Solar works good until we plug into electric.. - Page 2

Skyliner · 04-30-2018, 10:16 PM

Some solar installers (not me) have 120 volt AC outlets powered by inverter power only and not by "shore"/generator power. Sounds like a crappy setup that could easily be solved by a transfer switch and subpanel.

My camper has every outlet in it powered by inverter power or generator power...simple transfer switch and subpanel for the a/c, hot water heater, and converter so they do not run on inverter power.

Tom48 · 04-30-2018, 11:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skyliner

Can you please elaborate? What exactly shuts down and what do you mean by that? Remote switch to what?

What solar controller do you have? Who did your install? How much battery capacity?

A properly installed system should not affect anything. I've run my generator and my solar is on 100% of the time without any issues.

Thanks!
Drew

Ditto. I am not understanding.

Tom48 · 04-30-2018, 11:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gityup

Yes...we are thinking it is an inverter problem...when the electric flows through it

sounds to me like the systems are wired in conflict with one another. My first question, why the heck is the inverter turned on when you are plugged into Shore power. If it is a full system inverter converter charger then it is simply installed wrong. . if it is simply an inverter overlaid on the the AC system of the coach, they should not be both turned on at the same time. A grid-tie inverter on your home is synchronized to the landline power supply. That is why it's called a grid-tie inverter. A 3000 watt go power 12 volt to 120 inverter is not a grid-tie system, and it should not have been installed in a way that allows both Shore power and inverter power to intersect on the couch anywhere.

I concur with the writer who said this does not sound like a solar problem. This all are simply charges the batteries the inverter is drawing off the battery and if it is powering the converter then there's a loop you're going to blow circuit breakers. I learned the hard way when I forgot to turn off my converter when I was powering Full House with my 2000 watt pure sine wave inverter. It blew the 50 amp main resettable circuit breaker between my batteries and the coach, even though the inverter was directly wired off the batteries when I started pulling the load with the inverter the batteries put a huge demand on the converter for recharge and exceeded the 50 amp capacity of the main house 12 circuit breaker

joeuncool · 05-01-2018, 11:08 AM

Reading your post again, I am keying on that you said the issue pops up after 5-7 hours. This leads me to 2 things. First, the 3000 watt inverter could be overheating and shutting down. The second is that your batteries could be going dead after 5-7 hours which I think is most likely.

When you have solar on an RV, you are not "powered" by solar. You are using your 12 volt batteries and the solar panels are recharging the batteries at the same time. Your 3000 watt inverter, "inverts" your power from 12 volts DC to 120 (110) volts AC to run standard household type appliances through standard household type plugs. The inverter also draws a certain amount of power without anything thing else being plugged into it. I don't know how many panels you have on the roof but I would imagine it is not more 4 or 6 panels which would be 400-600 watts of charging. If you are using multiple appliances over the day, coffee maker, microwave, TV, computers, electronics, etc. I can see where over 5-7 hours your batteries would be discharged to the point that the inverter does not have enough power to keep it going and shuts down.

The one question I didn't see answered is, do you have separate electrical outlets for you "solar" system? These outlets are separate from the ones you use when plugged in to shore power? There is still confusion about your electrical setup.

This leads me still to the last question. If you are plugged into shore power, why are you trying to use your 12 volt (solar) power. Shore power is used so we don't have to use the 12 volt system and you have all the conveniences of home without having to monitor and manage the power in the 12 volt system.

pmsherman · 05-01-2018, 02:38 PM

This problem sounds like the solar installer wired a number of outlets directly to the inverter. These outlets only receive power when the inverter is operating, not a normal installation. A normal inverter installation includes the inverter and a transfer switch. When shore power is available, either from a campground power box or your generator, the transfer switch disconnects the inverter and all of the outlets that were powered by the inverter are then powered by shore power. When shore power fails, the transfer switch changes state and the inverter again powers the outlets. Automatic transfer switches aren't cheap, with the least expensive 30A ones I've seen running nearly $100.

I'd strongly recommend going back to the solar installer and having them show you where the inverter and transfer switch were installed. They'll also need to verify that the transfer switch is operating properly. If a transfer switch wasn't installed, you should have problems like the ones you've described. Don't forget that, without a transfer switch, when plugged in to shore power, you will have both the batteries and the converter supplying power for the inverter. Your converter's operation modes could easily enable an immediate restart of the inverter after its automatic shutdown.

Phil

gityup · 05-01-2018, 04:15 PM

I don't recall the installer mentioning a transfer switch. That will be my first call in the morning..thanks to all replies they have all been helpful.

gityup · 05-01-2018, 04:17 PM

We have a battery disconnect switch but I am assuming that is not the transfer switch?

gityup · 05-01-2018, 04:20 PM

We are not trying to use solar AND electric but the problem arises when we go from one to the other...so will check on transfer switch.

**Flybob** · 05-01-2018, 04:24 PM

Another thought. If I understand, the outlets powered by the converter run for a while after the RV is connected to shore power then quit. If the installer connected several outlets to a standard inverter with no transfer switch ( to switch inverter out when on shore power, then once you connect to shore power, the converter is charging the battery and probably providing something close to 14V. This is also powering the inverter ( assuming no transfer switch). The higher than normal voltage may be causing the inverter to shut down due to overheating. If you really don not have a transfer switch, I would ask the installer to correct that as under normal conditions, once shore power is applied, the inverter is turned off and switched out of the circuit.

If your current demand from the inverter is large, the converter alone will not be able to supply it and will eventually drain the battery, then blow the reverse polarity fuse.

joeuncool · 05-01-2018, 04:43 PM

If your inverter looks like this

IC Series 3000-watt Inverter Charger | Go Power!

then you have an inverter charger. This one says that it has some kind of automatic transfer switch. Could be possible that your inverter is faulty. I have heard some good things about GoPower's support though I have no experience with them. Might also want to contact them and see what they say.

gityup · 05-01-2018, 05:18 PM

MODEL: GP-3000HD

The Go Power! GP-3000HD provides enough power to run several appliances at once. With a 3000-watt output, this inverter is an excellent choice for most large power requirements. Plug your appliances directly into its four AC outlets, or wire it into your electrical system using the optional Go Power! transfer switch

formerFR · 05-01-2018, 05:37 PM

unfortunately, gityup has yet to answer these basic questions so that we all can help the most...

...start with telling us EXACTLY what you have:

- year, make, model of RV
- INVERTER brand and model/size(watts)
- 'real' watts of Solar(I'm assuming 3,000watts is a mistake, WHERE would you be able to travel with that many panels?? as most panels are only 100watts, and there's not enough room on your 'roof' for 30 of them!)
- what is the 'switch' that you speak of? What does it control/do??

gityup · 05-01-2018, 06:05 PM

2018 lacrosse...go power gp 3000 hd...modified sine...no transfer switch...remote on off switch...just spoke with go power...they said we need transfer switch so we don't try the inverter....

gityup · 05-01-2018, 06:06 PM

Fry the inverter....

**Flybob** · 05-01-2018, 06:18 PM

Yup Post#29. If you are loading a 3000W then is is demanding approx 300ADC from something, The Converter can not even come close to supplying this and you will be drawing down battery for much of it so you will kill the battery even when plugged in. Did the installer design the system or did you.

gityup · 05-01-2018, 06:18 PM

Installer designed it

gityup · 05-01-2018, 06:20 PM

Called installer and he is ordering transfer switch tomorrow.

gityup · 05-01-2018, 06:21 PM

It appears will be getting 480 watts out of this 3000 watt inverter

Space Cowboy · 05-01-2018, 06:23 PM

I have a new Isata 5 with two 100 watt solar panels. I've only been able to have the batteries completely charged once. Right now it shows the batteries about 75% charged. Is there a way i can check output of each one? Or the two together?

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