This is what I have. On the Gen. The inverter charges house batteries and I can run everything is fine. At home I connect to 110 power. Have been able to keep hours bat. charged and I could use the lights.Now the problem. Gen running, inverter/charger all works the green light turns on on the inverter showing charging. When I plug in to 110 I hear they click and hum but no green light. It looks like no power. Any suggestions?My coach is Safari/ Sahara 2002 38ft. The inverter is Freedom Combo 20.I did check the breakers in the coach. There is a circuit breaker reset on the inverter, it is not tripped.Any thoughts. Cajun Jeff

Why are you trying to run the generator when you plug in to shore power? Your transfer switch is probably having trouble figuring out what you are doing. It should allow one or the other, not both! Sounds like your problem is that you are plugged into a 15 or 20 amp circuit at the house. In order to do more than charge the batteries/turn on lights, you need to set up a 30 amp RV circuit and plug.Barb

All these RVs are wired differently, so I can only tell you how mine works. The charger is actually an inverter/charger...one machine. I control the inverter with an on/off switch. If I don't need to use the inverter, it remains off. On the charger part of the inverter/charger, I can have it on, but the lights that say it is on turned off.The inverter/charger works the same on shore power or with the generator...as it should.

Where do you hear the Hum? Do you have 120 to the rest of the RV? From your description, on Shore Power, you do NOT have 120 to the RV and the Inverter/Charger. Your 50 amp Transfer switch may be faulty. Doug

Sounds like the transfer switch is set in the wrong position.For safety sake, you can't have both shore power and generator powering the system at the same time. Think explosions with flying sparks.So there is a "transfer switch" that makes it impossible for both shore power and generator power to connect at the same time. Some rigs have automatic transfer switches, some have manual ones, I have no idea which you have. But it's set to generator, which is why shore power doesn't power anything. If it's automatic (which I suspect it is, which would be why you don't know about it) it isn't working.And by the way, there are inverters and there are converters, and you are talking about your converter, NOT your inverter. Converter accepts 120 v AC power either from shore or generator and converts it to 12 v DC for charging the batteries and running the other 12 v DC circuits. Inverter takes 12 v DC from the batteries and makes 120 v AC for things that need 120 v AC.And yes, it makes a huge difference. Never mind the two words sound somewhat alike. It's like your car and your boat, except they don't sound somewhat alike. Still, cars and boats are NOT the same.

The Freedom 20 is an 'inverter' and charger (which also serves as a 'converter' when on AC power source) OP...your transfer switch is 'stuck' on gen power source and is not swapping over to shore power source......burnt contacts, bad relay(s), loose wires etc.If handy and comfortable with electricity you can remove cover.....all power OFF and check wiring, terminals, contactsThen turn shore power on and check input/output voltage.....you should be able to see contacts make up when energizing shore power.

Need some help here inverter/shore power/gen power

mytime
Explorer
Aug 12, 2013
Your inverter is probably proggramed to conserve power when pluged into the lower amp service, there may be a setting in the parameters to allow the inverter to charge the batteries only, no house power. Check your manual. Most inverters will conserve the small amount of power for house use only andby default, not chg the batteries.
Cajun_jeff
Explorer
Aug 12, 2013
Wolfe,

I used a volt meter checked at the input side from the AC power chord and I had 110 at the leg going in. The opposite side had 110 as well.

The jumpers to the bottom black box were live as well. On the far right side to the box nothing.

When I tested with the Gen set I had the 220 entering on the bottom black box and 220 out on the opposite side.

As you mentioned I did check all the connections before I did the volt test. All of them were tight.

Hope that helps. My only guess is there could be some contact problems but I'm not positive.

We will see this week when the package arrives in the mail.

Cajun Jeff :B
wolfe10
Explorer
Aug 11, 2013
Jeff,

What test did you run that lead you to that conclusion?

Agree, it is quite likely, but it could be just a bad connection.
BarbaraOK
Explorer
Aug 11, 2013
Cajun Jeff,

Whether or not the transfer switch is bad, you still need to understand how the systems work and what you need to be doing or not doing as the case may be, such as the fact that when on shore power, you don't run the generator, that you may or may not be able to charge the chassis batteries from shore power/generator depending upon how your coach is wired. You have three different electrical systems - the 12V house, the 12 Volt Chassis, and the 120 V house - learn about them and make sure you have a good multimeter - - it is your friend.

Barb
Cajun_jeff
Explorer
Aug 11, 2013
I have ordered a new ESCO ES50M-65N. I am fairly certain that my problem is in that switch. I will install it when it gets here.

Cajun Jeff
PastorCharlie
Explorer
Aug 11, 2013
dougrainer wrote:
MrWizard wrote:
there could be a faulty transfer switch ( automatic 'power source' switching relay )

but it sounds like operator error

you can use ONLY ONE power source

you can use shore power, the generator, or the inverter-powered by the batteries

ONLY ONE not two at the same time

the freedom 20 'combo charger/inverter' will switch from inverting to charging with 120v 'pass thru' using shore or genset, anytime there is 120vac power available

you cannot use genset and shore power at the same time

You CAN use Shore and Gen set at the same time. BUT, only the Gen set will be supplying power to the RV. Doug

Correct. When both are activated the automatic transfer switch will default to generator and disconnect shore power.
wolfe10
Explorer
Aug 11, 2013
Actually, if the ATS is functioning as designed, Doug is correct. It will select ONLY one 120 VAC source. Most coach manufacturers wire it such that generator is the "default" source. So if the generator is running, it is the ONLY source of 120VAC power to your RV.

Of course, if the ATS malfunctions, you can "let the smoke out"!
MrWizard
Moderator
Aug 11, 2013
its a Great way to "let the smoke' out of electrical parts of the RV
genset, transfer switch etc..

its been documented on this forum
Blaster_Man
Explorer
Aug 10, 2013
dougrainer wrote:
MrWizard wrote:
there could be a faulty transfer switch ( automatic 'power source' switching relay )

but it sounds like operator error

you can use ONLY ONE power source

you can use shore power, the generator, or the inverter-powered by the batteries

ONLY ONE not two at the same time

the freedom 20 'combo charger/inverter' will switch from inverting to charging with 120v 'pass thru' using shore or genset, anytime there is 120vac power available

you cannot use genset and shore power at the same time

You CAN use Shore and Gen set at the same time. BUT, only the Gen set will be supplying power to the RV. Doug

As a point of clarification, you can be plugged in to shore power and have the generator running, but you can only "use" one. My coach defaults to the generator.
dougrainer
Nomad
Aug 10, 2013
MrWizard wrote:
there could be a faulty transfer switch ( automatic 'power source' switching relay )

but it sounds like operator error

you can use ONLY ONE power source

you can use shore power, the generator, or the inverter-powered by the batteries

ONLY ONE not two at the same time

the freedom 20 'combo charger/inverter' will switch from inverting to charging with 120v 'pass thru' using shore or genset, anytime there is 120vac power available

you cannot use genset and shore power at the same time

You CAN use Shore and Gen set at the same time. BUT, only the Gen set will be supplying power to the RV. Doug