Running Residence Fridge on Battery

[amullis]

The inverter lives in the outside compartment, just under the fridge and behind the kitchen slide. If that compartment is covered by a black plastic cover with two white round screw in plugs, you can either remove the whole black cover and unscrew one or both round plugs to gain access to the inverter. On the inverter, you will see two plugs, one of which your fridge is plugged into. the GFCI reset is right there in between the two plugs. Reset the GFCI, and make sure the inverter power button is on also! The inverter power button is located inside the coach, on top of where your battery disconnect button is located.


Hope this helps! I have a 2015 328TS and went through this same exercise last month.

[Maxwell32]

Originally Posted by amullis

The inverter lives in the outside compartment, just under the fridge and behind the kitchen slide. If that compartment is covered by a black plastic cover with two white round screw in plugs, you can either remove the whole black cover and unscrew one or both round plugs to gain access to the inverter. On the inverter, you will see two plugs, one of which your fridge is plugged into. the GFCI reset is right there in between the two plugs. Reset the GFCI, and make sure the inverter power button is on also! The inverter power button is located inside the coach, on top of where your battery disconnect button is located.


Hope this helps! I have a 2015 328TS and went through this same exercise last month.

Thanks Art. Yes, we did do the procedure you mentioned. And the fridge does come back on. But 5 minutes or so later, it pops the GFI again. So we are trying to figure out if it's the fridge or the inverter which is the issue. The fridge works fine off shore power or the generator. This is a new issue. A few weeks ago the fridge ran just fine off the inverter.

[SS396CV]

The inverter is located in various places, on mine it is above the propane tank on the drivers side. A separate transfer switch is plugged into the GFI outlet on the inverter. The transfer switch allows the fridge to either run off battery or shore power/generator (not at the same time of course).

On mine sometimes the GFI trips and can not be reset when running battery (which is the problem I am trying to solve). The inverter switch is on and indicates power. Once I connect to shore power or generator the GFI can be reset because the transfer switch sensed the 110 volt. I can also reset the GFI by unplugging the transfer switch plug but will trip again when plugged in.

Mine is an intermittent problem, so there is an issue between the transfer switch and the fridge but only when on battery, The inverter or transfer switch may be bad but no codes are shown. Yesterday it worked all day without issue

[Bayouownbeer]

I have question its related
To this but not the same. When your on battery for the refrigerator and you plug into to shore power does the ref auto go to shore power or you have turn the inverter off?

[ScottBrownstein]

It auto switches to shore power. When you run the generator is auto switches to generator. There is a Xantrex automatic transfer switch that senses the presence of AC coming from the reefer breaker in the power panel and drops the inverter and uses that to power the reefer. You do not have to turn off the inverter as it goes to idle. In fact I seldom turn it off on the road or at a park since the < 1A idle current is no problem since there is a converter supplying plenty of DC. I only turn it off if there is going to be AC supplied for a day or more.

[Bayouownbeer]

Originally Posted by ScottBrownstein

It auto switches to shore power. When you run the generator is auto switches to generator. There is a Xantrex automatic transfer switch that senses the presence of AC coming from the reefer breaker in the power panel and drops the inverter and uses that to power the reefer. You do not have to turn off the inverter as it goes to idle. In fact I seldom turn it off on the road or at a park since the < 1A idle current is no problem since there is a converter supplying plenty of DC. I only turn it off if there is going to be AC supplied for a day or more.

Thanks that's what I was wondering.

[Maxwell32]

Here is an update to my inverter related issue. I will probably start a new post centered around the inverter itself rather than the residential refrigerator, but I wanted to let folks on this thread know the latest.

The story so far:
The original inverter, Xantrex PROwatt SW-2000 (part # 806-1220) in my Georgetown 364TS worked for a summer, then GFCI popped and wouldn’t reset. The dealer replaced the inverter with same model. That unit would trip the GFCI after about a minute on battery power. The dealer ordered another unit (same model) and that one also tripped the GFCI after a minute on battery power. I called the manufacturer and they new exactly what my problem was before I even finished my sentence. Manufacturer rep said the GFCI is the issue and I should install a hardwire optioned inverter (more money of course). This jives with some research on the web regarding this unit. It appears the GFCI is crap and inconsistent amongst units.

So my current options are:
1. Replace the actual GFCI receptacle in the unit, risky and will void the warranty.
2. Pull the unit and replace it with a different manufacturer with a reliable GFCI receptacle.
3. Pull the unit and replace it with Xantrex’s recommended unit (per the rep), Xantrex Freedom Xi 2000 Inverter Pure Sine Wave (part #807-2000).
4. Let the dealer and manufacturer duke it out over resolving this issue.

The last option is the correct and cheapest thing to do. However, that route will surely guarantee my rig is unavailable or incomplete for a long, long time until they fix it. I’ll post any further actions or resolutions on this issue.

[360true]

When a similar problem occurred to me, I was not able to get to a dealer for the next several weeks. An electrician friend of mine removed the inverter unit and advised that the gfi is the same as used in regular 110 household. He tested it, and unfortunately for me, it wasn't the gfi. Had it been, a simple swap of the gfi would have been the answer. I had to fedex a new unit and replace whilst in the woods.

[djinfl]

When you ordered, did you order the same inverter model or was it the transfer switch? We are about to attempt the same thing and are wondering if based on the above we should get a different inverter or replace with the same. We have a 369XL DS. We want to use our extended warranty but will likely need approval so the more info the better before we head into that.

Thanks for any help you can provide!

[360true]

We replaced the inverter with the same one. (Prowatt 2000) Check with extended warranty company before ordering. They may require it be diagnosed / replaced by a licensed electrician or rv mobile tech or ???

[CarefreeCorses]

Check the ground.

I had the same problem and I traced the ground from the battery to the inverter. Found that it had sheared the self taping screw that secured it to the chasis and the loose ground was arching to the bulkhead just behind the propane tank.

[360true]

Arching near the propane tank doesn't sound safe to me......

[Maxwell32]

My inverter is now working. Here is our solution:

Because it was still under warranty, we let the dealer and manufacturer hash it out. The proposed solution is one mentioned elsewhere in this thread, they replaced the actual GCFI receptacle in the inverter. So they pulled and replaced the actual plug with a non-GFCI plug and it's been working fine for the last couple weeks with no issue. During my phone calls between the dealer and the Xantrex they both, though not directly saying it, admitted that the GFCI receptacles in their units are at times unreliable. Thus the reason why some units work stellar, others pop at will with any unusual load. Replacing the receptacle itself removes the weak link in the unit's operation. At least this is the case in my situation. Hope this helps any other Xantrex inverter owners who have the residential fridge in their RV.

[Walte1fr]

Where is the inverter located on the 364ts?

[thurmondb]

Gotta thank you guys. I have a 2016 328ts and had given up.keeping the fridge cold on the road. After reading this blog I again started looking. I found a push button on the wall by the swivel chair. Pushed it and the fridge works on battery. Problem solved. Thanks again.

[Kevin M.]

Originally Posted by Walte1fr

Where is the inverter located on the 364ts?

Passenger side, middle of the coach, small door compartment.

I had an interesting issue quite the opposite of what you guys had, was in a 30AMP service park, popped their breaker runnnig both AC's. After resetting their breaker everything connected to the Inverter wouldn't come back on with shore power, had to leave inverter on while plugged in to shore power to run fridge. Killed the main breaker and the kill switch by door and still nothing. Even when Gen was running had to keep inverter on. Got home from my trip and called Xantrex, they suggested removing the unit and there was supposed to be a fuse inside the unit, after removing the casing I found no fuse, put it all back together and bingo it now works. Very odd as I can only attribute the power being off from the unit for a period of time which then solved the issue.

[Walte1fr]

Hmmm so let me ask this. The input voltage shows 13volts. Output is 0 volts. The gfci won't reset and the light showing that is tripped is not on. I have an extended warranty. Xantrex said they do not suggest replacing the gfci. He said anytime they come in for warranty work they just throw them away and send a new one out. He said before just replacing the gfci see if there is any power coming to the gfci. He said to him it sounded like the unit was shot. Anyone have this issue?

[360true]

I experienced similar last summer. Gfi would not reset, power in ok. No power getting to gfi. Nothing out either. Replaced the unit. Xwarranty reimbursed.

[Modmike]

Just had the same thing happen to me. Flakey Prowatt SW 2000 finally went belly up and GFCI wouldn't latch, inverter dead.

Replaced with Freedom XI, hope it does the trick.

[Dennis King]

I read in one of the Forums about the inverter only lasting 8-10hours on battery power and Frig would shut down. Not sure if this is relevant but wanted to share it he little I have heard