Magnum invertor not powering fridge help

[RobRoh]

Hello, I have a 2020 mercedes winnebago vita with 10k miles.. has a magnum CSW-TS15 invertor... just came back from Burning man..yeayyyyy....

i used the invertor to power up the fridge the first night And it worked but stopped working in the morning so had to use the generator thru out the trip

Invertor not working anymore... it comes on and shows 13V on its
display..GFCI is not tripped..house batteries are on solar and show full battery...circuit breakers are not tripped...I reset all of them once.. fridge still works with the generator but not with the invertor.......what's the problem?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Morich]

We are missing some basic info as the drawings are list year, model, floor plan and in this case there are two different builds of that RV.

This is the interactive parts catalog to let you locate the inverter if it is not known where!
https://catalog.winnebagoind.com/menu/Parts.htm
I chose one at random as an example of what you might find.
Click these snips for best view!


But you may know where the inverter is located and from there much is the same. On the front of the inverter there is a plug for the transfer switch. Is it plugged solid, etc. ? Is the GFCI on the inverter tripped and needs rest?

Is there power coming out at the connections on the back side when using battery alone?

 

[RobRoh]

Thanks Morich..its a 2020 mercedes winnebago vita- chasis is 2018 model but cabin is 2020 i think... and yeah all that stuff is in place and working.. i know where invertor is.. GFCI is not tripped.. the power light is on and display shows 13V.. when i turn the invertor switch on and off i hear the beep noise.. i can't tell what the problem is....as i mentioned.. it worked and powered up the fridge but stopped working the next morning.. i am attaching couple of photos

 

[creativepart]

How charged up are your batteries? If they are in a lower state of charge the fridge could easily pull down the voltage below the Low Voltage Cut Off.

If that’s happened then you may have to do a hard reset of the inverter. Look in the Magnum Manual for instructions.

Is your Fridge 12v? Or 110v? Does it have a Propane option?

If it’s 110 volt AC only and you are using the inverter to run it you probably should expect only 12-15 hours of run time on batteries.

If it’s 12v then don’t run it on the inverter and if it’s 110v OR Propane then run it on Propane.

 

[creativepart]

Hello, I have a 2020 mercedes winnebago vita with 10k miles.. has a magnum CSW-TS15 invertor...

From your photos you have a Magnum CSW 1012 inverter. That a 1000w 12v pure sine wave inverter. The most you can run with the inverter is 1000w at 110vac. So, if running the fridge be sure you are not running hardly any other 110v device on inverter power.

Know and understand your inverter’s limits.

 

[Morich]

Small point to know on what RV you have is often handy. It becomes critical to know when you may need something for the chassis like brakes or motor, etc.
There should be a label near the driver's left side with a lot of really good info. Part of that is the exact info on when it was built.
Owners manauals can be found here for the 2020:
https://www.winnebago.com/owners/owner-resources/manuals-and-diagrams/operator-manuals/2020
The label then lets you get the correct parts, etc by looking at the serial number. NOT the VIN!
Manual has info on reading th elabel and what it means to us!

 

[Morich]

Sorry, got interupted!
Pictures are good as we can see lts of things. We see it says the 12Volt power is good to the inverter!
One point to be sure of? The frig seems to work okay when plugged? That should confirm the path for the power when using battery and inverted to ac is the same as the normal AC power which just passes through the inverter, except for one big question !!
This is the drawing that I think should fit this part.
Click for best view!

Are we correct that the AC is good to frig and both TV when plugged but is it dead to all three of those when on battery alone? Trying to weed out if the full inverter out is dead or if it might be just the connection going to frig.
I expect they are all dead but wanted to verify!

As a short, quick test, does it seem to make any difference if you start the RV engine? That has gizmos to connect the chassis battery and alternator to the coach batteries. That gives an easy way to sort if the coach batteries being dead is the big problem. Connected to the engine altrernator it should assure the inverter has plenty of power to work!
That helps to mark off the battery questions!

Moving beyond that, there may be need for you to look at a drawing here as it is too much for me to snip and let you see well!
https://www.winnebago.com/Files/Files/Winnebago/Resources/Diagram/2020/000159122.pdf



I did a snip of part of it to show my questions. But I admit to not fully understanding what it says, so some guessing involved!
My guess might be that it is not the inverter failed but possibly the transfer switch?
Right side at transfer marked in green gets power to go out on the loeft side as output and frig works.
But is the transfer not switching to send the output of the inverter out to the circuit they call BRN 3? BRN 3 is the frig circuit from the other drawing!
Would a meter stuck in the GFCI outlet see 110 AC coming out of the inverter to prove it it doing right but that power not getting to the frig, etc.?

Maybe the tansfer is stuck on using shore power, not switching to inverter power when it should? Maybe wiggle these plug connections to hope it might change things if one is not making good contact?

 

[RobRoh]

Just checked the Coach batteries thru the panel in the coach section - it shows FULL -
also
solar display panel says battery is FULL also
INVERTOR makes a beep sound when turned on & off and the lights come on display

I plugged the RV to my home outlet (shore power) and it tripped my circuit breaker in garage.... now it wont come back on (another problem to deal with..lol)

the fridge didn't come on once I plugged it in my home outlet in garage.. i assume it already tripped my circuit breaker as soon as I plugged it in and no power was coming into the RV..thus the fridge didn't work.

i just turned on the Generator and the fridge came, TV came on and air conditioner came on too

I turned off generator - turned on inverter.. no TV and no Fridge no air cond.

wow... what the heck is the problem here

why did it trip my circuit breaker in garage once plugged to shore power in my home

Also.. the Solar display gives few options on battery types and voltage which I have no clue about.....
BATTERY DISPLAY ON SOLAR
Calcium
WET
AGM
GEL
LTO
LiFePO4
could it be set on the wrong type of battery?
would that cause problems like this?

 

[Morich]

some points I know about to guess?
The garage outlet needs some thought. Is it a standard 30 amp for RV or is it the normal 15-20 amp house outlet. It may just be overloaded by the RV?
Or if it is a GFCI wired for outdoor uses, the grounding on the RV and the house may not be the same and they will often trip when used together.

I think the problem with using the inverter to power the frig and that circuit may be a sticking transfer switch. I have not dealt with one of those to know how they are built but some theory may show what I think is going on.

The transfer switch has some labels on the drawing to help see where the power shoud move and how the switch has to move contacts to transfer the power from normal utility power to the power from the inverter.

What I think is the power from the plug comes in and goes through the switch contacts as normal.
I think the plug power comes in as the green line. Not that connection is labeled "AC input 2 utility"?
We know it then comes out as the blue line labeled "AC output load". That goes to the frig circuit and works when you have power from the plug!

I think the fault is in the switch as it doesn't switch off the plug power and connect to the inverter power that comes in as the red line!

I woulod have to move this way to pursue a fix!
If I had the transfer switch in hand, does the plug power comes in, connect tot he output wiring?
Then is there 110AC standing on the wiring coming from the inverter?
If it is there, why doesn't the switch connect the outgoing line to the frig to this power from the inverter?
Has the transfer switch failed to switch?

But that is theory and some of that involves guesses based on what I 'think" is happening and all of that would need some checking!
A big part of DIY is making some guesses and testing them!

 

[lenore-WO]

suggest just plugging an external plug like a fan, light, etc into inverter. If they work than the issue is as Morich said further down the line. Could be the transfer switch, but I havent heard of any of those failing on our Vita/Porto site, the Refrigerator only uses about 7 amps of current when running, not a huge load.

 

[Morich]

Note that there are different setups on inverters and we need to look at how they operate.
In this setup, with the transfer switch outside the inverter we get a different operation than if the inverter has a "pass through "setup!
In this the shore power for this one specific circuit comes into the switch as the green line shows. Note the AC input label?
The switch then connects that AC input to the frig circuit.
But when there is no AC input and we want to power the frig circuit from the inverter, this switch has to connect it to the power coming from the inverter.
Instead of green line to blue that works, we need it to connect the blue line to red.
But part of the question has to be if the red line is powered at that point from the inverter??/
Maybe the inverter has failed or maybe the plug is loose on the inverter, so we need more testing!

Gotta figure the "comes inna/ goes outta and where the magic happens!

 

[RobRoh]

That's a good suggestion Lenore.. i will try that and see

So far, I know the following

Shore Power turns ON the Fridge, TV & A/C
Generator running turns ON the fridge, TV & A/C
Solar display panel shows battery is FULL

INVERTOR makes a beep sound when turned on & off and the green light comes on display

Still Invertor does NOT turn on Fridge, etc

 

[Morich]

So the question is if the AC comes out of the inverter. Is the GFCI on the inverter tripped and is the plug solid in that outlet?

If the AC is getting to the plug but not being switched to connect tot he stuff on the frig circuit, I would have to take a look at the switch!

Stuck contacts in the switch might seem logical but the GFCI is always a thing to consider.

 

[RobRoh]

i checked the GFCI and it was never tripped..
plug is solid in the outlet.
it has two outlets. i even changed it to the other outlet just in case

I will try to plug in a fan or something to the invertor outlet today to see what it does.

 

[Morich]

Yes, theory is one thing that always needs to be checked!
While in there, maybe try giving the switch a good thump to try to "unstick" any contacts as a pure "hope and prayer" idea?
I have no idea of what is in there but if it has failed you may want to thump it ---just because it needs it!!!

 

[lenore-WO]

i checked the GFCI and it was never tripped..
plug is solid in the outlet.
it has two outlets. i even changed it to the other outlet just in case

I will try to plug in a fan or something to the invertor outlet today to see what it does.

Absolutely need to do this, by the way I have a transfer switch assembly. I removed it when I upgraded my inverter to a inverter/charger system. Also are you a member of Vita/Porto Wannabees facebook group, We have lots of very helpful members that own Vita.