BAC Forum
General Boards => General Discussion => Topic started by: William Brosam on May 03, 2013, 03:46:15 PM
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Hey guys got a question, so running two heaters on 1500 watts popped our inverter breaker switch in the middle of the night and we woke up to a brisk morning of me running outside to turn the switch on the inverter down stairs
SO, which plugs from the bathroom back are on separate breakers?
Basically, I want one heater in the bedroom plugged into the plug next to bed for heat in the back, and I've had the other plugged into the bathroom sink area pointed towards the back. These are clearly the same circuit and cant run at same time.
Which plugs run on a separate circuit so i can run both heaters?
Or, is there a way to not draw power through the inverter for everything, since I'm plugged into 50 amp service i should not have to run power through the inverter all the time right, or is this just the way it works?
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William,
There are usually 2 receptacles in your model coach that do not run through the inverter. The easiest way to identify these circuits is to turn off the inverter so that it will not produce 120V power, and go to the 120V breaker box and turn off the breaker to the inverter. Then take a lamp or a 120V tester and check all receptacles for power. The receptacles that still have power, do not run through the inverter and will not be powered by it if you are dry camping. These receptacles are usually one by the bed and one near the refrigerator.
Gerald
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ill check that out tonight and see
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After having had exactly the same experience as you, I've started connecting one heater directly to the 20A outlet on my campsite's utility pedestal. I have a 50' 12AWG extension which is capable of handling the full load of the heater on high (even though we usually use it on low). I put the extension through the driver's window and use a little tape to close the opening. It works like a charm. I'm currently using this approach in western WA where the nighttime temps drop to the mid-40's. Usually a single heater near the front of the coach running on low is sufficient to keep the Hurricane from going off until the wee hours of the morning. I do have a second heater I could plug in near the bedroom, but I don't mind using some diesel fuel if I can keep the total consumption down.
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figured out passenger side bed outlet is not run through the inverter, and the outlet by the table/refridgerator and near the floor
so that is where i will be plugging the heaters from now on.
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now to figure out this washing machine wont drain the damn water out
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This is something new. Are you guys saying that while plugged in to shore power, some of the outlets are still powered through the inverter? While plugged in I have never turned the inverter on and I've never noticed any dead plugs. Clue me in.
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Adam,
When you are plugged in, the receptacles that the inverter powers when you are dry camped are powered by shore power that is passed through the inverter. So the inverter is on stand-by, even if it is turned on, and it just passes the shore power through to the receptacles.
Gerald
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im popping the inverter breaker when trying to use two heaters or electric cook top and a heater etc.
so wanted to figure out which outlet to plug heater into that does not use the inverter. pain when its cold outside to run out and turn the breaker for inverter back on in middle of night.
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So if the power is passing through, why is the inverter breaker tripping and not the individual branch circuits that are being overloaded?
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So if the power is passing through, why is the inverter breaker tripping and not the individual branch circuits that are being overloaded?
In our case the breakers that did trip were always the subpanel ones that are on the inverter.
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This is great info. If I ever tripped a breaker I would have looked to the main electrical panel and possibly become very frustrated when everything looked fine. Would have never thought at looking to the inverter. Again the BAC Brain Trust saves me potential frustration! You guys are awesome!
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Depending on where your inverter is physically located in the basement, getting to the two breakers on it to reset them can be a challenge, especially if you have a few extra pounds around your middle like I do. Next week, when I replace my ailing Xantrex with a Magnum, there will be a separate subpanel located where I can easily reach it!
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for instance my inverter is mounted to the bottom of main floor/ top of the cargo bay in front of passenger rear tire. so sliding into the bay (thats kinda full) and reaching up to switch them back on is annoying to say the least in your underwear at 2am cause its cold !
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for instance my inverter is mounted to the bottom of main floor/ top of the cargo bay in front of passenger rear tire. so sliding into the bay (thats kinda full) and reaching up to switch them back on is annoying to say the least in your underwear at 2am cause its cold !
Yup, that's where mine is also. In the past it has often gotten tripped by the inadvertent use of a hair dryer while the coffee was still brewing, necessitating an early morning crawl into the basement. :-/
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Hey all
We ran into this problem some time back. Here is a tidbit for ya. of the circuts powered by / through the inverter there are two circuts. In ours the division is above counter and below counter level so if we lug something in below the vanity sink and something else in by the appliance garge we are usualy fine. Same two items both on floor outlets blows the inverter breakers.
Just an idea for ya
Keith
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been having alot more instances of the inverter breaker tripping, running electric space heaters.
does anyone know how they split the breakers that are on the inverter i always pop the top breaker never the bottom one.
i am using the plugs by the kitchen table on side of refridge (not supposed to be used by inverter) the plugs in the bedroom for cell phone chargers and one heater in the back bedroom.
tv is plugged under the dash in the front of motorhome(wondering if i shouldn't use the tv plug in the cabinet instead)
PC is plugged into the outlet near the desk dealie behind passenger seat.
once you plug in hair dryer in bathroom bam pops the inverter.
Im thinking the Microwave, the TV and satelite plugs in the upper cabinets are on the same leg which is the one im not tripping anyone else care to chime in?
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When the person who must be obeyed uses her dryer with a heater plugged in, I get the same result. Too much power usage I suppose.
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In my PT I think virtually everything is on one of the two inverter circuits with the exception of a socket by the bed. The other circuit has the microwave. If the TV is on the other circuit, I've never noticed, but one of the two outlets in the TV box definitely isn't.
We constantly tripped the circuit with all the lighting and other stuff on it, so when we replaced the Xantrex with a Magnum I located the needed subpanel above the water pump box so I could reach it easily and no longer needed to crawl into the coach to reset it.
Another thing we discovered when installing the Magnum, however, is that all the circuits in the coach appear to have been wired with 12 gauge romex. The fact that one circuit was 15A and the microwave one was 20A appears to have been more because of the Xantrex configuration rather than indicative of how the coach was wired. In fact, since we had purchased 15A and 20A breakers to use with the Magnum, we reversed them so the main circuit has the 20A (since 12 gauge wire is fine for that) and the 15A breaker is now on the old microwave circuit, which is the one that we had rerouted to serve the residential fridge.
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terrible that we have 50amp service coming in an 20amp breaker running the whole motorhome
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One thing we did to reduce the load on that one circuit was to extend the washer/dryer circuit into one of the kitchen base cabinets. Since we can control when we use the washer that essentially gives us another 20A circuit for kitchen appliances and other things. It's really only the dryer than takes much power and the total load of our new Splendide is only 1300 watts. Having that extra circuit gives us the extra capacity to have our counter-top toaster oven as well as our induction burner both operating while preparing a meal. Of course, the microwave has its own circuit, anyway.
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extending my washer circuit would be challengine. It's on the opposite wall of the kitchen, and about 9 ft away, unless you did it under the floor.
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Sounds like my washer and kitchen are in the same relative positions. And, yes, it was all done through the basement by a very creative remodeler in Spokane. I told him what I wanted to do and he did it. You'd never know it wasn't original.
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I have done exactly what Joel did and it really works. The only difference is that I cut a small hole thru the sidewall for the AC cord to hook into from the outside so no tape and no window to go through.
Also, since we have removed our washer/dryer (they are on a separate breaker and not run via the inverter) I ran a romex cable under the coach and into a outlet installed into the bathroom and that is were we run our 2nd electric heater.
Have used this setup for many years and it works.
Just some more ideas for you to consider.
Larry
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yea looks like in feb/march ill be heading to Malaysia for a few months so i can have someone work on these ideas while im away.
fix slide leaks, replace slide seals, fix bay door weld, thinking about engineered hardwood floor in the living room, comfort Hot upgrade, reseal drivers side and man door windows, reeal roof man that sounds like 30k worth of work doh!
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If you have the Comfort Hot installed by someone other than Jim Rixen make sure they install it the way Jim does by tapping into the circuits for the two A/C's. A couple of months ago I was comparing coaches with someone I met at a CG and he had a Comfort Hot (the first one I had ever seen) but it was installed on the coach's primary lighting circuits and left very little power for anything else when it was on. It looked like someone had bought the parts from Rixen and figured out his own installation scheme.
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this stupid inverter is really starting to get annoying atleast 3 times a week were resetting it, has anyone whos went to the magnum reset theres?
thinking i need a 2800watt inverter and to do some rewiring.
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I haven't touched my Magnum since it was installed ~6 months ago. It does its thing and I never have to get involved. There was a brief power blip at our RV park this morning and the Magnum was online so fast the DirecTV Genie didn't even reboot. It's worth making the change. On one of the other RV forums someone posted a place that had a really good price, like in the $1500 range for the MS2800 but I didn't bookmark the site.
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Joel is this as good as you got it for?
http://www.imarineusa.com/magnumenergyms28122800watt12v100atruesinewaveinvertercharger-1-2.aspx add to cart and its 1404$
which LCD/remote panel did you get? RC-50 or ARC-50?
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Yup; that's the dealer I was thinking of. That's a great price. I bought mine when Amazon was selling them for about that but I had to pay tax even though I got free shipping. This price is better since the seller won't charge tax except in his home state.
I bought the cheaper remote panel, the RC-50; I don't have automatic gen start and probably never will. If I want to add it, I'll probably use the wireless system Cummins/Onan has introduced.