2014 Phaeton 42' LH voltage drop

CA Traveler wrote:
What controls closing the solenoid on his rig?

The solenoid is activated by the ign side of the Key. Doug

What controls closing the solenoid on his rig?

Actually everything sounds normal to me. Confirming that the DC amps rises to 120A means the charger is drawing 20A AC from the shore power which answers the question of why the AC voltage drops slightly. Remember you are measuring the shore power voltage as the inverter is in pass through mode not inverter voltage.

On the DC side I can also see why the lights dim because the when the chassis/house battery solenoid closes the chassis battery is pulling down the house battery voltage. Any time you connect two sets of batteries the voltage will try to equalize between the banks which is what is happening here, the DC voltage is dropping by .5 volts. Probably nothing wrong with the chassis battery it's just they are resting at 13.0 and the house batteries are under Float charger at 13.5 so as soon as they are connected they seek to equalize their voltage at 13.0 until the charger can ramp up and bring both sets to the Float voltage.

I would say nothing is wrong working as designed.

BTW there is no need to try to do anything at the inverter the button on the Magnum remote turns the inverter on/off same as the one on the front. The issue with the button on the inverter itself is the LED indication. When in charge mode it only indicates charger operation so you really can't tell if the inverter is ON or OFF. If shore power is disconnected then the LED on the inverter indicates inverter On/Off. Just use the remote buttons and LED and it will be much easier.

Last item the inverter is NOT connected to the ignition in any way. I service the Tiffin plant so I can tell you for sure.

Gary

I was thinking of a significant DC amps load tester that would draw the batteries down to say 11.5V or a minute - amounts depend upon the battery. These are often referred to as carbon pile testers. A auto store or battery shop can test them.

To be sure it's related to the isolator disconnect the small wires from the solenoid and retest. That seems reasonable to me but...

Be sure to take pics first and/or mark any wires that you remove. Pics are always desirable IMHO.

13.5 surface charge, 13.1 load test

Have a load tester will do that today.

I'm now suspicious of your engine batteries, have them load checked.

It sounds like that as soon as the key is on the isolator connects the engine batteries. The high initial amperage may be OK as the charger figures out the charging of the additional batteries. The 18A is suspicious as I would expect that the engine batteries were already charged.

What triggers the isolator? It could be just the key turned on. Mine which is a bidirectional BIRD senses the battery voltage of both banks and would not connect the solenoid if the engine batteries were charged and there are built in delays.

If the above is correct your engine batteries is weak and the house batteries are helping to start the engine.

Here is what I gleem today. First I was wrong I did not turn off the inverter in the bay, I thought I did but really did not. It seems that the ON / OFF switch is a momentary switch which takes a light finger... I did not get a steady green light like the manual said if it is on. I did get a green light flash every 8 Sec showing that the inverter was in standby mode, and there was float changing. It almost takes 2 people to check these things. One on the remote taking notes and one in the bay.

Inverter in standby mode shore power connected.
Key Off 13.5 volts 4 amps at inverter remote panel
Key On 13.0 volts 120 amps decreasing to 90, 40, 20, 0, 40, stable 18 amps (15 sec for this to happen)
Key Off 13.4 volts 4 amps

Key turned on (AC side digital meter used) Power dropped 2 volts 122 to 120 overhead light dimmed just little Voltage differents between different outlets only a couple of volts All within specs.
Key turned off all outlets jumped back 122 or where they were before.

To me turning the key on should have nothing to do with the overhead lights which are on the DC side. The inverter should be in standby since shore power is passing thu to handle the load. With shore power connected the inverter becomes a battery charger. When the AC goes away, the unit becomes an inverter. Still does not account for what is happening.

Progress.

I know that there has be a little delay but I have the unit here now so I can take the information learn here and do some more testing. Tiffin says they think it is a loose ground The dealer service writers say it is normal and the the inverter is kicking in when the key is turned..... Funny I turned the inverter off in the bay..... So I do know they do not know what they are talking about. So more testing and will post the results here.