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HELP! – Genset/Inverter problem!
Yesterday,
we had the bus out to serve as a family tailgating headquarters for the local
holiday fireworks show. Suddenly, we noticed that the Cruisairs had shut down
and upon investigation, I saw that the generator had shut down. I tried to
restart the genset and it would start but immediately shut down every time. So
I stepped outside to investigate at the genset bay and immediately noticed a
very large puddle of what appeared to be coolant under the bus. Upon close
inspection, we discovered that a “nipple” like stopper had popped off
the side of the generator’s radiator and allowed it to puke it’s coolant. We
refitted the nipple and tightened the clamp that holds it on and then refilled
the radiator with coolant (luckily I had a spare supply on board). We then
restarted the generator and it stayed running! Success? Not quite….Within
several minutes one leg of the house went dead and gave no voltage/amps display
on the distribution panel, The other side/leg continued to supply power and
display its voltage and amp draw on the panel. The leg that went dead supplied
power to the refrigerator, two of the three CruisAirs, and no telling what
else. I checked the inverter and generator settings at the panel menu and we
did a detailed visual inspection around the bus, inside and out, for any
switches or breakers that might have tripped – but no luck. We never could get
the second leg repowered and then called it a day when the panel menu display
for the bad leg went blank so we couldn’t even continue diagnosis.We
pulled up stakes, took the bus back to the lot and plugged back in to 50 amp
shore power. With that, we got power back on both legs, but the one side
inverter/generator menu is still blank, so I can’t check/adjust the settings.Any
ideas on what our problem is and how to solve it? Could this have anything at
all to do with the house batteries being bad or at end of life?We
would appreciate any wisdom/direction you can offer as we have a couple of
trips coming up soon and obviously can’t use the bus like this! The inverters (2) are Trace SW4024s. -
6 Replies
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1. You are getting 24 VDC to power the inverter that is working. You should have 24 VDC to the one with no display as well.
2. Some batteries can be really bad and the system will still function.
3. Did you check the breaker on the front of the inverter?
4. Recheck all your DC breakers. Then check them again. Throw them to off and then ON. Make sure they come on.
5. TEST with a multi-meter for 24 volts at the inverter DC input connection. CAREFULLY!
Reference FIgure T-303 which I sent to you about a year ago with all the other Vantare’ wiring diagrams.
IF the back if the inverter shows 24 VDC, then you may well have a bad inverter.
Call me if you want.
That’s my story and I am sticking to it.
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Michael…
Your inverter has a reset button on the inverter itself. I don’t mean the reset on the inverter screen inside the bus but on the actual inverter in the bay.
You will have to adjust some settings once you reset it.
Diane
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Good info! Thanks, Diane!
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As it turns out, the existing house batteries were (apparently) old lead acid type. We had never paid attention to the house batteries because we don’t dry camp – the bus is ALWAYS powered by 50 amp shore power or the generator. At any rate, when we had the problem diagnosed by Atlanta Custom Coach, we were told that we needed to replace the house batteries. So, I bought a new set of 8 Lifeline AGM’s from Tom Chilcote @ Trans-Specialists and had them installed (the bus is at Atlanta Custom Coach now ready to be picked up). This morning, ACC owner Todd Lay e-mailed me pictures of the old and new batteries. I’d say this was the problem for sure!
Some of the old batteries had actually exploded!
Tom made buying/getting the replacement batteries very easy and almost painless! He quoted an outstanding fair price versus retail and had the batteries delivered in two days! (Ordered over the weekend, shipped Monday, arrived Wednesday). I can’t say enough about Tom’s generous help! If you’re needing batteries (house or chassis), Tom Chilcote is THE man!
This is the new battery installation:
We’re picking the bus up today and going “camping” at Paradise Valley this weekend!
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Michael,
It’s imperative that you now correctly
setup your inverter/charges to match the new AGM batteries and assure
the charging parameters are set correctly. The batteries came with
instructions on setting Bulk, Absorption and Float voltages. If the
shop tossed the paperwork, here’s the settings:Bulk/Absorption 14.2 – 14.4
Float 13.2 – 13.4
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Michael: You could have had a major fire from the battery fiasco. I have never seen batteries that were that bad! You dodged a large caliber bullet this time.
I hope you now see the benefit of preventive maintenance so it won’t happen again. We don’t want to see a picture of your bus burned to a crisp!
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