Trailer: 2014 Escape 19' and 2016 GMC Yukon SLT SUV.
Posts: 500
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vermilye
If you have the inverter fuse connected directly to the battery without a fuse holder, be suspicious - a number of mechanical fuse failures have been the result.
Jon, thank you. I have 2 x 40A fuses at the controller/charger box and a fuse connected to the positive terminal of 6V battery without cover. What would be a good replacement fuse for the battery terminal?
Trailer: 2014 Escape 19' and 2016 GMC Yukon SLT SUV.
Posts: 500
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tonny LR
Jon, thank you. I have 2 x 40A fuses at the controller/charger box and a fuse connected to the positive terminal of 6V battery without cover. What would be a good replacement fuse for the battery terminal?
Jon, thank you. I have 2 x 40A fuses at the controller/charger box and a fuse connected to the positive terminal of 6V battery without cover. What would be a good replacement fuse for the battery terminal?
The two 40A fuses at the WFCO power center are reverse polarity fuses meaning they should blow only if the battery is hooked up improperly. Please take a picture of just the main red positive wiring, fuse, bussbar situation you have at the battery positive terminal. I’m still suspicious that you have a high resistance connection somewhere and that your inverter might still be ok.
Trailer: 2014 Escape 19' and 2016 GMC Yukon SLT SUV.
Posts: 500
Quote:
Originally Posted by rubicon327
Please take a picture of just the main red positive wiring, fuse, bussbar situation you have at the battery positive terminal. I’m still suspicious that you have a high resistance connection somewhere and that your inverter might still be ok.
Please see the previous picture posted of the red battery terminal . Please explain what picture do you want to take. Do I need to take the red terminal apart and take a picture of the fuse? Thanks.
Please see the previous picture posted of the red battery terminal . Please explain what picture do you want to take. Do I need to take the red terminal apart and take a picture of the fuse? Thanks.
Tonny LR
Just looking for a close up of where the red wire from the inverter lands on the fuse. Is the fuse bolted to the metal plate which acts as a buss bar? If there is any corrosion at those connections including between the fuse and buss bar you will have high resistance. Personally I would take all of that apart and try the inverter momentarily with the red wire connected direct to the positive terminal of the battery and see how it performs.
Could you retake that photo but move the camera closer to the positive (red wire) end? The other end - negative (black wires) is OK. See the thumbnail photo for the area of interest: Odd black wire, odd fuse connection.
Trailer: 2014 Escape 19' and 2016 GMC Yukon SLT SUV.
Posts: 500
Quote:
Originally Posted by rubicon327
Just looking for a close up of where the red wire from the inverter lands on the fuse. Is the fuse bolted to the metal plate which acts as a buss bar? If there is any corrosion at those connections including between the fuse and buss bar you will have high resistance. Personally I would take all of that apart and try the inverter momentarily with the red wire connected direct to the positive terminal of the battery and see how it performs.
Thank you for explaining where to look for corrosion and how to correct it because the terminals appear to be clean and tight. Please clarify. There are 2 red wires, one thick and one thin. You mentioned red wire (singular) connected direct to the positive terminal. Which one should I use?
Trailer: 2014 Escape 19' and 2016 GMC Yukon SLT SUV.
Posts: 500
Quote:
Originally Posted by alanmalk
Could you retake that photo but move the camera closer to the positive (red wire) end? The other end - negative (black wires) is OK. See the thumbnail photo for the area of interest: Odd black wire, odd fuse connection.
OK, will take a close up red wire picture tomorrow. Thank you!
Trailer: 2014 Escape 19' and 2016 GMC Yukon SLT SUV.
Posts: 500
Quote:
Originally Posted by Perry Butler
I find the crimp on the black cable to your positve massively suspect.
I also question a black cable going to your postive post when all other positive wires are red. That's just not good practice.
And then there's the stuff that Rossue talked about.
Perhaps I'm missing something though,
Perry
HI Perry,
Good catch on Black cable going to the positive post. That was a bad connection deviated from electrical code. The black wire is from the electric tongue jack which I installed myself. It is a black wire from the OEM tongue jack.
Trailer: 2014 Escape 19' and 2016 GMC Yukon SLT SUV.
Posts: 500
Quote:
Originally Posted by alanmalk
Could you retake that photo but move the camera closer to the positive (red wire) end? The other end - negative (black wires) is OK. See the thumbnail photo for the area of interest: Odd black wire, odd fuse connection.
Hollow alanmalk,
Attached is the close up picture of the red terminal. The yellow coating on the connections nuts and bolts are the batteries protector spray paint. There are no visible corrosions. Thanks.
Trailer: 2014 Escape 19' and 2016 GMC Yukon SLT SUV.
Posts: 500
Quote:
Originally Posted by rubicon327
Just looking for a close up of where the red wire from the inverter lands on the fuse. Is the fuse bolted to the metal plate which acts as a buss bar? If there is any corrosion at those connections including between the fuse and buss bar you will have high resistance. Personally I would take all of that apart and try the inverter momentarily with the red wire connected direct to the positive terminal of the battery and see how it performs.
Hello rubicon327,
Thank you very much for providing valuable instructions to trouble shooting inverter problem. I think that I may have found the problem. I followed your guidance and took (+) and (-) terminals apart, cleaned them and inspected them. I also disconnected all Aux connection's. I attached a clean red terminal picture with only red wires connected . Then I conducted 2 load tests.
1. Hair dryer load test using the same hair dryer but not the same hot temp and high speed. Setting were warn and slow speed. Starting voltage was 12.8V. After the dryer was turned on, the voltage dropped to 11.6V in one minute and stayed there. When the dryer was turned off, the resting voltage was 12.5V.
2. Microwave load test: Solar panel was not covered. The inverter terminals showed 13.1V same as Gold power controller. When microwave was turned on, the voltage dropped to 11.0V with alarm within a few seconds. Finally dropped down to 10.9V, then microwave shut down. Inverter restarted itself within
1 minute. Multimeter connected to inverter terminal showed a resting reading of 12.9V.
Samlex owner manual states that the DC power source must provide between 10.5 and 15.5V to operate the load. Is this a strong evidence that I have weak batteries or half dead batteries.
...
Is this a strong evidence that I have weak batteries or half dead batteries.
I don't think we are quite ready to nail the coffin lid on your batteries.
If you're willing to answer a few more questions and run another test or two... (To misquote someone named Sherlock - "Eliminate all the suspects first...")
Using the attached photo:
1. I assume the top wire supplies the trailer needs - lights, fans, fridge, etc?
2. I assume the bottom wire supplies the inverter?
3. If the above is correct then I would love to know what that device is under the bar with the inverter wire attached. A fuse or breaker perhaps?
4. How long is the wire to the inverter?
Now the tests to determine voltage drop between the battery post (which I called "test point B"), and the positive (+) inverter terminal under various loads. Remember, in the discussion to follow, the voltage drop we measure is approximately half the total voltage drop for the system. Why? Because total voltage drop includes both the + wire and the - wire. We can reasonably assume that the drop in the - wire will not be bigger than the + wire (although that could bite us, but not likely.)
Ok. Start by turning on the meter and selecting a 2 Volt range. Why so low? Because the likely 1 way voltage drop is in the neighborhood of 0.2 to 1.0 Volts. Small, but very significant.
Next, put the positive (+) lead of the meter on the "test point B), aka, the battery post. And the negative lead (-) on the + terminal of the inverter. Woah, you're saying - this is backwards from earlier tests! Correct. Under the load we are expecting the battery post to be a higher voltage than the other end of the red wire, the + terminal of the inverter. This way you will read a positive voltage rather than a negative one.
Check your meter - it should read zero, or very close. Have your helper turn on the hair dryer. Take your time, not necessary to take a fast reading, it will be reasonably stable. Ballpark guess: 0.3 to 0.5 V. Turn off the dryer and turn on the microwave. Take the reading before the inverter alarm goes off. Ballpark guess: 0.5 - 0.8.
These are the numbers we need to see. If the microwave load results in readings around 0.8 then suspect your wire (too long, too thin) or the mystery device under the bar. (And keep in mind the real drop is roughly what your meter told you times 2. So 0.8 = real drop of 1.6 Volts. New wire or better fuse/breaker is much cheaper than new batteries. And absolutely necessary if you intend to upgrade to a bigger inverter.
If you're willing to answer a few more questions and run another test or two...
If you're wondering why all the extra testing...
The load tests where we measured the battery voltage at the inverter were a in fact a voltage drop test - with one big difference. In the first load tests the voltage drop included the resistance internal to the battery (or in simple terms, the battery voltage dropped because of the high demand). By measuring the voltage from one end of a wire to the other we eliminate the influence from the battery innards.
when you put a heavy load on the battery, then shut it off, you should wait at least 5-10 mins before measuring the 'rest' voltage, which will indicate your charge state.
Trailer: 2014 Escape 19' and 2016 GMC Yukon SLT SUV.
Posts: 500
Quote:
Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz
when you put a heavy load on the battery, then shut it off, you should wait at least 5-10 mins before measuring the 'rest' voltage, which will indicate your charge state.
Next, put the positive (+) lead of the meter on the "test point B), aka, the battery post. And the negative lead (-) on the + terminal of the inverter.
Alan this might not be possible/practical as his inverter is inside under DS dinette seat and batteries are in front storage box
Trailer: 2014 Escape 19' and 2016 GMC Yukon SLT SUV.
Posts: 500
[QUOTE=alanmalk;435691]
Using the attached photo:
1. I assume the top wire supplies the trailer needs - lights, fans, fridge, etc?
Yes. This wire supplies trailer needs.
2. I assume the bottom wire supplies the inverter?
Yes.
3. If the above is correct then I would love to know what that device is under the bar with the inverter wire attached. A fuse or breaker perhaps?
I think that device is a fuse, originally installed by ETI. It is not a battery terminal breaker because it has no on/off switches
4. How long is the wire to the inverter?
I believe the length of wire is approximately 3 feet.
I will perform the test you suggested later and report back.
I have a couple of 10ga jumper wires about 20’ long I made years ago out of marine stranded / tinned wire for times like this when I need to extend a test lead.
__________________
Randy & Barb
1998 C 2500 (Cruncher) and 2021 Ranger (Yoda)
Linear Mode
