Smoke and fumes

[jcinca]

I was packing up after a few days of camping with hookups. I noticed smoke and fumes coming from under the kitchen sink near the stairwell where the batteries are located. The odor was more like an electrical burning smell than a battery sulphur smell. I shut off all power and checked the coach batteries and don't think they were the cause. Now at home I turned the battery switch on and have power. I have one of the original coach batteries and noticed the water level was low,but not dry. I would appreciate any input.

 

[Campin Cajun]

Maybe be a piece of insulation touching a heat source or wires. I had this happen to me in my stick house heater.

What's under your sink?

 

[jcinca]

Hi c.c.,

There is a lot of wiring under the sink cabinet. Pulled out the drawer and noticed a bag and dish towel we're covering the vent area of the inverter. The inverter is making a slight noise now turned on where before it was silent. That may have been the problem, because it was on at the time of the incident. Thank you for your time.

Jcinca
2012 Solera

 

[bclemens]

Also take off the cover of the BCC (sidewall of the step well) there are electronics in there as well.

 

[jcinca]

It turned out to be the inverter. Everything else is functioning fine. The burning smell is coming from the inverter unit. Now I am finding out they discontinued making the same unit that came equipped in my 2012 Solera. There is not a lot of room to get access to the inverter through the drawer opening. I hope I can find the same unit it's WF-600TH-112 distributed by Cheng USA. If you have any advice on replacing the inverter it will be appreciated. I want to stay away as much as possible from making modifications because of my limited skill set. Thanks for the reply.

 

[Nats]

If you can't find an identical unit, I installed a Xantrex PROwatt SW600 under the drawer below the sink in my 2012 24S.

Plenty of room to get it in there.

Dimensions of yours are 11.42" (L) x 7.05" (W) x 3.15" (H) and the Xantrex is 3.5 (H) x 8.7 (W) x 12.2” (L)

You will also need a Xantrex transfer switch and a new remote, it looks like the transfer switch was built into yours.

 

[Still Kickin]

Jcinca, there were posts in here on a four stage inverter, the OEM wafco is a three stage. Four stage is the latest technology, it has a feature to desulfer the two house batteries from time to time, extending their life. I believe the brand was Progressive. Let us know how the change out goes.

 

[bclemens]

Still Kickin, pretty sure they're talking about an Inverter, not a Converter.

 

[Still Kickin]

Still Kickin, pretty sure they're talking about an Inverter, not a Converter.

BClemens, your right got my electrical equipment mixed up.

 

[jcinca]

Just finished up installing a new inverter in my Solera. I was replacing the o.e.m. Wafco unit. They discontinued the model. I replaced it with xantrex 600sw pro watt unit. Added the tranfer switch and remote. Thanks for the suggestions posted. I did some research and decided this was the best option for me. If your inverter is under the sink cabinet, it's not a bad idea to pull out the drawer to look at the inverter and check to see if something got pushed out of the drawer and is covering the inverter, like in my case it was a dish towel and a couple of paper bags. If I was aware of this I probably would not be replacing the inverter.

Jcinca

 

[Arefbee]

Just finished up installing a new inverter in my Solera. I was replacing the o.e.m. Wafco unit. They discontinued the model. I replaced it with xantrex 600sw pro watt unit. Added the tranfer switch and remote. Thanks for the suggestions posted. I did some research and decided this was the best option for me. If your inverter is under the sink cabinet, it's not a bad idea to pull out the drawer to look at the inverter and check to see if something got pushed out of the drawer and is covering the inverter, like in my case it was a dish towel and a couple of paper bags. If I was aware of this I probably would not be replacing the inverter.

Jcinca

Thanks for sharing the lesson. That could have happened to anyone.