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Trace Inverter remote issue
My house batteries are shot and it will be a little bit before I will be replacing them. I have disconnected all but one battery from the bank to the coach effectiivly resulting in a large capacitor making the coach function. I know that poor batteries can wreck havic on the sytem but I’m stuck with this for the present.
While plugged in to 50amps an RV park things were functoning rather normally but now I am plugged into power at a friends place using 2 regular extension cords going into an adapter box which the 50amp cord plugs into. A cheater box. I already know it’s preferable to have two heavier guage cords but these are just the regular home owner size.
Problem: One of the remotes and inverters is holding steady but the other one keeps toggling between a blinking light on “AC IN Good” and a steady green ligth on “Float”. When it’s blinking on “AC IN Good” the yellow “Inverting” light comes on. It probably toggles between these two lights once every 5 mintues.
I tried turning the battery charging settings on that remote in question all the way down to like 1 amp maximum float thinking maybe it would relive the duty on that inverter/charger but no change. I am only running one A/C in the bedroom and I have the water heater off. The A/C whether, it’s on or off doesn’t seem to be affecting it which makes sense to me, but when the toaster or the microwave is used it aggrevates the problem right away, which also makes sense assuming it was a charge load issue on that particular charger.
My breaker box inside has seperate breakers for the inverter and charger half’s of each 2500 watter inverter. Today I turned the Charger breaker to that inverter OFF inside the coach but to my surprise the inverter still went into “Float” mode. Hmm. I don’t get that at all.
I flip flopped the two small electrical cords going into the cheater box to allow for a difference in the lenght of the cords (a 50′ on one vs a 100′ on the othe) but the problem stayed on the same remote instead of migrating with the flipped cords.
I already know a couple of you that know me are not going to be surprised that I’m having elecrical issues and your going to let me have it for my past shannigans possibly leading to some issue so go ahead……………let me have it. I am trying to be a good boy from now on yet here I am working with this set up and I”m going to be here for a while so that is why I am posting for so I can trouble shoot more. I know I probably need to get larger size cords to beging with. Also, when I run the generator the issue is not there as you would suspect.
Why does the remote stay in “Float” when I turn the charger off at the breaker ? That is the case with both chargers and remotes not just the one.
Thanks in advance for any input.
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6 Replies
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The frequency of the toggling / cycling of the inverter is not quite that often at times. The frequency varies but it doesn’t seem to have any variance becaue of the power usage on the coach. Also I was mistaken about the A/C not making it cycle but that is not the only time is cycles. It is pretty much that something is right on the borderline or edge in terms of it tipping. Do I need to be concerned that something is getting worn out with the inverter cycling in and out of “Float” like that possibly a hundred times a day ? It like to just let that one inverter perform minimum duty. I woudl just turn it off altogether but the fridge runs off that one.
Still can’t Edit Post. I sent Tom an email explaining that I am already logged in when I attempt to Edit Post.
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Short answer, replace the batteries, you’re just going to cause yourself more problems.
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Jeff, I don’t know which of your coaches you are having this trouble, but generally you can get away with only one inverter funtioning. If you use the inverter to maintain the batteries while on shore power it should do well in that application.
However, if you are also trying to use that very limited and dangerous sounding cheater box you describe to run an AC unit, plus some other stuff such as a toaster on a 120 V circuit you are asking for trouble because the loads may exceed the capacity of the extension cords, or worse may actually create a fire.
Do it right. Use the coach and systems as they were designed and intended.
I likely am not fully understanding what you are attempting to accomplish, but whatever it is, try to explain it so we can fully realize the scope of the question.
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I’ve discovered that the fan on the inverter in question is not coming on. I don’t know if it might be getting hot during the day (I’m in Florida heat) and at night with less heat the toggling of the lights and status on the remotes is holding more steady than it does during the day, but still not perfect.
I guess I need to wheel over to Parliment Coach here nearby in Clearwater and let them check the inverter out. If anybody has anything good or bad to say about Parliment nows the time I suppose. I do not belive there has been a lot of complaints with them.
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Parliament, with Rick and Ben has been a very much recommended source for service work.
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Jeff even though you are using a cheater box you are probably not getting 50 amp of service. The normal extension cords will not carry the amperage needed, just not enough cooper in the the wires. You would be better off running your generator 24/7 and buy new batts.
If you turn the inverter off at the inverter does the float light stay on?
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