Inverter Drawing Down House Batteries

[zzfranczz]

I have a 2015 RT Adventurous CS with a Microgreen inverter. I have noticed lately when I am off shore power and when the inverter is on it draws the power down and discharges the batteries. I feel I need to replace the inverter and have felt this inverter has over drawn the batteries for some time and it has now gotten really bad. Is there a possible simple cause to this or is this a total failure of the inverter? If I need to replace the inverter is there a person or place in the Los Angeles/Socal Area that is knowledgeable in doing so? Any help would be appreciated. TIA>

 

[booster]

All inverters draw power when on even when idling. It can be up to about 3 amps, I think, with the larger amounts from the larger inverters. About 1.5 amps is pretty typical for the ones we have had in the 1500-3000 watt range. Unless we need AC power off or in standby which our new inverter has. Of course your inverter could be dying also, our Magnum did last year and I found that while it still worked, it was drawing and extra 20 amps or so.

Have you actually measured the amp draw, or have a battery monitor showing it?

 

[zzfranczz]

No but on either setting it will deplete all 4 batteries within 1 1/2 hours. It almost immediately will drop the voltage from 12.7 to 11.0 once the inverter is turned on. I am not certain how I can measure the amp draw.

 

[booster]

That is quick so it sounds like the inverter is probably toast unless you have a very large AC load on somewhere.

A clamp on AC/DC digital ammeter is the easiest. You just clamp it around the battery cable to the inverter.

For what you are talking about this one is probably typical.

Digital clamp on meter

 

[GroupB]

Could also be old batteries with diminished capacity.

 

[The Eyesore]

No but on either setting it will deplete all 4 batteries within 1 1/2 hours. It almost immediately will drop the voltage from 12.7 to 11.0 once the inverter is turned on. I am not certain how I can measure the amp draw.

I'm in Los Angeles, really close to Hollywood Forever Cemetery. I have a DC clamp-on ammeter if you'd like to check the amp draw for free. Doing so should help determine if the problem is batteries, or invertor.

I will be around later in the day on Sunday or usually around on weekdays. Send me a private message, if you'd like to coordinate.

 

[booster]

The OP is losing quite a lot of power, and the inverter is large at 3K watts so it could be going to AC also as mentioned earlier and that adds to the places to look for where it is going.

Nothing is moving, it appears, so that energy is going to wind up as heat someplace, so that may be what to look for at this point. Is the inverter getting hotter than normal, if not what is. Are there any things like water heaters, floor heat, whatever that run on AC that could be stuck on, etc. It may help pinpoint where the problem is until they can get a basic meter to help track it down more completely.

 

[zzfranczz]

I just checked, quickly to see if there is any abnormal heat. I could not feel any. Also checked for anything that is left on that could drain it but the only thing is the AC and the Microwave. When it is attached to shore power there seems to be no issue. Once I remove the shore power it then takes a hit, on either inverter setting. When I removed it from SP/Inverter the battery voltage dropped instantly. Turn off the inverter the battery voltage recovers. The wonder of where the heat goes has me concerned...

 

[sdunn4]

Interesting thread and I may have a similar problem with our 2015 SS Agile with an identical inverter. Did you resolve the problem? Any more details would be great!

Thanks,

Steve

 

[zzfranczz]

Interesting thread and I may have a similar problem with our 2015 SS Agile with an identical inverter. Did you resolve the problem? Any more details would be great!

Thanks,

Steve

Unfortunately I have not. Since The batteries went dead and I am unable to revive them. The bad is that when RT designed their system the whole system runs from the batteries so even on shore power everything is dead. I tried jumping the batteries but that did not work. I got a quote to redesign the system and that is costly due to the fact that RT's system is over complicated. I have been trying to sort out the details of what I have. There is another thread that has very good detail of the electrical system that has helped explain things. From what i have found is these inverters are terribly inefficient. And looking at the above I think when the batteries are on shore power they are undercharged based on the voltage above. The solar charger seems to be charging at the correct voltage. That said I build the charge profile for the Solar controller and the profile on the inverter us just an AGM setting. I still have no idea how to get to the bottom of this but it appears that the batteries need to be replaced which is a sizable investment.

 

[booster]

Unfortunately I have not. Since The batteries went dead and I am unable to revive them. The bad is that when RT designed their system the whole system runs from the batteries so even on shore power everything is dead. I tried jumping the batteries but that did not work. I got a quote to redesign the system and that is costly due to the fact that RT's system is over complicated. I have been trying to sort out the details of what I have. There is another thread that has very good detail of the electrical system that has helped explain things. From what i have found is these inverters are terribly inefficient. And looking at the above I think when the batteries are on shore power they are undercharged based on the voltage above. The solar charger seems to be charging at the correct voltage. That said I build the charge profile for the Solar controller and the profile on the inverter us just an AGM setting. I still have no idea how to get to the bottom of this but it appears that the batteries need to be replaced which is a sizable investment.

I am surprised that jumping the batteries didn't work, but it is possible that they are so dead they drag down the voltage on your jump source low enough the charger won't start.

Is the solar able to generate proper voltage with batteries dead? I would be surprised if it does because that voltage should be enough to activate the charger if the charger is not failed.

I would just put a standalone charger on the batteries, or run the engine, to charge them up as that probably will work to get them charged. If they are dead, you may need to use a non smart charger or hook it up when the engine is charging the batteries.

 

[zzfranczz]

Unfortunately once the batteries get below a certain point the whole system shuts down. Nice RT design. Solar would have kept the system going, and starting the engine to charge by UHG does not help. My only thought at this point is to remove a battery and check it's condition and see if I can revive one to revive it all.

 

[booster]

Unfortunately once the batteries get below a certain point the whole system shuts down. Nice RT design. Solar would have kept the system going, and starting the engine to charge by UHG does not help. My only thought at this point is to remove a battery and check it's condition and see if I can revive one to revive it all.

If you parallel in a battery with jumper cables or hook up an old school fixed voltage battery charger. The alternator should start to charge as will the solar.

 

[zzfranczz]

If you parallel in a battery with jumper cables or hook up an old school fixed voltage battery charger. The alternator should start to charge as will the solar.

I was able to do that, with a charger and desulficating the batteries. Took me a bit to get it to the point to get the charging systems awake to take over the charge. I was able to get the batteries mostly charged then the batteries started to fail. When on shore power the inverter was depleting the batteries faster than it could charge them. Solar was charging but not fast enough and it was late in the day. The UHG was able to charge them to almost 100%. Then I think the batteries failed. That said the issue I think I am having is the Inverter is set to battery first, then once depleted then it charges them back up. Since the inverter is inefficient it starts a vicious cycle, especially with weak batteries. Has anyone used the settings to change the inverter so it keeps the batteries charged and the current is passed through from shore power to the house instead of being run through the batteries first? This is just my observations and feelings so I may be way off and wrong.