Inverter not working properly?

[Jerry3535]

Just got my 5th wheel and I'm not use to the charging system when I have the camper plugged in and my battery shut off from the unit and turn the inverter on it slowly draines my batteries down and when I shut the inverter off it charges and maintains my batteries. This can't be right or is it.
It charges my batteries up to 12.4volts.
I have a WF-5100 Series 1000 Watt Inverter.

[325BH]

Originally Posted by Jerry3535

Just got my 5th wheel and I'm not use to the charging system when I have the camper plugged in and my battery shut off from the unit and turn the inverter on it slowly draines my batteries down and when I shut the inverter off it charges and maintains my batteries. This can't be right or is it.

It charges my batteries up to 12.4volts.

I have a WF-5100 Series 1000 Watt Inverter.

I don't know the details of your system, however you want the inverter off when you are plugged in to shore power.

When the inverter is on, it assumes you are wanting to draw from the batteries. My guess is there is a transfer switch that is ignoring the shore power (for circuits on the inverter) when the inverter is on. When the inverter is off, shore power will be routed to the circuits that are also served by the inverter. The converter will also charge the batteries.

Not knowing how your system is wired, I can't say what all is going on... but you should not have the inverter on when on shore power. Not sure how "intelligent " your system is with regard to automatically switching from shore to inverter to generator, etc.

[Jerry3535]

Thank you so much for the information.
I'm learning this is new to me.
Thanks again for getting back to me so quick

[CHICKDOE]

i looked at the specs for the wf5100 series inverter. it is an inverter only and does not have anything to do with charging the batteries. you must have a converter / charger somewhere. the inverter does have an ac pass thru capability. if you are on shore (or generator) power the inverter will pass this thru. it will only invert from the batteries when shore power is not present. as such you could leave it on at all times, but turning it off when connected to shore power might prolong its life.


you said something about being plugged in and the batteries shut off. do you mean you disconnect the batteries when you are connected to shore power? if so, your converter / charge will not be able to charge the batteries. your inverter will not charge them.

[Jerry3535]

OK that makes sense to me.
I just flipped the switch I did not disconnect the batteries.
Now I just need to find the battery charger. I'm thinking it's behind the control panel inside the coach.
I just like to know we're things are.

[CHICKDOE]

how hard is it to get to your batteries? can you take measurements with a multimeter? can you hook up to shore power? it might be interesting to take a couple of dc voltage measure at the battery terminals when hooked up to shore power. one with the batteries disconnected (should measure voltage stored in the batteries) and one with the batteries connected (should measure voltage from converter available to charge batteries). would want to see the second measurement greater than the first. if not, then I would think finding and checking the converter is in order. they do have fuses in them to protect against overloads and reversed polarity connections. plus there have been many posts about some models failing.


for what its worth, it took me quite a while to find where things were located on my 5th wheel.

[ScottBrownstein]

Lots of questions here. First, it does not appear that the main switch shuts down the inverter. It is possible that the inverter is wired directly to the batteries, along with its own "in line" fuse. Now, may it has an inverter transfer switch...and maybe it doesn't. You should always have the main DC battery switch turned on when connected to shore power so that the converter can charge the batteries. The fact that things work with the main switch disconnected confirms that the converter is actually working and supplying the loads to the TT when the batteries are disconnected.

Even if the inverter were still turned on, it will not draw that much (maybe an amp) and would take quite a while to discharge the batteries. Perhaps it is actually powering something.

Frankly this is why I recommend inverter installs that have their own transfer switches and share outlets with the main AC panel.

When you say it drains the battery...how long does that take? In addition, when you turn the inverter off, does anything in the TT that uses AC no longer function?

[dalford]

On my 5th wheel if the battery disconnect is turned off my batteries do not charge. When connected to shore power, leave the battery disconnect on. Only turn the disconnect off when not using your RV for an extended period of time.

To test this on your RV just measure the voltage at the batteries with the disconnect on and off while connected to shore power. You will see a change an increase in voltage when in the off position if yours works like mine.

The inverter just passes the ac thru when on shore power. I turn mine off when connected to shore power.

[Jerry3535]

Everything is working now found the converter replaced the 40 amp fuses and left the battery switch on and turned the inverter off and the system is working properly.
You helped so much in just explaining how the system works.
Now I'm ready to hit the road.
Thanks again!

[dalford]

Great thx for letting us know.