800 watt generator tripping, 3500 watt doing fine
Hi all, I'm having a power problem that's got me stumped.
We've been dry camping in Alaska for almost 3 months in a 2009 Thor Jazz 2780BH 5th wheel. Most of the time we've been using a Champion 3500 watt (4000 watt starting) generator, but we have a more quiet 800 watt Honda clone that we use when we're next to people.
This weekend I got distracted with the 4th and made two mistakes:
1. I let the generator run out of gas. This has happened before with no problems, but this time it tripped a GFCI outlet and I can't get the reset button to stay in. However, everything else was still running fine off the 800 watt generator so I figured I'd troubleshoot the outlet later.
2. Last night I forgot to turn our inverter off and I drained our batteries almost completely.
This morning I went to turn on our 800 watt generator and it immediately overloaded. It was working fine last night. I eventually narrowed it down to one circuit breaker that controls the outlets in the bedroom. It's labeled "Ten" by the previous owner. I have no idea what that means, and I'm not sure what else it controls. However, when I turn on that breaker I also hear a hum that sounds like a fan kicking in behind the breaker box. Once the fan kicks in the 800 watt generator overloads. The breaker box sits under the fridge, but I turned off the fridge and the 12v battery disconnect and still hear the hum, so I don't think it's anything the fridge is doing.
The 3500 watt one still powers everything, but when I turn on that breaker I hear a noticeable change in the generator. That usually only happens when something is pulling 700+ watts, like our Insta-pot, convection oven, or A/C.
Is it possible that I am hearing the converter charger fan? Could the charger be pulling enough power to overload an 800 watt generator since the batteries are completely drained? I don't think they pull that much...
I've tried turning off the battery disconnect and unplugging everything in the RV. The A/C and electric water heaters are off. I even tried turning off the fridge. I'm stumped...any suggestions?
Thanks as always for your help.
We've been dry camping in Alaska for almost 3 months in a 2009 Thor Jazz 2780BH 5th wheel. Most of the time we've been using a Champion 3500 watt (4000 watt starting) generator, but we have a more quiet 800 watt Honda clone that we use when we're next to people.
This weekend I got distracted with the 4th and made two mistakes:
1. I let the generator run out of gas. This has happened before with no problems, but this time it tripped a GFCI outlet and I can't get the reset button to stay in. However, everything else was still running fine off the 800 watt generator so I figured I'd troubleshoot the outlet later.
2. Last night I forgot to turn our inverter off and I drained our batteries almost completely.
This morning I went to turn on our 800 watt generator and it immediately overloaded. It was working fine last night. I eventually narrowed it down to one circuit breaker that controls the outlets in the bedroom. It's labeled "Ten" by the previous owner. I have no idea what that means, and I'm not sure what else it controls. However, when I turn on that breaker I also hear a hum that sounds like a fan kicking in behind the breaker box. Once the fan kicks in the 800 watt generator overloads. The breaker box sits under the fridge, but I turned off the fridge and the 12v battery disconnect and still hear the hum, so I don't think it's anything the fridge is doing.
The 3500 watt one still powers everything, but when I turn on that breaker I hear a noticeable change in the generator. That usually only happens when something is pulling 700+ watts, like our Insta-pot, convection oven, or A/C.
Is it possible that I am hearing the converter charger fan? Could the charger be pulling enough power to overload an 800 watt generator since the batteries are completely drained? I don't think they pull that much...
I've tried turning off the battery disconnect and unplugging everything in the RV. The A/C and electric water heaters are off. I even tried turning off the fridge. I'm stumped...any suggestions?
Thanks as always for your help.
