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Old 04-18-2017, 10:32 PM   #1
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2017 Salem Hemisphere no outlet/fridge power

Hello all. I just purchased my first travel trailer last week. It's a new Salem Hemisphere 300bh. I have no power to the outlets or the residential fridge, There is an inverter in the front storage bay that is supposed to power this stuff, but it won't turn on. Is there a hidden switch to turn on the inverter that I'm missing? Thanks for your help.
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Old 04-19-2017, 09:13 AM   #2
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Do you have a residential or RV fridge?
Are you sure that you have an inverter, and not just a converter?
Have you tried them while plugged into shore power?
Are your batteries charged?
Is the battery cut-off switch turned on?
Are all the breakers in the power panel on?

Report back and we can help you get this sorted out.
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Old 04-19-2017, 09:17 AM   #3
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Welcome to the forum its a great place to get your questions answered. BR's questions make sense let us know what you find.
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Old 04-19-2017, 10:32 AM   #4
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Thanks for the reply, guys. Here are a few data points.
- I have a WFCO 1000W inverter that runs a Whirlpool residential fridge.
- The rv was plugged into shore power during the walk-around when we bought it. The fridge was working fine. Outlets and the fridge are inop now that the rv is on battery power alone.
- I have two batteries, both fully charged.
- I verified 12.05 volts on my voltmeter at the connections of the inverter.
- I checked for continuity on the fuse. Good to go.
- No breakers were tripped.
- I don't think I have a battery cut off switch.
- All lights work on the camper, but I don't think those are run through the inverter.

Since this is all new to me, I wonder if there's a hidden switch to turn on the inverter...
I bought it at Camping World about an 1.5 hrs from my house and I don't want to have to haul the rv all the way back just to get the inverter fixed. Can I take it to another rv repair shop closer to home?

Thanks,
Travis
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Old 04-19-2017, 12:05 PM   #5
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No power at Frig

I recently bought a Salem Hemisphere also with the inverter and residential frig.
On my inverter, there is a red push-button switch on it that turns the inverter on/off. I believe it has to be cycle to off, then turned back on to start working. Only used mine once so far, but it worked as it should.
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Old 04-19-2017, 12:09 PM   #6
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Your outlets will not work unless plugged into shore power. Your residential fride will run off convertor if battries are charged. My hertiage glen invertor has a red button on it like mentioned in a previous comment.

also my fridge turns off by turning down the control knob in fridge past low setting. open fridge and look at temp knob. Is there an off marking? my heritage glen has one.
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Old 04-19-2017, 12:11 PM   #7
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oh by the way install a battery disconnect switch, my radio and fridge has a huge draw when everything is off and drain my batteries in a few days without the batteries disconnected.
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Old 04-19-2017, 12:36 PM   #8
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My fridge is set to "recommended setting". I didn't know the outlets didn't work unless connected to shor power. That sucks.

I called WFCO tech and they said that the internal fuses are probably blown. More than likely due to the batteries being hooked up in series, not in parallel, thus putting 24v to the invertor. The guy who did my walk-around did mention installing a new battery. He must have hooked them up wrong.

Armed with that info, I am going to call CW and have them replace the invertor. I'll just go to the closest dealer. I just hope they can get it done soon. I'll be full-timing it come 1 May!

I'll post updates later. Thanks for the help!
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Old 04-19-2017, 12:37 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kimber45 View Post
oh by the way install a battery disconnect switch, my radio and fridge has a huge draw when everything is off and drain my batteries in a few days without the batteries disconnected.
I'll definitely do that. I noticed this the day afetr I brought the rv home. For now I keep a battery tender connected 24/7.

Thanks!
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Old 04-19-2017, 08:43 PM   #10
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I doubt the tech installed the batteries incorrectly. That's one of the most basic jobs that a dealer does every day and the techs should be able to do it correctly in their sleep. Your original post indicates that you know how to use a voltmeter so you should do the following:
1. Locate the house battery compartment and examine the configuration of how the batteries are hooked up.
2. Starting at the - post that has the ground wire attached to it, check that the voltage on the + terminal of each battery. Remember that 6V batteries will be wired in series to produce 12V while 12V batteries will be wired in parallel to improve current capacity. Wet cell batteries generate about 2V/cell so it's easy to tell 6V from 12V batteries.
3. Verify that the ground wire from the batteries has a good connection to the rv frame which forms the return path for much of the rv's wiring. The inverter may have its own ground cable that is connected to the battery.

The 12.05V you measured at the inverter indicates that your batteries are almost fully discharged. The inverter will have a low voltage cutoff to prevent damaging the batteries and, if the inverter turned on at this voltage, the battery voltage would drop to below 10V because the inverter will probably draw well over 75A to meet startup current demands of the compressor in the fridge. Plug in your rv, make sure the master dc switch is turned on and give the converter at least 24 hours to recharge the house batteries. You can verify that the converter is charging by putting a voltmeter across the batteries when the converter is running. You should see over 13V, usually 13.6 to 14.1 V depending on the type of converter you have and where in the charge cycle it is. If the battery voltage doesn't rise when the converter is operational, you'll need to trace down why it's not charging the batteries. This is usually an open resettable circuit breaker somewhere in the low voltage wiring system. If there's no output at the converter, check the fuses that should be located on the back of the converter.

Don't forget that a discharged battery rapidly sulfates and goes bad. You can also recharge the house batteries with a separate plug-in battery charger.

Phil
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Old 04-19-2017, 10:26 PM   #11
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O have 12.05v everywhere. Connections are all tight and wiring is routed correctly. Although it's somewhat surprising that two 12v batteries charged to 12.05v won't run my inverter, I took off the battery tender and hooked up a 6amp trickle charger in case the tender isn't putting out enough juice. I hope you're right, Phil.

I also called WFCO back and asked them for some tips. To verify the condition of the internal fuses, the tech said to disconnect the negative battery cable at the inverter and place one multimeter probe on the socket of the inverter, and place the other probe on the disco'd negative cable. I should see 12vdc, but I don't. I get 0. He said he would let me return the inverter and replace it under warranty, which is excellent news because CW said they would need to keep my rv for 2 weeks. That's unacceptable.

Anyway, I'll let you know how things go after the recharge.
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Old 04-20-2017, 12:48 PM   #12
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20 hours on the trickle charger didn't change anything. WFCO is sending me a replacement under warranty. Those folks know what good customer service is. They were willing to do whatever to get things going again.

I'll report back when I get the new unit installed.
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Old 04-20-2017, 09:07 PM   #13
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I'm suspicious about the 12.05 volts. a fully charged battery should be about 12.6 volts. you say it did not change even after a day on a charger. that doesn't seem right. as mentioned before take a voltage reading while the converter is charging the battery. if it is not above 13.6 or so you have another problem.
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Old 04-23-2017, 11:33 AM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by stealth908 View Post
O have 12.05v everywhere. Connections are all tight and wiring is routed correctly. Although it's somewhat surprising that two 12v batteries charged to 12.05v won't run my inverter, I took off the battery tender and hooked up a 6amp trickle charger in case the tender isn't putting out enough juice. I hope you're right, Phil.

I also called WFCO back and asked them for some tips. To verify the condition of the internal fuses, the tech said to disconnect the negative battery cable at the inverter and place one multimeter probe on the socket of the inverter, and place the other probe on the disco'd negative cable. I should see 12vdc, but I don't. I get 0. He said he would let me return the inverter and replace it under warranty, which is excellent news because CW said they would need to keep my rv for 2 weeks. That's unacceptable.

Anyway, I'll let you know how things go after the recharge.
A battery tender is likely to not be able to keep the bateries charged. Your rig has what's called "parasitic loads" on the battery. Things that constantly drain the battery even when the master shut off has been set to the off position. The battery tender, if you're lucky, should almost be able to keep up with these loads. If you disconnect the batteries from the rv and use a battery tender connected directly to them, it should keep them charged. Your 12.05V indicates a battery that's at just over 50% charge. If your battery bank has 200Ah of capacity, you'll need to add 120A to it to recharge the batteries. Your 6A charger will take 20 hours to do this if it charges at 6A/hr. It's more likely that the charger charges at 6A when the battery is fully discharged and at a slower rate as the charge level in the battery rises. Don't forget that while you're charging the battery, the parasitic loads are still draining it, further increasing the charge time.

If your batteries sat for a long time at only 50% charge, you could have sulphated plates, damaging the battery's capacity. The only cure for this is to replace the batteries if testing them shows them to be bad. The first, simplest, check is to inspect the cells to see if the plates are exposed. If they are sticking out, above the electrolyte, replace the batteries. Next, check the electrolyte with a specific gravity tester, purchased at an auto parts store. If you see little black flakes floating in the electrolyte, replace the batteries. The specific gravity of the electrolyte is another way to measure the SOC (State of Charge) of the battery.

The instructions you quoted from the tech for testing the converter seem strange to me. I'd test the converter using the following procedure:
1. Unplug the converter from the AC outlet.
2. Measure the voltage across the DC output terminals. It should match the battery voltage. If it's 0, there's a disconnected wire between the converter and the batteries. Your master disconnect switch will usually disconnect this circuit.
3. Verify that the AC outlet for the converter is working with a trouble light or AC voltmeter
4. Plug in the converter and measure the voltage at the DC terminals. If it's over 13V, the converter is working otherwise, go to step 5.
5. Disconnect the - battery lead from the converter and measure the voltage across the converter's terminals. It should be over 13V unless your converter has a "there's no load on the converter" circuit that shuts it off when it's disconnected from everything.

My recollection of the WFCO cconverter is that it does not have a "no load shutoff" circuit. Some WFCO converters do not correctly cycle through the multi-stage charging cycle, causing boil off of electrolyte. If yours is one of there, you'll see that there's no electrolyte showing above the battery's plates.

Phil
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Old 04-27-2017, 09:39 PM   #15
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I received my new inverter and it works great. The tech said the batteries must have been wired in parallel for all internal fuses to be fried like they were. I'm glad that's fixed!

After that I installed a 100 amp battery disconnect switch as recommended. The battery voltage now charges up to 12.5VDC. Thank you all for your help in getting things squared away.
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