[Archived]

One caveat though….there is a thread on POG concerning a Vantare inverter cheat sheet. Ben and Donnie agree to disaggree on this. They are both way smarter than me…as Ben designed the system….I’ll listen to him. Geo.

[Archived]

I never suggest anyone change the max charge amps on the inverter, but rather to adjust down the “shore cord size”

A 50-amp household style circuit breaker can never supply a continuous 50 amps without getting warm and tripping, especially if it is in a box on a pole outside in the sun, where radiant heat will derate it. I usually suggest setting the shore cord size on both inverters of a Vantare or Parliament to 40-45 amps. Try 45 amps, and if the breaker trips at any time, set them back to 40 amps. This will keep you from tripping the shore breaker and allow the inverters to charge at their optimum anytime coach loads are not greater than the shore size.

[Dean]

My former company produces “temporary power outlets” which is the industry term for our shore power boxes.

We used tens of thousands of circuit breakers produced by all of the major electrical component manufacturers. From them we learned if the shore power current draw is kept at 80% of the rated breaker amps or less you would have little or no problem with shore power tripping.

When we discuss energy management the best thing to keep in mind is depending on the available power follow the limits that will keep shore power breakers from tripping.

For 50 amp service limit the current draw to 40 amps per leg, for 30 amp limit the current draw to 24 amps total (both legs combined) and 16 amps total for a 20 amp service.

[Corey]

Thanks Ben for your input.

Let me make sure I understand. You believe that I should leave the chargers set at 15 amps but turn my shore cord setting down to 45 amps?

I just went to adjust the shore cord settings and found both were set at 47 amps I turned them to 45 amps.

[Archived]

Dean, we always set ours at 45a and go down as need be and per Ben leave our Vantare settings on the inverters alone. Geo.

[Archived]

I do the same as George and Jon suggested. I will say that occasionally I will use the Donnie Myer cheat sheet for “tricking” the second inverter into float mode once the first inverter shows that it has gone from bulk to float. This helps even the loads on each leg especially if we are running the generator.

[glen]

Yes, don’t worry about the charge amps, but instead use the shore cord size settings to keep from tripping the shore breakers. If 45 doesn’t stop it, go as low as 40 on each inverter. If you need to go lower than that, make the campground change the breaker. The household style breakers actually derate a fraction each time they trip so the more they trip, the less amps they will trip at the next time.

[Archived]

Maybe off thread a little here but, I will ask anyway–Does the same rule hold true re GFI outlets – the more it is tripped the more it will trip??

[Mike]

As best as I have been able to tell, it is not necessarily the case with them. They trip on a totally different principle, that being a difference in the current draw between the “hot” black lead and the white neutral lead. They assume that the difference is traveling to ground through someone or something and trip to protect consumers and equipment. The failure in these is normally an electronic failure of the sensing ciruitry that causes them to trip and be reset.

In the “household” circuit breaker, the mechanism that makes them trip on overcurrent is purely mechanical based on heating up on overcurrent above their rating. The bimetal parts that heat up and break the circuit simply wear out and fail.

[Archived]

Part of the problem associated with the circuit breakers used in shore power outlets is they are not designed to be used as a switch. Add to that fact that in a lot of instances they are switched under load it is a wonder campgrounds do not experience more failures.

There is a secondary problem that contributes. As campgrounds use more and more aluminum wire the connection to the circuit breaker loosens more frequently. At our factory we torqued them to the specified values using tools that were calibrated, and tested often for accuracy. Yet by the time they were installed an put into use the wire connections might have loosened. They are supposed to be retorqued as part of a maintenance schedule, but that never happens so as resistance goes up due to the relaxing torque on the wire connection the breakers begin tripping prematurely.

They are not designed to be run at their max rated amperage to start with so just be aware that running high current draws usually will trip a breaker, hence the suggestion of sticking with 40 amps for instance.