Inverter on or off

[Mike Nunn]

Should the inverter be powered off when the coach is in storage for days or a few weeks?   2000 magnum energy inverter. Thanks   The coach is connected to 50 amp shore power.

[Bill Sprague]

I don't think it matters in warm weather.  Everything is fully powered by the shorepower connection.

In the winter I make sure it is on.  I depend on the electric option on the Hydro-Hot to keep the motorome plumbing from freezing.  If the shore power fails I want the genset to autostart ASAP, keeping the HydroHot element hot.  Leaving the inverter on helps draw the batteries down quickly enough that the genset will start.  Further, I keep a dehumidifier running in the winter that makes sure the batteries drop far enough to trigger the genset.

[Edward Buker]

The safest situation would be to disconnect either the plus coach lead to both of the battery banks or the minus ones along with the 50amp coach shore power. The shore power would be disconnected first and reconnected last.  Basically shut all power down to the coach and leave a fully charged battery bank isolated from any load. Once every month or two connect it all and charge for several hours.

The assuption here is that the weather does not require you to climate control the coach due to heat or cold.

This powered down state removes any concern of an electrical fire occuring while you are not there. The next option if you need some climate control is to leave shore power on, the charging system on, and shut down any AC and DC breakers that are not necessary to maintain the coach. The intent here is to leave everything in as safe a state as possible while the coach is not occupied.

Later Ed

[Edward Buker]

Mike,

In my last post I made the assumption that you were asking if you turn the inverter charging system off and not just the inverter portion. I cannot think of a reason to leave the inverter portion of the charging system active while stored.  

As far as the charger portion, there is just too much of a load from the engine ECU among other things that draw current which all add up to discharge the batteries fairly quickly while stored. Unless you disconnect the batteries you are pretty much forced to leave the charger side of things running.

Later Ed