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lylefikse

Inverter turning off

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Our Magnum Inverter keeps shutting down on its own.  Am I turning it on incorrectly?  Pushing power button.  Does the charger have to be on as well for it to stay on?

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What function are you using that is not working as it should:

1.  Inverting when no shore power or generator on-- using 12 VDC from battery to make 120 VAC.  If so, verify that battery voltage is not dropping such that the unit should (and is) turning off.

2.  Battery charging when shore power or generator on.

3.  "Pass through" feature so that when the inverter/charger sees 120 VAC from shore power or generator, it passes it through to circuits downstream of the inverter charger.

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Turned the inverter on while connected to shore power because we were taking the coach to a dealer 100 miles away to hook up brakes to tow car.  Our new coach is all electric.  We had thrown a few things in the fridge and fridge freezer before leaving.  When we opened the fridge later in the afternoon everything was thawed out.  Checked the panel and the inverter was off.  Maybe the dealer turned it off but I don't think so.  Coach is so new to us not sure what is happening.

 

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On 7/11/2018 at 2:34 PM, lylefikse said:

Our Magnum Inverter keeps shutting down on its own.  Am I turning it on incorrectly?  Pushing power button.  Does the charger have to be on as well for it to stay on?

If you are turning the inverter on, it will not actually come on unless the charger is off.  The way it works is that when both the charger and inverter are on, and AC power is turned off or goes off (charger is not working) the inverter will come on to provide AC power.  My Magnum has two small buttons, one for the charger and one for the inverter.

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23 minutes ago, FIVE said:

If you are turning the inverter on, it will not actually come on unless the charger is off.  The way it works is that when both the charger and inverter are on, and AC power is turned off or goes off (charger is not working) the inverter will come on to provide AC power.  My Magnum has two small buttons, one for the charger and one for the inverter.

Let me restate that:  if the inverter/charger sees 120 VAC from shore power or generator, it both charges the batteries and "passes through" the 120 VAC to all thing wired downstream of the inverter 120 VAC.

If no 120 VAC from shore power or generator, the inverter/charger, if turned ON will take battery power and "invert it" to provide 120 VAC for everything  downstream of the inverter 120 VAC circuit.

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On my coach when on shore power and I turn on the inverter, the inverter will take over when I unplug. But if I turn the generator on and the off the inverter will not take over. I have to manually turn the inverter on. 

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With that new of a coach I would document it incase you need warranty work.

I would test it without the food to see if it happens again. See if you can run the refrigerator ( I assume it is residential?) and see if it shuts off after the same time and check the charge level in the battery's. 

Bill

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1 hour ago, WILDEBILL308 said:

I would test it without the food to see if it happens again. See if you can run the refrigerator ( I assume it is residential?)

Use a few cubes of ice in a pan or bowl, if it thaws no harm done, and if it re freezes it will have changed shapes.

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8 hours ago, kaypsmith said:

Use a few cubes of ice in a pan or bowl, if it thaws no harm done, and if it re freezes it will have changed shapes.

Kay, A note to all regarding how to know if a freeze is working, or if the coach or home unit has failed or lost power.

        Place a paper cup in the freezer(in the coach it needs to be secured in some manner). Place a quarter on top of the frozen cup. If it has drooped to the bottom of the cup ! Things have thawed and the items have been compromised !!!!!  

Rich.

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Brand new coach and the charger was not on.  Right now it is in the shop having the brake line added for our Air Force One so can't check.  I wonder if the battery bank was so low that it shut the inverter off.  Will investigate further when it comes home again.  I will for sure turn the charger on.

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34 minutes ago, lylefikse said:

 I wonder if the battery bank was so low that it shut the inverter off.  Will investigate further when it comes home again.  I will for sure turn the charger on.

Lyle,

If I understand correctly, the inverter went off just after a 100 mile drive.  If so, the alternator should have brought the batteries to full charge.  So, unless some part of the charging system is not functioning properly, you should not have had a low battery.

But, your remote panel should showhouse battery voltage.

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Went off again last night while plugged into shore power.  I am going to call Newmar's tech support next week and see if they can walk me through correct settings on the Magnum Inverter.  I think something is set wrong that is shutting it off.  Quiet time maybe.  Updates to follow after I talk to them.  We don't dry camp often so not a big deal when plugged in but don't want to lose power to the fridge while driving.

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Lyle,  been fallowing this thread and wondered if this issue has come up when the temperatures went up? Any issue when the temps where lower ?

     What items are you running that require 12 volts while driving?

Hooked up to shore power - they are in bypass mode on the road and making power, they generate higher temperatures.

The  thought I have regarding the Inverter shutting down. This summer has been rather warm and inverters need to have enough air movement to keep from over heating. 

They are often mounted at the top of a closed bay where the heat is greater an air exchange is limited.  There is a strong possibility that it is a terminal issue shutting it down.

Rich.

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2 hours ago, manholt said:

I'm thinking you have the same problem as FIVE had...Electrical, page 14.  June 2016.

Carl, you could be onto something! New coaches have some bugs and a loose ground could be the issue. The item that keeps me scratching my hear is - only shuts down when on the road and the inverter is making power as far as I understand the OP.         Lyle  posted this though.

      Posted 9 hours ago      Went off again last night while plugged into shore power and no fault codes mentioned.

  The factory battery level cutoff voltage is set at 11.00 volts.  The inverter will shut down.  With the coach connected to shore power unlikely  issue.

  The inverter is set to power down if the load drops below 5 watts.  This is a possible issue - can it be set to not turn off  with little or no load?   One might use a small light or other device that requires a constant load of 5 watts or more, to see if the inverter stops operating when the refrigerator or other loads drop below the low level set point . 

Lyle, you did not mention if the refrigerator warmed up - shore power  was connected over night and the refrigerator should have continued to work  with power supplied via the bypass relay circuit in the inverter.

The manual mentions the the inverter should restart after an over temp event  / when the temperature drops below a preset level - No info on what they set that temperature at.

After a overload event happens one needs to manually restart the inverter. Think I,m reading the manual correctly !  I have no information on the primary wiring and how the EMS system that sheds loads while on shore power would work or interact with the inverter supplying power ?

So the search goes on.....  Not every piece of equipment is created equal. If the common ground  is good at all points, then I would start wondering if there is something going on internally with the unit ??? They do have a limited warranty them for 3  years.

Rich.

There is a need for me to upgrade my organic microprocessor. Think I'm running on an older 8088 and updating to an I - 5  might help. Brett keeps telling me I need some cranial work. LOL

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Could it be that the low cut off voltage is not low enough to prevent interruption. I had a similar problem last winter but the unit would come back on after battery voltage came back up. By that time implements would have shut off and have to be turned back on.

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2 hours ago, rsbilledwards said:

Could it be that the low cut off voltage is not low enough to prevent interruption. I had a similar problem last winter but the unit would come back on after battery voltage came back up. By that time implements would have shut off and have to be turned back on.

Bill, I just added info. regarding the factory cutoff voltage level. Factory level is set at 11.00 volts, but is menu adjustable by the user.

  However ! There is a preset level of 5 watt load and lower and the inverter will power down and from my experience these system require a solid load of 5 watts to restart. They will not start when seeing a logic control board or other device below that level. I have set my Xantrex unit so it will stay on - even though the unit will use some power while in the idle state.

Rich.

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After reading up on the settings, I turned off the Low Cut Off feature on the inverter.  The owners manual stated you might want it off if you want power to Satellite receivers (and I do).  So far so good.  It has stayed on now for 2 days.  Also the charger was in standby mode and I turned it on.

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Jim S.  It's not Rocket Science !  I told Joe S. & Joe L. how to set it up...I'm in no way up on electronics! :(

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