Inverter Trouble - Montana Owners Club

bad99ram · 04-08-2017, 10:23 AM

I am having the following problems with my inverter for the fridge. When I am hooked up to my truck ready to leave I turn the inverter on. When I stop in a rest area I check it and it is not working. I have tried to turn it off then on again and it will fail to start up. I have to turn it off, unplug from the truck, replug it back in, then turn it back on , at this point it starts right back up again . At the next rest stop the whole process needs to be repeated. I have checked the battery in the unit and it has a full charge. Does anyone have any troubleshooting ideas I could try prior to bringing it in? Good news its still under warranty.

jimcol · 04-08-2017, 11:54 AM

Call the inverter manufacture! They have a lot more knowledge than most RV dealers you will take it to. Generally they are not that hard to trouble shoot with the manufacturers expertise.

cw3jason · 04-08-2017, 11:59 AM

The only time that has happened to me, is when the battery is drained down to a point the inverter does not like. The inverter has a fail safe that will not allow it to drain a battery below 50% capacity as not to damage the battery. after a day or so of travel, the truck cannot recharge the battery faster then the amps the inverter pulls, so the inverter will shut down anytime the truck is not running. If your truck is like mine there is a relay that only allows 12v power to go to the tow plug when the truck is running. If the truck is off, then no charge to the battery and the inverter powers down. to start the inverter after a stop, you have to start the truck, then push the inverter button to turn it off, then push it again to turn back on, like a reset. This is normal for a low battery. You may think the battery is full, because it reads 12volts, but actually it is very low. a fully charged battery is over 13volts. I will try to explain further if you still have questions.

mhs4771 · 04-08-2017, 03:37 PM

I have a Magnum Inverter and don't turn it off. When on shore power it's internal transfer switches to shore power. Now I am running four deep cycle 12 volt batteries so I can go several days just on the batteries, and have never had an issue of the inverter shuting down any time while traveling.

jameswbarton · 04-08-2017, 07:23 PM

My inverter blew and is at the dealers awaiting a replacement. Fridge worked on AC just not the inverter.

cw3jason · 04-09-2017, 06:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mhs4771

I have a Magnum Inverter and don't turn it off. When on shore power it's internal transfer switches to shore power. Now I am running four deep cycle 12 volt batteries so I can go several days just on the batteries, and have never had an issue of the inverter shuting down any time while traveling.

The stock inverter works the same way, you can leave it on all the time and it will simply pass thru the 120v from the pole and monitor, You also have better batteries then the standard group 24 battery that most dealers put in the rig. I can tell you, that even with 2 group 24 batteries in parallel, after day 2 on the road especially if you wally dock or dry dock the inverter will shut down if the truck is not running. I have been running this system for over two seasons now and some of my trips take 3 days to get to a destination running down the road 8 to 10hrs a day. I upgraded my batteries this year to 2 group 31 batteries. I am going to see how long those last.

jameswbarton · 04-11-2017, 07:59 AM

What increase in ampere hours do you get with group 31? Mine has been in the shop so much I have never found out how long I can go. 2 days max sucks. Now I see why my batteries do not last long.

cw3jason · 04-11-2017, 09:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jameswbarton

What increase in ampere hours do you get with group 31? Mine has been in the shop so much I have never found out how long I can go. 2 days max sucks. Now I see why my batteries do not last long.

I am not sure. I should have 240 AMP hrs. avail, vs. the 160 I had with the group 24s. -50% of course, because you do not want to discharge below half, so not quite double, but I'm hoping for 3 days of travel. longer if I can plug in at night and recharge some of the loss. I have a couple of longer trips planned later in the year, so I will let you know.

jameswbarton · 04-11-2017, 09:22 AM

Since the wife died I have been trying to get fulltiming again but now in the new Montana versus the old Diesel Pusher. I am thinking I might want to go with a new inverter system and fill the front with golf cart batteries. I really do not want the weight though as my tow vehicle is in need of upgrade to a diesel. I do miss the onboard generator and inverter as I used to travel with two small tropical fish tanks and need to be able to keep the Montana heated or cooled and capable of dry camping. I do have a generator that is too large and noisy so I am trying to figure out the optimum for hitting the road again. If it ever gets out of the shop again!

BucBuckeye · 04-16-2017, 02:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jameswbarton

Since the wife died I have been trying to get fulltiming again but now in the new Montana versus the old Diesel Pusher. I am thinking I might want to go with a new inverter system and fill the front with golf cart batteries. I really do not want the weight though as my tow vehicle is in need of upgrade to a diesel. I do miss the onboard generator and inverter as I used to travel with two small tropical fish tanks and need to be able to keep the Montana heated or cooled and capable of dry camping. I do have a generator that is too large and noisy so I am trying to figure out the optimum for hitting the road again. If it ever gets out of the shop again!

Have you considered setting up a solar system? I have no ties to the solar industry (other than having a former customer, now friend), so I'm not promoting it. My friend encouraged me to take a look at solar - although he doesn't market any products specifically to the RV industry.

My research turned up a few "fuelless generators" or "solar generators" (I've attached a couple of links for the ones I've been considering, but you can do your own Google search for "fuel less generators" or "solar generator" and you will see numerous options).

http://www.fuellessgenerator.net

http://www.prepsos.com/generators/fuelless-generator

In my research, I discovered even ol' Jim Bakker is selling a package that actually looks pretty interesting:

https://store.jimbakkershow.com/prod...erator-bundle/

There are experts (probably in this forum) with whom you could likely have a discussion that could help you match a weight-to-performance system that would fit your specific needs.

Good luck! If you discover an option that works for you (solar or otherwise), I'd love to hear about it, maybe you could post it here for all of us to learn from as well?

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