and was sitting loose in a cool compartment (chilly day) with the door open and airflow all around. It never got even warm to the touch and I never even heard the fan kick on.

Nothing like waking up to a little condescension. That little tag tells me exactly what I need to know about HOW LONG I can run the fridge off of my battery bank, and as I've stated before, my Trimetric and Kill-a-watt bear out these numbers. MY FRIDGE USES 150 W/H AS INDICATED BY THE TAG, THE MFG SPECS, AND MY OWN MEASUREMENTS! When running, my fridge ACTUALLY draws 170w. The only unknown for me is what the surge draw is, and the amp rating you give so much credence to does not seem to help. My ratings tag in the fridge states 3.5 amps at 115v, or 402 watts, which makes zero sense as I have never seen my Trimetric register more than 200w with just the inverter and the fridge running. Perhaps that rating is if it goes into defrost mode with both doors open and the factory halogen bulbs burning (180w worth of halogen, which I've replaced with LED, BTW). It certainly doesn't represent normal hourly draws... not even in the 36 hours right after I installed it and it cooled from room temp, which average 190w/h. But who cares!? 402 is way less that the 1000w peak (5 min), and the 900w continuous duty rating of the inverter, so the inverter is more than double the demands of the fridge under the worst case scenario. The one thing I don't know is what the surge demands are, other than they were obviously too great for this PSW inverter. Finally, yes, amps matter... just as much as watts and volts, they are inextricably linked. Labels matter too, so long as you know what they are trying to relate, which apparently we don't since they don't agree with the thing we do understand, METER READINGS, which are very clear, easily interpreted and do not have a sales motive skewing them. FWIW, I've been a member of FMCA for exactly a year and have lurked on these boards many time and never participated until now because I got a generally nasty tone in many of the responses. I was told by a Facebook "friend" that I should post this question here because he thought there was at least one very sharp, helpful person. I'm sorry I took his advice and I do not think I will be renewing my membership after this experience.

Actually, I've been looking at residentials in the 22ft range for a year and find most run in the 70-100 w/h range. Now that may mean they run at 300 watts for 20 minutes an hour. So my older, 150 w/h model is pretty average. Forget the amps, what you need is the yellow tag with the annual kw usage figure. Divide it by 365, divide that by 24 and you'll get what the fridge should average in normal usage. Both my Trimetric shunt ammeter and my Kill-a-watt confirm the wattage I reported. So, the inverter I bought was 6 times the run wattage of the one appliance it was intended for As for a transfer switch, yeah, I'd probably install one if the inverter worked as expected, but for my test I saw no point in complicating things: inverter hooked to batteries, fridge plugged directly into inverter. Glad I didn't invest more time effort and money just to find it didn't work... especially if I end up upgrading my main inverter/charger. I've contacted GE multiple times and let's just say they were not encouraging, strongly making the point that their appliances are made for homes and power grids and that they have no info about other uses. Thanks for the considered response.

I didn't try running on the MSW, it's just too big of a gamble. I know that variable speed motors do poorly on MSW, so I just accepted off the bat that I'd need a PSW.

Rich, thanks for the response, but we seem to be missing each other's point. Huffypuff, my coach is a 2004 Fleetwood Revolution 40D and my fridge is a GE Profile PDS22SBSRSS. As for the outlets in the fridge compartment, yes, I have both an inverter and a non-inverter outlet... but, for my initial tests with this new inverter I plugged the fridge directly into the inverter's outlet. I would eventually rewire the outlet to use the new inverter, if it worked, which it didn't, so it's in a box heading back to Amazon. Ultimately, my frustration is this: this fridge is designed to run on a 15amp 120v household circuit. As near as I can figure that means it cannot draw more than 1800watts or it'd trip a breaker every time it started up. Therefore, I got an inverter that could handle this absolute max and then some, 2000watt surge. But it couldn't. I don't understand why, but it seems the next step up is double the price and double the wattage. Which seems ridiculous, that I should need a 2000watt (4000watt surge) to run an appliance that draws 170watts. If that is the answer then I will have to cough it up and live with it. But I still don't understand why this unit is not enough, and I'm more than a little hesitant that the next one will perform as expected, i.e. supply 170watts continuous/1800watts surge until my batteries are discharged to 50%, not 65%. A separate, but equally vexing issue is that my plan was to use the PSW inverter to power the fridge at all times (as I've read others do). However, when the generator is running, providing 50a to my existing built-in MSW inverter/charger, the amperage appears to have been too high for the new PSW inverter which went into shutdown, even though it is supposed to be able to accept up to 15.5v in. Actually, I'm not sure why it reported an over-temp condition, but the charging amperage is my best guess. But it would not work with the charger in full acceptance charge mode. I did not try it in float, it was back in the box by then, but it really wouldn't have mattered. If I had an auto-transfer switch things would have still gone awry because the fridge would have switched over to use the generator, but the PSW inverter would have gone into overload and shut down, and then when I turned off the generator there would be no power from the inverter to switch back to and I wouldn't know until the next morning when I opened the warm fridge. So that leads me to think that the only good solution is to replace my MSW inverter/charger with an equally capable PSW inverter/charger, that can handle the loads and the transfer switching and the charging seamlessly. But why pay $1600 for a 2000w when you can spend $1800 for a 3000w hybrid? Of course, then you've got to get a compatible remote, and at some point you'll want to add the AGS, so you should get the advanced remote. Oh, and that Trimetric ammeter you just installed... wouldn't it be better to get the one that integrates with the new inverter? Did I mention I'm a little frustrated?

I have just completed my conversion from Norcold to a residential fridge, making considerable alterations to my fridge cabinet to accommodate it... so don't try to talk me out of it! LOL Anyhow, I thought I had done all my homework and knew exactly what I would need electric-wise. My fridge has a variable-speed compressor and variable fans so I knew that I'd need a pure-sine inverter. It demands 170w when running and 150w/h average (i.e. the fan runs almost continuously). I ordered a Xantrex PROwatt SW 1000 PSW inverter (2000w surge) figuring even if a momentary surge were 10x normal demands (1700w) that this would have sufficient capacity. Hooked it all up and unplugged from shore and it ran like a charm... until the battery bank discharged to about 65%. Then it reported an overload condition and shut down. When I started the generator to recharge the batteries, the inverter again refused to run, reporting an over-temp condition, I assume because of the higher charging voltage, though it is supposed to accept up to 15.5v input. I realize that an auto-transfer switch can help by switching to AC when the generator is running (or plugged into shore) but the inverter will be shutdown when the power is cut, requiring a manual restart, which I can imagine forgetting to do. The inverter ran fine while the engine of the coach is running (charging the batteries) and while plugged into shore (30a, I suspect it would complain under 50a shore). The battery bank is essentially new, 4 x 6v 220AH rated Trojan t125plus. The inverter was connected with 1-gauge, 18" cables. I am monitoring the bank using a Trimetric shunt-ammeter. I talked with Xantrex and their only suggestion was thicker cables (pretty sure that wasn't it) or buying a bigger inverter (for double the money). It seems ridiculous to me to buy a 2000w continuous duty inverter to run a 170w fridge! Is this really what's needed or am I missing something? Even if I get a 2000w, I assume it will complain about being connected while the charger is running, too. It sounds like keeping power running to the fridge is going to be a very manual operation. If that IS what's needed I'm wondering if I can take the 120v outputs from my existing MSW inverter (Xantrex Freedom 20 2000w inverter/charger) and power them off of the new PSW inverter so that the microwave and computers will benefit from the PSW? While we're spending all that money I'm half inclined to replace the Freedom with a Magnum hybrid 3000w inverter/charger, replace the Trimetric with a Magnum BMK, add the advanced remote and auto generator start. Why spend $500 (for no real gain in functionality) when you can spend $2500 (and get a lot more functionality)?! Not that I have $2500 laying around burning a hole in my pocket! The PROwatt is boxed up and heading back to Amazon, but I'm very unsure what my next move is. Any help appreciated.