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Old 05-11-2022, 07:13 PM   #1
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Samlex 1500 inverter problem

Sorry if this is an old discussion, if there are threads about this please point me there.

I'm just gettimg my escape going have most of the electrical up and running except for the inverter.

When I turn on the inverter from the remote it starts up indicates 13.4 V input then it drops to 10V and the buzzer and yellow light go on. This continues to cycle and no power to the outlets.

When I turn the switch on at the inverter and bypass the remote it does the same thing.

When I unplug the outlet plug same thing.

Measuring the voltage at the batteries it is 13.4, when I measure at the input to the inverter it does the same cycling between 13.4 and 10V.

Reading other posts I suspected a bad GFCI. I pushed in as hard as possible on the reset but no click, and the light on the GFCI not coming on.

Does this look like a bad GFCI or are there other possible causes?

Any suggestions are appreciated.

Hugh
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Old 05-11-2022, 09:35 PM   #2
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Not sure how the GFCI are wired. Is there more than one.
My 15. B has two ,one inside one outside reset both. Might be one won’t work if the other is tripped?
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Old 05-12-2022, 12:01 AM   #3
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Unless it is shorted (which would be a dramatic fire-inducing situation), a GFCI outlet isn't the problem - all it can do is trip off, which doesn't matter to the inverter.

The huge battery voltage drop suggests a very high current to the inverter, which means either a major failure in the inverter, or just a large load connected to the output of the inverter. Is there something like a heater which is plugged in? I would try turning off all circuit breakers for circuits powered by the inverter and then trying to turn it on again.
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Old 05-12-2022, 12:20 AM   #4
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I would check the state of your batteries, and verify all the DC wiring from the batteries to the inverter is #2 AWG or bigger. put a volt meter directly on hte batteries and switch on the inverter, do you see this same 10.x volts there? then its not a wiring problem.

13.4 volts is the typical output of the power converter/charger. that can't run the inverter, so I'm assuming your trailer is unplugged streetside before you did this test? When you take lead acid batteries off a charger, they will read the high 'float charge' for an hour or two before they revert to the state-of-charge voltage (12.6V at 100% at 68F).
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Old 05-12-2022, 12:22 AM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ghosthunter View Post
Not sure how the GFCI are wired. Is there more than one.
My 15. B has two ,one inside one outside reset both. Might be one won’t work if the other is tripped?
my 21, the outdoor outlet has the GFCI which also protects the inside kitchen outlet.

but a GFCI just disconnects itself when faced with an unbalanced load. there's no way it could short like this.
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Old 05-12-2022, 12:27 AM   #6
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Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz View Post
I would check the state of your batteries, and verify all the DC wiring from the batteries to the inverter is #2 AWG or bigger. put a volt meter directly on hte batteries and switch on the inverter, do you see this same 10.x volts there? then its not a wiring problem.
Oops... I thought from the first post that the voltage at the battery was already observed to be dropping the same as at the inverter input, but apparently I skimmed over that part too quickly. Yes, if the voltage is dropping at the inverter input but not at the battery, the wiring has excessive resistance.

Still, even with lousy DC wiring, turning on the inverter with no AC load shouldn't cause a problem.
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Old 05-12-2022, 12:30 AM   #7
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Originally Posted by Brian B-P View Post
Oops... I thought from the first post that the voltage at the battery was already observed to be dropping the same as at the inverter input, but apparently I skimmed over that part too quickly. Yes, if the voltage is dropping at the inverter input but not at the battery, the wiring has excessive resistance.

Still, even with lousy DC wiring, turning on the inverter with no AC load shouldn't cause a problem.
agreed. sigh, not easy to debug stuff remotely like this
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Old 05-12-2022, 09:05 AM   #8
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I agree with Brian that an unloaded inverter should not draw enough current to produce voltage drop from bad wiring. I suspect a bad inverter. You can check the battery & wiring:

Try measuring the battery voltage WHILE the inverter voltage shows 10V and the converter is disconnected (ie trailer unplugged to shore power). If the battery is also dropping to 10V, I'd suspect a bad battery or bad inverter. A good inverter would not draw enough to pull it down. If the battery voltage stays over 12.7V or so, I'd suspect the wiring, or a problem with the inverter.

A clamp on amp meter would be handy to see if the input wiring is actually drawing current. If it is drawing more than an amp or two, and you have no load, I'd definitely suspect an inverter problem.
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Old 05-12-2022, 01:31 PM   #9
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Samlex 1500 inverter

Thank you all for all your ideas and suggestions.

This morning I unplugged the trailer from shore power and let it sit for about 2 or 3 hours, batteries read 12.7 volts. Tried the inverter again, same buzzing and yellow light.

I then took all of the cables off the batteries and cleaned all the connectors and the battery terminals with a file and steel wool until I could see shiny metal everwhere and reconnected all the cables.

And the inverter worked! So it was the batteries after all.

A good lesson for next year when I take the batteries out of the trailer and store them in the garage.

Thanks again for the help, this forum is great.

Hugh
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Old 05-12-2022, 03:25 PM   #10
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yeah, what works for 10-20 amps tends to freak out when its faced with 150 amps or whatever.
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