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09-03-2017, 12:45 PM
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#1
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Junior Member
Join Date: Jul 2017
Posts: 8
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2018 Forest River Cherokee limited 26DBH
Okay, rookie here...
Did a ton of research and purchased a Champion generator,3400 watt inverter. Now if I'm correct this unit should run my 13.5 unit. I turned of the circuit breakers for the inverter and the fridge. I do not have my battery connected ( garage on charger ) . The trailer was plugged into my truck. With all this, I turn on th AC and it trips the 20A breaker ( overload ) on the generator. I had nothing on and was only trying to cool the trailer. No lights, radio, nothing. Any ideas, thoughts ? A power draw from something ? Please help.... or did I just throw away $900...
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09-03-2017, 12:48 PM
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#2
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Site Team
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Goodyear, Arizona
Posts: 33,600
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Why did you remove battery and why is the trailer plugged into the truck?
Radio and lights are 12v and you turned the converter off that powers them, when plugged into the generator or shore power.
Are you sure that the a/c is 13.5k and not 15k?
__________________
Dan-Retired California Firefighter/EMT
Shawn-Musician/Entrepreneur/Wine Expert
and Zoe the Wonder Dog(R.I.P.)
2016 PrimeTime TracerAIR 255, pushing a 2014 Ford F150 SCREW XTR 4x4 3.5 Ecoboost w/Max Tow Package
4pt Equal-i-zer WDH and 1828lbs of payload capacity
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09-03-2017, 12:51 PM
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#3
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Junior Member
Join Date: Jul 2017
Posts: 8
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I have the batt on a trickle charger while the trailer sits at storage. When the trailer is plugged in , it provides the 12v to charge the batt and such. Supplies 12V to the trailer basically, without the battery.
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09-03-2017, 12:53 PM
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#4
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Site Team
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Goodyear, Arizona
Posts: 33,600
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Stumpy1969
I have the batt on a trickle charger while the trailer sits at storage. When the trailer is plugged in , it provides the 12v to charge the batt and such. Supplies 12V to the trailer basically, without the battery.
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But you turned the converter off, which supplies the 12v when you removed the battery.
__________________
Dan-Retired California Firefighter/EMT
Shawn-Musician/Entrepreneur/Wine Expert
and Zoe the Wonder Dog(R.I.P.)
2016 PrimeTime TracerAIR 255, pushing a 2014 Ford F150 SCREW XTR 4x4 3.5 Ecoboost w/Max Tow Package
4pt Equal-i-zer WDH and 1828lbs of payload capacity
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09-03-2017, 12:56 PM
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#5
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Junior Member
Join Date: Jul 2017
Posts: 8
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Based on a recommendation I saw. The trailer inverter draws watts . Therefore turning it off lowers the load on the gen. I had thought maybe the water heater was drawing ? Not sure, trying to figure it out.
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09-03-2017, 01:00 PM
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#6
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Waynesville
Posts: 14,428
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Stumpy turn Everything OFF,start Gen now turn on A/C,it should work 13 or 15! Youroo!!
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09-03-2017, 01:02 PM
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#7
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Junior Member
Join Date: Jul 2017
Posts: 8
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So Kill all the breakers but the AC ? I was just looking through my notes ( at pick-up ). And the tech told us the AC would not run without a battery. Any truth to this ?
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09-03-2017, 04:24 PM
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#8
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Site Team
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Goodyear, Arizona
Posts: 33,600
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Stumpy1969
Based on a recommendation I saw. The trailer inverter draws watts . Therefore turning it off lowers the load on the gen. I had thought maybe the water heater was drawing ? Not sure, trying to figure it out.
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Stumpy, just to clarify, it's a CONverter, not INverter.
All RVs have CONverters, few have INverters.
__________________
Dan-Retired California Firefighter/EMT
Shawn-Musician/Entrepreneur/Wine Expert
and Zoe the Wonder Dog(R.I.P.)
2016 PrimeTime TracerAIR 255, pushing a 2014 Ford F150 SCREW XTR 4x4 3.5 Ecoboost w/Max Tow Package
4pt Equal-i-zer WDH and 1828lbs of payload capacity
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09-04-2017, 02:36 PM
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#9
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Member
Join Date: Feb 2017
Posts: 75
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Yes turn off all breakers accept the ac. Yes you need 12 volts for the thermostat to control the ac. If the generator has an Eco mode turn that off till you know it works
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09-04-2017, 02:56 PM
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#10
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Junior Member
Join Date: Jul 2017
Posts: 8
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I have a breaker marked " main " , turn off ? I've been getting the 12 volts to the thermostat via havin the trailer plugged into my truck. And the generator has not been in "eco" mode yet. Fans work on the AC , however when the cooling unit kicks in, the gen overloads.
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09-04-2017, 07:09 PM
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#11
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Member
Join Date: Feb 2017
Posts: 75
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Sorry yes. Leave the main breaker on. I am assumming your unit is 30 amp. Turn off all other breakers accept the a/c. If your a/c is a 13,500 btu unit it should start up. If you your a/c is 15,000 btu your generator is too small
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09-04-2017, 07:23 PM
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#12
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Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: West Jordan, UT
Posts: 877
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Stumpy1969
Okay, rookie here...
Did a ton of research and purchased a Champion generator,3400 watt inverter. Now if I'm correct this unit should run my 13.5 unit. I turned of the circuit breakers for the inverter and the fridge. I do not have my battery connected ( garage on charger ) . The trailer was plugged into my truck. With all this, I turn on th AC and it trips the 20A breaker ( overload ) on the generator. I had nothing on and was only trying to cool the trailer. No lights, radio, nothing. Any ideas, thoughts ? A power draw from something ? Please help.... or did I just throw away $900...
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If the gen is new you may need to be broken in, I had to break my yamahas in for about 10 hours each on a 50% load before they would power my TT. When they weren't broken in and I would start the AC they would immediately overload. After I broke them in I never had a problem. Depending on which AC you have its pushing that gen to max anyway so a break in wont hurt. On a side note (which I dont know much about) my gens were 4000 watts and 3600 continuous watts but they were barely enough (it seemed). I know others have used 3100-3400 watt gens though.
__________________
2018 XLR Nitro 36T15
2015 GMC 3500 6.6/Allison
Nights Camped (2018-16) (2017-16) (2016-13) (2015-13)
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09-12-2017, 01:59 PM
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#13
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King of the Road
Join Date: Apr 2016
Posts: 556
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I have a champion 4000/3500 (open frame). I plug it into the RV and start it up. I don't turn anything off. Runs my AC, televisions(2) and 110 outlets (laptop plugged into one). Use propane for the fridge and never fire up the microwave, but will set the time and use it for a clock, LOL
__________________
2016 Crusader Lite
Single slide
2013 Ram 2500 Crew Cab Tow Vehicle
2016 days camped = 91, 2017 days camped = 109
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09-12-2017, 02:16 PM
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#14
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Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: Box elder
Posts: 725
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You said you trip the 20 amp breaker... is this on the generator or in the trailer?
if on the generator you need to plug into the 30 amp outlet on the generator.
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2015 silverback 31IK
2023 f350
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09-12-2017, 02:27 PM
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#15
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2017
Location: KS
Posts: 2,369
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I have the 3400w champion and a 15000btu Coleman mach III. It can power the a.c. and inverter without issues even on propane (3040 watts). If you are using the 30amp plug then you may need a hard start capacitor.
The first time I tried mine I kept the battery hooked up but turned off all breakers but the a.c.. Got generator running for a few min. Then I turned up a.c. higher than ambient temp to keep compressor off. Turned the fan on high or low and let it run 2 min. Then I lowered the temp to kick the compressor on. It worked so I slowly turned on breakers to make sure and then cycled the ac compressor to be sure it would not trip.
I found out before that I had the hard start capacitor installed already before trying this. They are $10 or so on Amazon if you don't. They just lower the starting draw for the compressor.
If that does not fix it then go into troubleshooting mode.
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12-03-2018, 11:43 PM
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#16
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Member
Join Date: Jan 2017
Location: King George Virginia
Posts: 38
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kcmusa
You said you trip the 20 amp breaker... is this on the generator or in the trailer?
if on the generator you need to plug into the 30 amp outlet on the generator.
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X2 a generator that big should have a 30amp
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12-04-2018, 01:33 AM
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#17
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Site Team
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Goodyear, Arizona
Posts: 33,600
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Quote:
Originally Posted by redskins2856
X2 a generator that big should have a 30amp
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redskins, this thread is over a year old and the OP hasn't posted since September 2017.
__________________
Dan-Retired California Firefighter/EMT
Shawn-Musician/Entrepreneur/Wine Expert
and Zoe the Wonder Dog(R.I.P.)
2016 PrimeTime TracerAIR 255, pushing a 2014 Ford F150 SCREW XTR 4x4 3.5 Ecoboost w/Max Tow Package
4pt Equal-i-zer WDH and 1828lbs of payload capacity
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