Inverter "Backfeed Fault"

[brianreed]

I have a 2006 Newmar Mountain Aire 4304 with a Magnum inverter charger.  I have had the coach for about a year and all has been working great.  I am currently out at Skadden Wash in Quartzsite, AZ and tonight when I started my generator the Magnum control panel went into fault mode with a red light and a flashing power LED light and the screen shows "Backfeed Fault".  I read the manual and also did some internet searches.  It says to do a manual inverter reset which I did. It reset the fault and worked fine I could turn on the inverter and things will run fine.  But when I switch the inverter off and power up the generator it goes right back to that "Backfeed Fault".  I checked everything I could think of and there has been no changes to anything in the coach.

I plan on heading into Quartzsite tomorrow as early as I can and find someone knowledgeable to tell me what is wrong.  Any recommendations on who I should contact in Quartzsite?  I am sure there are many different options, but was looking for someplace with a good reputation?  If anyone wants to give me a call, 360-951-3550

[f433921]

With the information that you have provide it sounds like the AC output of the inverted and generator out put is being tied together,  This would suggest that problem lies within the inverter isolator that prevents the 2 sourced from being tied together.  You could verify that this is the problem by disconnecting the AC output of the inverter and then start your generator.

Jim

[f433921]

Brian,

Please share with us what you found that caused your problem,  it will helpful to all of us.

Thanks,

Jim

[brianreed]

I went to a place in Quartzsite, very nice guy.  He looked at it and did the same reset I did with the exception that he also unplugged the remote control.  This caused a full reset and was good.  He then called magnum to see if his hypothesis was correct that I was leaving the inverter on and then starting the generator.  I had been doing that and it was working so I suspect the "switch" of some kind that senses that has gone out.  So I am just careful about turning off the inverter every time before I start the generator.  Like Jim said above the fault was caused by the AC output of the inverter sensing some power on that output so it gives that BackFeed Fault.

With the making sure the inverter is off each time everything seems to work, I will get it fixed once i get one. 

[jleamont]

Brian, thanks for getting back to us. 

[f433921]

Brian,

Thanks for the response.

Magnum headquarters used to be in Everett, WA at Paine Field.  They updated the soft ware in remote panel for me a couple of years ago. At that time they did mention that Magnum had been purchased by another company and wasn't sure what capability would remain in Everett.

I have also noticed a similar problem when you have your coach running and the Magnum Inverter/charger in the charging modes at the same time. On my rig when both charging circuits outputs are connected to house batteries at the same time I get an "ALTERNATOR FAULT" lamp on dash. I now just make sure that I have the charger off before I start the coach.

Glad you were able continue your trip without an interruption.

Jim

 

[brianreed]

I know this is a thread that has not bee updated for some time, but thought I would share that a gentleman named Brent called me with the exact same issue last week.  He found this thread and tracked me down, very nice FMCA community.  I told him what I did and he told me he had his transfer switched replaced and it still did not fix it.  I talked him through how I did my reset and how I have been running without incident for a year now.

It is time to replace my inverter and I will either go with the Victron Multiplus or the Xantrex Freedom SW.  Still doing my research, but one of those will be it.  I suspect that once I replace my old Magnum ME2012 all of this will be behind me.