Dealer installed inverter doesn’t work

Lenhart

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May 7, 2024
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I recently bought a new 2024 Forest River 174BHLE Salem FSX Travel Trailer from Bayird RV in Mt. Home, Arkansas. I asked the salesman if the refrigerator ran on propane as well as 110 volt. I wanted to be able to keep food cold on the way to the campsite. He said it ran on 12 volt and 110 volt. That was fine with me. Like I said I just wanted to keep food cold while traveling.

We signed the contract for the rv and the next day I discovered the refrigerator only worked on 110 volt. The salesman said they could put an inverter in to power the refrigerator. At first they wanted to charge me, but then agreed to install it at no cost. The first time I tried to power the refrigerator with battery the inverter “beeped” several times and then quit. The decided to pull the refrigerator out and look at all the connections that were made there and as well other splices.

The refrigerator is the typical 4 cu ft model with the tiny freezer. The dealer install a 600 watt Xantrx Inverter and a PROwatt SW Auto Transfer Switch. The thick cables (maybe 10 gauge) running from the inverter to the battery has 15 amp inline fuse spliced in using a much thinner wire. Inside the 15 amp case was a blown 30 amp fuse. Some of the new connections were made with wire nuts and electrical tape.

I would appreciate any input on what I’ve described.

I’ve attached some photos which should be self explanatory.
 

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A 600 watt inverter with a 90% efficiency will need to draw 51.5 amps from the battery to output 600 watts. The wiring and fuse seem far too small for what they installed.
 
I’m less concerned about the set up (which – on its face – appears somewhat appropriate) than I am your fridge’s actual needs. In order to better understand your situation and your fridge’s power draw, what’s the fridge (he asks, even though we already know it doesn’t make any real difference)?

IN GENERAL, a 110v “dorm style” mini-fridge (if that’s what you are describing) draws too much for a single FLA battery to run for any length of time (and, in particular, after an up-to-10% loss in converting). Forget the configuration, your battery likely doesn’t have enough oomph to run your fridge.

The old, three-way units that used to go into small campers (12 V/110/propane) were remarkably inefficient on 12V. And the newer 110 only fridges simply aren’t built for non shore power solutions.

Even the larger, two-way fridges (110/propane) are remarkably inefficient running on 110. For these, running on propane is really where they shine.

You can get away with both if you load cold food into a pre-chilled unit, and then travel using the fridge as a cooler, and plugin at your destination.
 
Your dealer is a hack.

You need at least 4 gauge cables, from the inverter to the battery, and a 60 amp fuse next to the positive post on the battery.

That will stop the shutdowns, which are due to voltage drop thru the thin wires.

All 120 volt connection must be in electrical box's .

If the battery is a long way from the inverter, move the inverter close to the battery and extend the 120 volt wire to where they installed the auto transfer switch.
 
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Your dealer is a hack.

You need at least 4 gauge cables, from the inverter to the battery, and a 60 amp fuse next to the positive post on the battery.

That will stop the shutdowns, which are due to voltage drop thru the thin wires.

All 120 volt connection must be in electrical box's .

If the battery is a long way from the inverter, move the inverter close to the battery and extend the 120 volt wire to where they installed the auto transfer switch.
I had no real confidence in the dealer fix. I have solar panels as part of my home electrical supply, so I’m pretty familiar with proper wire gauge, battery type and capacity, inverters, etc. I think I really need a written statement from an expert on this , like an electrical engineer or technician. Anyone have any advice on how to proceed from here. The general manager at the dealership wants me bring the rv in. He said it could be a faulty inverter. Pretty tired of dealing with them. If I bring it in they’ll just try and blow more smoke up my a**. In fact I asked the general manager if they had done this type modification before. He said they had probably done it 1,000 times.
 
Hope you have insurance on the RV if you continue to go to that dealer. They know nothing about electrical wiring.
 
Everything you need is in the owners manual to find required install. Here is the manual.

In short no more than 6 ft between inverter and battery and recommended 0 awg wire (4 is acceptable). It also shows max continuous output 530w
 

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N.

The dealer did you nothing.

The battery in your rv is likely a 70 amp Walmart special. You can only use it 50% or it will die young. Thus it can give you only 35 amp hours. The inverter will consume .6 amp hours on standby thus discharging the battery in 48 hours. If the fridge comes on the battery will be discharged very quickly. The inverter will generally perform at 80% thus again limiting run time. Do not know how much the fridge will use. I would be surprised if it lasted overnight. I would guess that running, the fridge would draw 5-10 amps plus 20%. Or 6-12 amps per hour.

The wire is the wrong size. Usually, the inverter is as close to the battery as possible because of the wire issue. 12 volt line loss is awful. The fuse is wrong. 600 watts needs a 50 amp fuse or bigger. And bigger wire.

A 12 volt fridge would have been better, a little.

The tow vehicle will not significantly charge the battery while traveling.

Wire nuts and tape are not ok. Temporary maybe. P

Your battery needs to be MUCH larger. The wire and fuse is not $100. The battery is likely $500 or so. I assume they did not tell you could not sleep out without plugging In.

Dealing with the dealers is frustrating. Good inverter likely! Transfer switch is a good thing.
 
One more thing I just noticed from your photo - it appears they didn't bother to ground the unit. From the manual, there is a chassis ground lug, near the battery negative connection, which is to be grounded to the RV frame with minimum 8 awg wire.
 
If the Inverter is powering only ONE outlet
which is the fridge and won't be used to pull more than the fridge loads you can install a inverter that is 600w or 2000w it's only going to PULL the max load connected to it...
2000w inverter would be a total waste...... but it would work .

the wiring to the fuse and then the wire nut is pretty poor
15 amp fuse holder with a 30 amp is a concern
but so is the rest of the connection ... where is the negative going to?


it would be easy to clean this up and not real expensive...
probably cheaper than the gas and time to take it to the dealer and pick it up again

a) get better fuse/breaker get rid or wire nut put breaker to the main positive with correct lug

b) get better bigger cables for the inverter ... inverter cables supplied with inverter are often suspect

c) Make sure negative goes to a GOOD ground or negative bus... and the negative has good lug.

15 minutes to install
larger wire gauge STRANDED COPPER ..... depends on length of wire needed. 1.50 - 2.00 per foot from hardware store
30-50amp resetable breaker (12v) from an autoparts or marine store $5.00


NOTE... no idea what the amps/watts of those small fridges are
but it won't be near 600w...
10g wire with a 30amp (12v) fuse will allow about 360w ...... probably just enough for a mini fridge (depends on battery location)
 
PS.... if you can trace the large red cable that has the wire nut... is it protected by a FUSE at the other end?
IF so you may not need to add a second fuse to the inverter?
 
I don't understand how a trailer came from the factory with a 110V only residential fridge and no inverter. This makes no sense to me and is contrary to everything I have seen. And a 4.5 cu ft residential fridge sounds implausible as well.


Are you sure your refrigerator is a 110V only residential type refrigerator?
 
If the Inverter is powering only ONE outlet
which is the fridge and won't be used to pull more than the fridge loads you can install a inverter that is 600w or 2000w it's only going to PULL the max load connected to it...
2000w inverter would be a total waste...... but it would work .

the wiring to the fuse and then the wire nut is pretty poor
15 amp fuse holder with a 30 amp is a concern
but so is the rest of the connection ... where is the negative going to?


it would be easy to clean this up and not real expensive...
probably cheaper than the gas and time to take it to the dealer and pick it up again


a) get better fuse/breaker get rid or wire nut put breaker to the main positive with correct lug

b) get better bigger cables for the inverter ... inverter cables supplied with inverter are often suspect

c) Make sure negative goes to a GOOD ground or negative bus... and the negative has good lug.

15 minutes to install
larger wire gauge STRANDED COPPER ..... depends on length of wire needed. 1.50 - 2.00 per foot from hardware store
30-50amp resetable breaker (12v) from an autoparts or marine store $5.00


NOTE... no idea what the amps/watts of those small fridges are
but it won't be near 600w...
10g wire with a 30amp (12v) fuse will allow about 360w ...... probably just enough for a mini fridge (depends on battery location)


Exactly, fix it your self in a couple hours time. IMO, if it were me, I would wire up the system to meet the max output of the inverter, plus some. The cost increase is negligible and you will have a really good system.
 
I had no real confidence in the dealer fix. I have solar panels as part of my home electrical supply, so I’m pretty familiar with proper wire gauge, battery type and capacity, inverters, etc. I think I really need a written statement from an expert on this , like an electrical engineer or technician. Anyone have any advice on how to proceed from here. The general manager at the dealership wants me bring the rv in. He said it could be a faulty inverter. Pretty tired of dealing with them. If I bring it in they’ll just try and blow more smoke up my a**. In fact I asked the general manager if they had done this type modification before. He said they had probably done it 1,000 times.

Re-read your manual. Print out the PDF and highlight the relevant areas of non-conformance by the dealership with the installation instructions. I skimmed the manual listed by others in this thread and it is quite specific on how to setup the inverter.

However, as I said elsewhere, it is probably easiest for you to just fix it your self. Also, did you mention what you had for battery power? An inverter is only as good as the batteries supplying its power.
 
That dealer should not be allowed to install electronics. Look at the manual or label on the fridge for the current requirement ( or wattage). For every one amp of 100VAC current you need, you will require 10ADC current from the battery into the inverter. That inverter will either blow the fuse or shutdown for overload when the compressor starts.
 
...Also, did you mention what you had for battery power? An inverter is only as good as the batteries supplying its power.

I got the impression from the initial post that the OP is mostly interested in having the fridge run while driving. If so, maybe battery capacity isn't a big question here.
 

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