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Old 12-10-2019, 03:45 PM   #1
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Inverter Connections

I am reaching out again about inverter issues. The inverter has been serviced, mother board replaced etc and is working great when it is OUT of the motorhome. The batteries and cables have been serviced, the transfer switch checked - everything you can imagine. It has been in a RV repair shop since the end of September and they still cannot figure out why power is not going out of the inverter into the motorhome. We have a 2014 Suncruiser 38q. Not sure where to go from here and 3 veteran RV mechanics cannot find the problem. Any ideas?

Sincerely,
Ann Drennan
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Old 12-10-2019, 03:55 PM   #2
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Have you tried asking the the manufacturer of the inverter for help?

If that doesn't work, then maybe Winnebago technical support. Perhaps they've seen a problem like this before.

It's really hard to trouble shoot electrical distribution (except the most basic or obvious) problems on the internet.
I hope you didn't pay your RV techs for the unresolved problem, more than an hour or so for diagnostics.

Good luck with it.
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Old 12-10-2019, 10:00 PM   #3
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You will have to be much more specific about the problem and what the complaint. I know that sounds crude but saying it doesn't go out of the the inverter really leaves it guesswork. How do one know it doesn't go out? Do you have some points or equipment that doesn't work? That might mean the inverter is okay but the wiring ,etc to the points which do not work is bad. Just because power is put on one end of wire, doesn't mean it gets to the other end!
Some possible explanations are blown fuses, loose connections or even something as simple as wires chewed in two by a rodent like a chipmunk or mouse.
The fact that techs don't find it is not really saying too much as some may have only worked on cars before or just walked in yesterday.
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Old 12-11-2019, 04:26 AM   #4
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I will be the first to say that I know not much about inverters. From what you said it sounds like someone is missing something very small but important. Does your units invertor control panel have a switch to turn it on and off? I know mine does and the inverter will not work if the switch for it is off. You might want to check that or even make sure that control panel is hooked up.
Good luck, you may want to call the inverter mfg for some tech. help also.
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Old 12-18-2019, 05:07 PM   #5
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I believe I stated that 3 twenty year RV technicians have been working on the problem. The inverter, when hooked up to the RV, does not convert. It will work when power is on either shore or generator. When out of the RV, they hook up to batteries and then put a hair dryer or something from it and it works. When put in the Motorhome, nothing- it does not power the outlets, refrigerator, microwave.. No output. They say they have checked fuses, batteries, traced wires etc - all I know is what I am being told. We have spoken with Magnum, Winnebago and the inverter tecnician who has looked at it twice, replaced the mother board and showed me it working outside of the motorhome. He hooks up to batteries and runs a blower from it. So, it is not the inverter - its something else. I agree that it appears to be wires but I am at wits end and so is the RV repair company. Now what? Frustrating.
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Old 12-19-2019, 11:02 AM   #6
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Without being there to check it out, I find it hard to believe that these 20 year veteran RV techs can't solve this.

with the unit mounted in the RV:
1. Is there battery power in sufficient amperage getting to the inverter?
2. When the inverter is on, checking at the output terminals, is there the proper amount of 120v being supplied by the inverter?

Assuming 1 and 2 are yes, then you check the wires to the main circuit breaker panel from the inverter. Is the power still getting to the breaker panel after those wires have been hooked up?

If yes, then you run down each wire to each branch supplied by the inverter.

Since you indicate none of the branches appear to be working, I would think the problem is between the inverter and the breaker panel.

Just my opinion, without being there to see things for myself.
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Old 12-19-2019, 11:27 AM   #7
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I would turn off all circuit breakers on the panel and then energize one at a time to see if the inverter shuts down, or provides power to that breaker circuit.
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Old 12-19-2019, 11:57 AM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Journey39n View Post
Without being there to check it out, I find it hard to believe that these 20 year veteran RV techs can't solve this.

with the unit mounted in the RV:
1. Is there battery power in sufficient amperage getting to the inverter?
2. When the inverter is on, checking at the output terminals, is there the proper amount of 120v being supplied by the inverter?

Assuming 1 and 2 are yes, then you check the wires to the main circuit breaker panel from the inverter. Is the power still getting to the breaker panel after those wires have been hooked up?

If yes, then you run down each wire to each branch supplied by the inverter.

Since you indicate none of the branches appear to be working, I would think the problem is between the inverter and the breaker panel.

Just my opinion, without being there to see things for myself.

I have to agree...with none of branches working the input to the inverter is highly suspect. Make sure the RV techs have checked the inlet and the outlet terminals. Tough to diagnose without being there with a meter in hand...good luck!

Al
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Old 12-19-2019, 01:08 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by anndrennan View Post
I believe I stated that 3 twenty year RV technicians have been working on the problem. The inverter, when hooked up to the RV, does not convert. It will work when power is on either shore or generator. When out of the RV, they hook up to batteries and then put a hair dryer or something from it and it works. When put in the Motorhome, nothing- it does not power the outlets, refrigerator, microwave.. No output. They say they have checked fuses, batteries, traced wires etc - all I know is what I am being told. We have spoken with Magnum, Winnebago and the inverter tecnician who has looked at it twice, replaced the mother board and showed me it working outside of the motorhome. He hooks up to batteries and runs a blower from it. So, it is not the inverter - its something else. I agree that it appears to be wires but I am at wits end and so is the RV repair company. Now what? Frustrating.
YUP! This is one of the big things about taking things for repair. We never know if they know!
Personal experience with repairs tells me these guys are NOT qualified, no matter how long they have been there. Only a complete dummy will go to the large amount of trouble to take the inverter out and hook to batteries for testing. That means absolutely nothing if it doesn't work in the unit, so most brainy sorts will start testing in the unit, making sure the inputs to the inverter are good and also the outputs.
Kind of like the car won't start so they take the motor out and it runs on the bench but not when they put it back as there is no gas in the car?
Unfortunately, I have to suggest taking it to another shop, ask what and how they plan to repair it and see if they test first or work on chasing things by guessing!
My first move would be different as I DIY almost all things to avoid the runaround and expense.
My move would be to get the drawings for the inverter, check that power is going in and then check that the correct power is coming out. In that way you cut the guessing down to it being an input, output or internal problem. Since they have tested the inverter(?) we might assume it has to be input or possibly output items. Those are fortunately much cheaper/quicker to fix than removing and replacing the inverter. ODDs are like 75/25 that it is something simple like fuses, etc. but that is still a mystery if it's a group of dummies working on it!
Wonder if they checked/replaced fuses and then tested, then after finding it failed they did not look to see if the fuse blew as soon as they turned it on?
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Old 12-19-2019, 03:38 PM   #10
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Are you in Florida by chance?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Journey39n View Post
Without being there to check it out, I find it hard to believe that these 20 year veteran RV techs can't solve this.

with the unit mounted in the RV:
1. Is there battery power in sufficient amperage getting to the inverter?
2. When the inverter is on, checking at the output terminals, is there the proper amount of 120v being supplied by the inverter?

Assuming 1 and 2 are yes, then you check the wires to the main circuit breaker panel from the inverter. Is the power still getting to the breaker panel after those wires have been hooked up?

If yes, then you run down each wire to each branch supplied by the inverter.

Since you indicate none of the branches appear to be working, I would think the problem is between the inverter and the breaker panel.

Just my opinion, without being there to see things for myself.
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Old 12-19-2019, 06:54 PM   #11
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I see it is a 2014 suncruiser, but what length do you have? More info can cut down the amount of info we would need to look over to get down to the details. On one model, I see controls for the inverter are located at the bottom of the lineup of switches/controls. Is that where you find yours?
I might be able to point to some simple things to check like fuses, etc.
What can sometimes be missed is that there is something simple wrong that blows a fuse, so they check the inverter, find it good and since they have replaced the fuse, they may expect it to work. However, there are times when the problem that blows the fuse is only connected when they reinstall the inverter.
That gets into them reinstalling it, the fuse blows immediately but since they just changed the fuse and know the inverter is good, they wind up stumped! It can be something as simple as two contacts on one connection being slightly off so that they touch or two wires may be reversed, etc. so that one has to be slow and careful to do it in an organized way and checking as you chase the problem.
To keep it somewhat more simple, I think of these as three parts. The wiring TO the inverter, the inverter, and then the wiring FROM the inverter. Of course, it is not totally that simple as the part going to the inverter can be wires, fuses, connections, etc., not just wire.
Putting it in a way that we know better, may help. Think of it as a lamp that doesn't work when you turn it on. you might take it to another room and it works but not when you bring it back to the first spot, so you want to be sure there is power where you plug it in. Otherwise, you get back to saying the lamp is good but doesn't work when you reinstall it. Maybe the outlet is bad or may you broke the bulb when moving it around?
It is possible that they are doing kind of the same thing with the inverter. So they need to be sure the power in the RV is getting to the inverter as they have kinda/sorta proved it is good, then they also need to keep in mind that the output wiring may also be killing the output power. Maybe something as simple as not getting the connections put together totally correct? So that is where using a meter to check is often better than looking at what works or doesn't.
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Old 12-19-2019, 07:25 PM   #12
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I went to WinnebagoInd.com web site and pulled the 120 volt wiring diagram for your RV.

https://www.winnebagoind.com/diagram...ire_184157.pdf

Everything a qualified person with electrical knowledge needs to know to troubleshoot your problem is present on this drawing.

Some troubleshooting thoughts:

If power is not going out of the inverter into the branch circuits in the inverter side of the breaker box when there is shore power or the generator is running, then there is an internal transfer switch inside the inverter that likely has failed.
If so - It may be that the techs are bench testing without connecting AC to the input side of the inverter. AC on the inout side would inhibit the inverter and cause it to try to operate the internal transfer switch.

If so - with shore power on - try flipping off the main panel breaker for INVERTER, and see if you can get AC on the inverter branch circuits without any AC input to the inverter. If you start getting power with that breaker flipped off then your inverter has an internal failure of its transfer switch or the circuitry that control it and will need to be repaired.

Don't get confused in the breaker box - there are two halves, one half that is NOT ever fed by the inverter on the LEFT and one half that is fed either THRU or BY the inverter on the RIGHT. I am asking you try flipping off the LEFT INVERTER breaker, not the right one.
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Old 12-19-2019, 10:42 PM   #13
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If the RV’s house batteries were not effectively holding a charge you would have the exact same symptoms— everything would work on shore power and generator but with the inverter installed in the RV it would not be able to power anything. If they removed the inverter and connected a good battery outside of the RV to the inverter it would produce AC power.

I hesitate to bring this up as you’d think it would be the first thing anyone would check.
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Old 12-26-2019, 10:14 AM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Morich View Post
I see it is a 2014 suncruiser, but what length do you have? More info can cut down the amount of info we would need to look over to get down to the details. On one model, I see controls for the inverter are located at the bottom of the lineup of switches/controls. Is that where you find yours?
I might be able to point to some simple things to check like fuses, etc.
What can sometimes be missed is that there is something simple wrong that blows a fuse, so they check the inverter, find it good and since they have replaced the fuse, they may expect it to work. However, there are times when the problem that blows the fuse is only connected when they reinstall the inverter.
That gets into them reinstalling it, the fuse blows immediately but since they just changed the fuse and know the inverter is good, they wind up stumped! It can be something as simple as two contacts on one connection being slightly off so that they touch or two wires may be reversed, etc. so that one has to be slow and careful to do it in an organized way and checking as you chase the problem.
To keep it somewhat more simple, I think of these as three parts. The wiring TO the inverter, the inverter, and then the wiring FROM the inverter. Of course, it is not totally that simple as the part going to the inverter can be wires, fuses, connections, etc., not just wire.
Putting it in a way that we know better, may help. Think of it as a lamp that doesn't work when you turn it on. you might take it to another room and it works but not when you bring it back to the first spot, so you want to be sure there is power where you plug it in. Otherwise, you get back to saying the lamp is good but doesn't work when you reinstall it. Maybe the outlet is bad or may you broke the bulb when moving it around?
It is possible that they are doing kind of the same thing with the inverter. So they need to be sure the power in the RV is getting to the inverter as they have kinda/sorta proved it is good, then they also need to keep in mind that the output wiring may also be killing the output power. Maybe something as simple as not getting the connections put together totally correct? So that is where using a meter to check is often better than looking at what works or doesn't.

I apologize, thought I had said - it is a 2014 Suncruiser 38Q. Thanks for the suggestions.
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Old 01-30-2020, 07:48 AM   #15
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Inverter Connections

Any resolution of the problem as of this date?
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Old 01-30-2020, 12:07 PM   #16
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Inverter Update

I apologize - I thought I had updated but that must have been on the IRV forum. After having the techs do everything that had been suggested, calling the magnum repair technician directly and Winnebago, Winnebago suggested replacing the inverter totally. So, that is what they did and everything is working as designed. The inverter technician refunded my money for the new motherboard and is perplexed as to why it didn't work. He has been in the business 28 years and I just gave him the old inverter as he wanted to figure it out.

Thank you all for your suggestions.

Ann Drennan
2014 Suncruiser 38q
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