Solar question

[Mel_B_]

I just had a Renogy 400 watt solar premium eclipse Kit installed on our 2004 Montana 5th wheel. I had to have it installed because I recently had back surgery. I also had a Renogy 2000 watt inverter/charger installed with my 4 6 volt flooded golf cart battery's. The system is running so nice in my driveway, even charging on a rainy day. But when I plug it into shore power I get power to the A/C and the microwave, but I have to turn the inverter on to get power to the rest of the coach?? So thats not the end of the world but if were boondocking and lets say my inverter fries for some reason, Will I be able to get power from the genorater thru a broke inverter?? Is it normal to have to power up your inverter when plugged into shore power?
Thanks

[Mel_B_]

Talked to Renogy, they are sending a replacement.
Mel

[Mel_B_]

So I have left it alone, just testing different loads in the driveway. last night I had inverter set to auto mode. and pluged in the shore power it switched over just like it should, but after I unpluged shore power I couldn't get any AC power from inverter. Now it works fine if I turn it to "ON" but when I turn it back to auto the green light comes on saying it's on and waiting but it won't power any AC while in auto. And I was moving dip switch three and it broke off in the on postion. I would say that was the problem but it stopped working before the switch broke. I'll be calling Renogy soon. I'll keep you posted. This is so dissapointing it was working great until I plugged in the shore power.
Mel

[Mel_B_]

You guy's are so right! At least now that I know how it's wired. And yes I'll carry six sets of wing nuts. and the inverter will work until I die. "I hope" anyway your right I'm going to leave it alone and enjoy it. Thanks for all the help. Oh and I hope to use the solar to charge the battery's.
Mel

[MrWizard]

if you absolutely must have a by pass available (for peace of mind)
take it back to the shop, and have them rewire the inverter input and output with plugs

then IF it ever failed, you could unplug the RV power from the inverter and plug it into the socket the inverter is using

its the same way RV MFG used to do rv gensets and shore cord before the advent of the use of automatic transfer switches

its manual, its simple, and its fool proof

[MrWizard]

I don't understand the concern you are creating for yourself

The inverter charger has to be on during shore power hook up or it won't charge your batteries
Which means if you turn it off, your lights, water pump, fridge controls will use battery power until the batteries are dead

And No you do not want to pre wire some kind of by pass, unless it can be under lock and key and not accidentally turned on to burn up things that should not be cross connected

I second the suggesting of just carrying some wire nuts along
You might need them some day to splice some broken 12v connection, or to help somebody else

[time2roll]

Don't fix what is not broken. Carry the needed 6 wire nuts to bypass the inverter. Put them in a bag and tape them to the back of the inverter somewhere.
As you know as long as you carry a spare, the component will not fail 😉

And no you cannot have the wires on a separate jumper back to the breakers. I do not recommend it.

[Mel_B_]

So I just talked to the installer, he said he installed a new breaker in my main panel for the inverter. And yes he said I have to have inverter in auto mode when hooked up to shore power. And if the inverter breaks while I'm out in the woods. Well he said it might allow the genorater to power the coach but if it doesn't He said I would have to kill all AC110v turn off battery bank turn off the new breaker and take the 6 AC wires in the back of the inverter (3 in from trailer and 3 out to breaker panel in coach) and wire them together and I will be back to gen. power bypassing the inverter.
So I'm thinking of wiring in a bypass for these 6 wires. could I leave the 6 wires connected to inverter install a 3 wire loop with a breaker in the off postion. Then if inverter did break and would not allow current to run thru it, then I should be able to turn inverter off flip on breaker in the new loop and that should allow 110ac to pass into the coach? Correct or am I missing something?

[MrWizard]

SW 3 (Power Saver):
The inverter’s power saver mode is activated when position 1 is selected. The inverter will detect a load for 250ms every 3
seconds and if a load is detected the inverter will start
outputting AC power.
NOTE:
If the switch position is set to 0 and power saver mode is
selected on the inverter main power switch, then no AC power will be outputted unless there is shore power connected to the inverter.

SW 5 (Battery/AC Priority):
When the inverter is set to battery priority (Position 1) it will invert power from the
battery bank to the AC outlets until the low voltage set point is reached. If there is an AC
source connected while under battery priority it will charge the battery after the low
voltage is reached and use the AC source to power the AC outlets. When the battery is
fully
charged,
the inverter will switch to battery power.

When choosing AC priority (Position 0) the battery power will Only be used when there is no shore power connected to the inverter. Once AC power is connected the inverter will start charging the battery bank
. If shore power is present for 15 continuous days,
then the inverter will use the battery bank for one cycle. This cycle is used to prolong
battery life. there is shore power connected to the inverter.

Setting priority, sets which power is the preferred mode AKA shore power, use battery only when necessary
set switch 3 to 1
set switch 5 to 0

[time2roll]

No I have a plain vanilla inverter as a separate component. It has virtually no features like the Renogy. On is on, off is off. No charging, separate transfer switch.

Renogy 2000w sine wave inverter/charger manual

I was looking at the dip-switches listed on p16 and p17.

Some of the descriptions seem to contradict each other, the chart, or text in other parts of the manual. I don't see an 'inverter on' mode but it works in conjunction with another switch on the face of the inverter. Need to study these a bit as the functions seem to interact with each other to get it to operate as expected.

[dave17352]

oops

[Mel_B_]

Mr Wizard your right about that, it's how mine is. Also it's supposed to go on with .09 to 1.0a but it takes about 3.5a to turn mine on, so my cpap won't run on it's own. I'll have to run a cigarette lighter from the battery to my bed for the cpap directly off the 12 volt side.
Time 2roll, Thanks I'll have another look at the manual, Do you have this inverter? or did you see the manual on line.
Thanks, Mel

[time2roll]

Mel B. wrote:
The System seems to be working really well, I just didn't relize Inverter needed to be on during shore power operation.
Mel

I glanced at the manual and the dip switch settings a bit. You may want to review these again. There should be a setting to have the charging side on without necessarily the inverter. And allow pass through of 120v power. But the set up seems a bit more complex than that. Fully off-off may well stop everything.

[MrWizard]

auto on inverter mode
is basically a load sense, it doesn't use any power, doesn't need any power until you turn something on, it saves battery when dry camping, especially at night, when sleeping and you don't have the tv etc.. on, the inverter on idle battery drain goes way down

my tipplite is like that, at night if im not charging any thing and the fridge is not cycling, the inverter is about 200ma idle drain

[Mel_B_]

Yes it's a 30 amp, and everything is wired in the 5th wheel basement. and yes when I plugged in shore power it went to boost. But I just went back out and it's in float stage (Where it was by the solar before I plugged into shore power) The System seems to be working really well, I just didn't relize Inverter needed to be on during shore power operation.
Mel