Dimensions 2000 Watt Inverter, Again

BigTrace · 07-29-2010, 11:23 AM

Well, I've tried searching the forum specifically for this so I'm hoping someone has a good answer. I have a 2006 Itasca Horizon with the dreaded Dimensions Inverter. It looks like the charger side is done, but I can't rule out the fuses yet since I am on the road and unable to check them. I am running on 50amp most all of the time and am even plugged into 30amp at home so the charger should "trickle" the house batteries while plugged in. The house batteries are good; only a few months old and the water is topped off just fine. They do re-charge just fine when using an external battery charger or by simply starting the engine and going down the road.

Visibly, I can see the fuse in the battery bay and it "looks" OK although i do not have a meter handy to check for continuity. The inverter seems to be operating one way and feeding the circuits it is supposed to, but it is draining the battery bank (not to mention the lights and other 12v sources). Right now, I can get about a day off the batteries before they get into the dangerously low 10v range according to the power panel. A good 10amp charge overnight seems to get me back to normal.

When I take it on the road, after a while, it will read "overload" and shut itself down. It seems if I wait a few minutes after I am parked, open the power compartment to cool the inverter and toggle the inverter breaker under the bed, the problem will go away and I can operate equipment from that point on.

My question would be, is the inverter gone, or could it be a fuse problem? If so, besides the fuse in the battery bay, I noticed 2 others on the owners manual schematic. The small push button breaker directly on the inverter is not popped. Is there another one because I can't seem to find it.

If the inverter is done, most have recommended the RS2000 however, since we're now in 2010, that one is discontinued in favor of the new Xantrex SW2000 or SW 3000. These can be had for around $1200 or less but no one on the forum has used one yet in my searching. One advantage would be its pure sine wave and you can buy a auto gen start for it.

Please let me know what your thoughts are, I would appreciate it

Thanks!

Harry B · 07-29-2010, 12:07 PM

Your fuse is good being that your inverter works. It uses the same fuse & circuit to draw power from the battery and invert to 120V. as the converter does to charge the battery.

The 30A black button circuit breaker is the inverter output breaker and is good again because your inverter works.

Is your fan working to cool the Dimensions unit?

It most likely is the inverter that has gone bad. I am at the same point at the moment with my 3rd Dimensions inverter. I am now changing it out for something other than a Dimensions unit. I won't spend anymore money on these units.

old roy · 07-29-2010, 12:08 PM

Look in the compartment where the Dimensions is located for a flat wire type cable with a plug that looks like a large phone plug (computer network cable connector). It is easily unplugged or broken and will keep the unit from charging. Hope that's it.

Old Roy (2004 Meridian)

Olive · 07-29-2010, 04:34 PM

I just heard at GNR there is now a Xantrex wiring harness to help make the switch from the demented one not so difficult. Winnie is using the Xantrex in the Tour/Ellipse now. Mine will most likely be replaced with the Xantrex when it fails as they all do.

BigTrace · 07-29-2010, 10:52 PM

Thanks Old Roy, I checked it out, disconnected and re-plugged it in and I thought it started working again! When I came back in to look at the panel, the panel said "Charger - Conditioning Mode" at 5 amps. This was new to me and read 11.8 volts. I decided to leave it alone all day while we were gone to see what it would do. The only draw was the TV as far as I could tell since the AC was running on direct power. Sadly, after about 6 hours being away, I came back to 10.3 volts so that didn't work. My portable charger is back on the job now and the batteries are back up to 12.2. Strangely, the panel says the charger is now in "Float Mode" at 5 amps even though it should be drawing 25 amps in bulk mode to charge the depleted batteries.

We will be leaving tomorrow so the batteries shouldn't be an issue on the way home, but what a disappointment this inverter has been.

Any other suggestions before I sh*t can this thing and order a Xantrex SW2000?

Thanks

Harry B · 07-30-2010, 12:05 AM

Big Trace.......The SW2000 does not have a remote control panel other than on/off.

The SW3000 does have a remote control panel (Like the previous RS2000) and more options to set like power share, etc. I am not sure if you are aware of this. The lack of a control panel on the SW2000 is a show stopper for me.

old roy · 07-30-2010, 10:57 AM

The control panel on the One Place has many settings for charger draw, inverter on/off standby, etc. Make sure the charger draw is set to something that will do the job for you. Mine was set for 25 I think and was boiling the juice out of the batteries over time. So I currently use it on 10 amps. The condition mode is a timed event, the acceptance mode is something that never appears on mine except when I am using the generator for some reason. The float mode is what happens when the voltage is o.k. OR when condition mode has timed out. There is a switch on the side of the Dimensions unit that you set according to the amp hour capacity of your battery package. The manual has a chart with recommendations. Are you sure your batteries are healthy? The dimensions unit is a pretty sophisticated piece that works really well if all the related stuff (settings, healthy batteries, etc.) are in place. You can also call them for tech support. They will likely offer to exchange your unit for $400 or so. But, based on my experience with mine, I would check the settings, and be absolutely that the batteries are good. The fact that it went to condition and float modes makes me think it is trying! With RV'n there's always something. Thank God for this forum.

old roy · 07-30-2010, 11:07 AM

Big Trace,

Just reread your original post. Do you have the inverter turned ON on the One Place? If so, turn it off, at least until you resolve this problem. Then keep it in off, or standby when you think you might need it. Old Roy

CWHTRAINS · 07-30-2010, 03:34 PM

Check the charger draw amount (push the button on the right side of the Dimensions control panel inside the motorhome, there are three buttons in total, use the one at the right end) and make sure it has not been inadvertantly set to 0 amps draw. This button, when pushed, displays the power draw rate at which the unit will charge your house batteries and is set in 5 amp increments based on each push of the button, ranging from 0 to 25 amps. If this is set at zero, it will not charge your house batteries, but everything else will still work.

BigTrace · 07-30-2010, 08:57 PM

To All,

Yep, checked that the charger is indeed on and I've always held the max charger draw to 10 amps which has always been completely sufficient to sustain the batteries. We just got home so I will check the rig out to see what the batts are reading tonight with everything shut down and not plugged in. In theory, if everything is off and the inverter is too off, then I shouldn't see a change, or at least very very little. Tomorrow, I will likely unhook all the batteries from the MH and do some testing while sitting with no draw.

The one small test I did before driving today was to unhook from shore power and try to turn on the inverter. Usually, it would give me a watt consumption reading, like 50 or 100 when there was a light on. Today, nothing :( so I'm not too sure anything is actually working other than passing power through it when on shore power.

BigTrace · 08-02-2010, 02:31 PM

To let you all know, the inverter will be on its way back to Sensata tomorrow and for $471, they will rebuild it. I figured it was the best deal because I could blow up 3 more of them and still be ahead. They claim to have updated the firmware and fixed several issues with the original builds which mine is probably one of since it is 4 years old and they've only supplied them to Winnebago since 2005.

The cost of the Xantrex SW3000 was around $1200 plus another $200 for the Control Display. Then, if the wiring was any different, it would take a lot more time. This way, it's plug and play. I hope I'm not disappointed.

Thanks for everyone's help!