[steve]

One possible explanation is that one of the chargers went into “equalization” mode and the other did not expect it.

[AL]

Davy I don’t know if this is the same problem but it might be. I was in Newport Beach, Ca plugged into shore power. I had problems with the power something similar to what you have described. Checked shore power and it showed on my hand held meter that I had 220 V. Could not figure it out.

Had an electrician check it out and he found that the salt air had eroded the bus bars on the breakers (on parks power plug in pole) that altho it would show there was power it was such a small point of contact that it couldn’t really carry much current. He bent the offending connectors and everything was fine. Big relief to me of course.

Hopefully it was in your shore power supply vs. your unit.

[Archived]

Thanks for your thoughts. Sorry for the delay in getting back. It has been a busy weekend with my daughter’s crisis and Easter. Plus all has been well with this problem until about 2:00 this morning.

I heard the printer kick off and back on and that means the receptacle it is plugged into had lost power. I looked at the inverters and all was well. Battery voltage was 26.4. I went back to bed.

A few minutes later the printer kicked off and on again. This time the inverter said the battery voltage was 27ish but all was working and no errors. It came back down to 26.4 in about 30 seconds.

I watched it about 10 minutes and then the battery voltage begin to climb. When it got up to 31.3-4 the error light starting flashing on side 1 and it stopped inverting. I checked the error code (Something I forgot to do the first night it did this.) and the error was “High Battery Voltage.” I was watching the voltage on both inverters and both were right at 31.4 but only side 1 showed an error.

I cycled inverter 1 to off and back on and it was in float. The battery voltage was 26.4 but immediately begin to climb and within two minutes it was 31.4 and going into error mode again. This time and every time after both inverters went into error mode. Each time I cycled the inverters though the settings and back to on, the voltage began to climb and within 2-3 minutes it would reach 31.3-4 and the error would turn on.

Finally I went outside and turned the breaker off and they are both inverter and everything is running off batteries fine. I will let it go without shore power for 45 minutes or so as I did the other night or maybe go to bed and leave it until morning.

The place I am parked is a regular place for me and the voltage has been running 122123 on both sides very consistantly. Maybe I should take the plug apart tomorrow to make sure all is well.

Any ideas?

Davy

[Archived]

Davy,

On a previous coach I had inverter issues very similar to the battery voltage fluctuations you describe. As it turned out I ended up disassembling and cleaning all battery cable connections. I never found specifically which terminal or connection was bad (I suspect the main ground) but with all connections cleaned and free of corrosion the problem went away and never happened again.

[Archived]

Davy, turn off the charging section of the inverter/charger that is going into alarm. Don’t turn off the unit, just the charger function. See if the problem returns on the other charger. If it does not it could be the regulator in the charger. There are a lot of configurable parameters in a Trace. I will they are correct given both units have worked until recently.

It’s always good to rule out battery cable connections and batteries before deciding to have a Trace unit repaired, if it looks like might need to be repaired.

[Corey]

Davy,

How old are the batteries?

[Davy]

Davy, give me a call if I can be of assistance. 865-388-7665 Everyone is dead on with posts, battery cables, which in overcharge may not be the issue, batteries or a invertor. The Trace manual is available online, can you issolate it to one invertor as being the issue? Im not sure what batteries you have in your coach…Im sorry to hear of difficulties with your daughter.

[Sammy]

Thanks all.

The batteries will be two years old in June. I will check the connections today. I have went through all of the inverter settings and everything seems to be correct. They are set to show an error if battery volts are over 30 and remain there for 30 seconds or so. That seems to be what they are doing.

I turned the shore power on after nearly 5 hours. That was over two hours ago. Side 2 is in float and both sides are reading 28 volts. I could not figure out how to turn off the charger section of the inverter, Gil. My choices in the main menu are Off, Search, On and Charge. It is normally in the ON position.

Davy

Edit: Side 1 just came into float and now they are both at a more normal 24.4-6 volts. (Sorry, my bad typing. That Should read 26.4-6 as Jon pointed out. Thanks for pointing that out Jon)

[Archived]

Davy 24.6 volts in float is not normal. It is too low.

I would feel more comfortable if you said it was 26.4 (13.2) in float, or with the charging cycle off you were at 25.6 (12.8). 24.6 is a reading of a battery discharged almost 50%.

[Jason]

You are correct, Jon. It reads 26.4-6 not 24.4-6. I have edited my post above. Thank you.

[Archived]

All my battery connections are clean and tight. It has behaved perfectly today. I can not figure out how to turn the charging off without turning the inverter off. Will reducing the charging amps to 0 do it? IF so I will try that if it happens again.

Thanks, Jeff, for the offer to call. I will take you up on it if this happens again and I can find no answer.

Davy

[Michael]

I am curious what the outside ambient temperature was the night you observed this situation.

The only time the inverters normally will charge at a bulk/float voltage higher than 28.6/26.6vdc is if outside ambient temp (they see from the battery temp sensors located on the batteries over the drive and tag axle wheel wells) is below the mean temperature of 70-deg. The colder, the higher the bulk and float voltages, just the opposite of when the temperature is greater than 70-degrees, the temp compensated charging is lower than the actual battery voltage of 28.6/26.6vdc respectively.

Just a thought.

Ben Cummings

Parliament Motor Coach

P.S. There is always the “solar flare” or “planet alignment” for the odd-ball one shot weird occurances, lol.

(Sorry, it’s monday…just a little levity).

[Archived]

Sorry Ben. This is PC and levity is not allowed without prior permission.

Great advice. We really appreciate it.

[Archived]

Davy, I don’t know where you are located, and it is mid May, but your picture shows you in snow. I’ve had similar odd inverter problems but only in very cold conditions. Marathon advised me to disconnect the temperature sensors when the inverters act up in winter conditions. Just a thought.

[Archived]

The snow picture is the historic blizzard in Tulsa, Oklahoma about 3 years ago. I could not get away fast enough so I rode it out.

When the inverters were acting up the outside temps were 30-50 at night and 50-70 during the day. It was actually beautiful spring weather.

I have come to believe it was the electricity where I was parked. It only acted up at night. One night it was 12:30 AM when it did it and the rest of the nights it was always between 2-3 in the morning. I changed the time setting on my inverters by 12 hours thinking if this was something happening on a timer of some sort the problem would show up in the afternoon. The very next night it did it again just after 2:00 AM.

There were two ways to get it to stop. I could turn off the main breaker outside and draw power from the batteries only OR even more telling I could crank the generator and the problem would disappear. I did not even think to try the generator until two nights before I left there. The last night I was there I turned off the breaker before I went to bed.

That pointed me toward the shore power. I could find no loose connections in the panel or the plug. However the line voltage at 2:00 in the morning was consistently above 125 on each side. Often it would read 125.5 for about an hour or so then it would go back down to normal levels near 121. My Dad who is an electrician thinks something is loose or haywire in a transformer in the area or the wires or weather head going into the church where I park. He thinks the voltage is spiking at night and probably going higher than my line voltage was reading for short periods of time.

I used to have problems with low voltage on one side there until a car took out a pole with a transformer the winter of 2013. When they replaced the pole and transformer it has been good since.

I park at that church when I am in Ohio so I will be back there for a few nights in June.

We have since spent a week in OKC and two nights in Wichita with no problems at all. I only hope that nothing was damaged.

Thank you for all of your help.

Davy