WARNING large inverter chargers
Hi folks, This warning may apply to anyone who has a large inverter charger of any make. I got lucky today. I was running the generator (Yamaha 3000 sIEB) and roof air and using the Magnum to...
Forum Discussion
Hi,
The cause is unknown.
Issues had started to develop with charging via the generator. It would charge at 8 to 10 amps--until I placed a large load on the generator--then charging would spike to 75 amps.
The replacement installation has enhanced cooling--better air flow around the inverter. I may well add a 120 volt fan to boost that even more. I won't bother with a thermostat--I'll just have it so if the inverter is on the fan operates.
The history of over heating and "protection" shut down was pretty low. I had an FET warning twice. Once when running the Magnum "flat out" (I don't remember the loads) and once when charging after I had deliberately depleted the battery bank by running a 1000 watt load (oil filled heaters) for four hours. In the charging case I had not yet limited charging rate. Magnum limits that to 125 amps--and because I had generator power it went to 127--and shut down.
I'll no longer need to "trick" the unit into doing voltage support since I have an autoformer. I did that for several many weeks starting in May of 2016. I was drawing between 20 and 80 amps to do forced voltage support. Of course, that meant the charger worked *hard* when ever the air conditioner would cycle off.
I'll probably adopt an "either or" approach to using the autoformer and load support. I only had the opportunity to try that once or twice. The Magnum may have been failing by the time I had the autoformer. I originally thought the Magnum would do voltage support. It doesn't. It is one of the few disappointments for me with the Magnum.
I'll probably adopt an "either or" approach to running the air conditioner from the generator and NOT using load support.
I'll still rely on load support when I only have 15 amp power--and I'll still "dial that down" to 12 amps to avoid burned plugs.
I may "break out" the air conditioning circuit with one more plug so that I could run just the roof air via the autoformer. I won't bother with a 4th shore power cord, but use one of my existing auxiliary shore power circuits.
If I were starting over, I'd definitely have wired to 48 volts and gotten an appropriate inverter in the 4000 watt class.
BTW where do I buy and apply the Lucas smoke?
The cause is unknown.
Issues had started to develop with charging via the generator. It would charge at 8 to 10 amps--until I placed a large load on the generator--then charging would spike to 75 amps.
The replacement installation has enhanced cooling--better air flow around the inverter. I may well add a 120 volt fan to boost that even more. I won't bother with a thermostat--I'll just have it so if the inverter is on the fan operates.
The history of over heating and "protection" shut down was pretty low. I had an FET warning twice. Once when running the Magnum "flat out" (I don't remember the loads) and once when charging after I had deliberately depleted the battery bank by running a 1000 watt load (oil filled heaters) for four hours. In the charging case I had not yet limited charging rate. Magnum limits that to 125 amps--and because I had generator power it went to 127--and shut down.
I'll no longer need to "trick" the unit into doing voltage support since I have an autoformer. I did that for several many weeks starting in May of 2016. I was drawing between 20 and 80 amps to do forced voltage support. Of course, that meant the charger worked *hard* when ever the air conditioner would cycle off.
I'll probably adopt an "either or" approach to using the autoformer and load support. I only had the opportunity to try that once or twice. The Magnum may have been failing by the time I had the autoformer. I originally thought the Magnum would do voltage support. It doesn't. It is one of the few disappointments for me with the Magnum.
I'll probably adopt an "either or" approach to running the air conditioner from the generator and NOT using load support.
I'll still rely on load support when I only have 15 amp power--and I'll still "dial that down" to 12 amps to avoid burned plugs.
I may "break out" the air conditioning circuit with one more plug so that I could run just the roof air via the autoformer. I won't bother with a 4th shore power cord, but use one of my existing auxiliary shore power circuits.
If I were starting over, I'd definitely have wired to 48 volts and gotten an appropriate inverter in the 4000 watt class.
BTW where do I buy and apply the Lucas smoke?
