| Author |
Message |
jj-mc9
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, June 13, 2005 - 6:57 pm: | |
This past Saturday, finishing the final miles of a trip to Texas, I smelled something hot in my MC9. I parked on the shoulder east of Gainesville, and when I opened the bay with the inverter, found black smoke rolling out of it. Luckily, I had two fire extinguishers and used both of them on the inverter. I turned off the inverter "on" switch. It WAS a Vanner 3600W model, age unknown.
Being only 6 months into busing, cannot the inverter be used to power an 8 cubic foot, 110V fridge from eight, 6V, deep cycle batteries? Would it be better to run the deisel generator for 110V power going down the road? It's an 800 mile trip. Can I safely make the return trip with the inverter turned off?
Thanks for any input.
PS I have 3, new extinguishers in the coach now. |
Jim (Jim_in_california)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, June 13, 2005 - 7:55 pm: | |
Sure you can turn the inverter off and you damned well should!
Your inverter should have been able to handle that fridge's load without breaking a sweat. It flat-out failed on you, you didn't break it. Unless...you were also trying to draw two air conditioning units through it as well? THAT could overstress a 3600w inverter, esp. if it was modified sine versus pure sine.
If it was modified sine, one overhead A/C and a good-size fridge *might* be stressful on a 3600...still, I'd think a Vanner could cope?
Your first problem now is, how do you route the 110v power off the generator into the coach with the inverter disconnected/off/etc?
You may have to wire "around" the now "missing" inverter if it was "in line" with the main power (acting as a "pass through").
If that's NOT what was going on, and there was a switch to route between any of three 110v input sources (generator, shore cord, inverter) then you're in much better shape. Just route to the genset and run it. Annoying but it'll get you there until you score another inverter.
For your next inverter: try Outback. |
Craig (Ceieio)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, June 13, 2005 - 8:17 pm: | |
Well I popped over to Sears.com and found a 9.5 cu. ft. appartment fridge. The energy guide for this indicated that this unit used 321 kW hours per year of electricity per year.
Dividing this by the number of hours in a year (and technically multiplying by 1 hour) indicates an average of 36.64 watts per hour. Not a big load for your inverter.
If it runs one fourth of the hour and is off for the balance (I have no idea, just an example) it draws 146 watts for those 15 minutes (plus any startup spike) so not a big deal for a 3600W inverter.
I would guess that something other than this caused your smoke.
As for the retuen trip, I would disconnect the inverter if possible and run on the genny until I figures the smoke source out.
Craig - MC7 |
Earl-8-Ky
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, June 13, 2005 - 8:58 pm: | |
I think you need to read the tag on the fridg to see how many amps it pulls when running. I have a GE that I bought at Lowes. It pulls 1.6 amps running and that will multiply by about 7 on start up. A 3600 watt inverter will handle a good sized fridge with no problem. |
David Hartley (Drdave)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, June 13, 2005 - 10:50 pm: | |
Cooling Issue..??????
Inside sealed up bay in operation under load.???
Inverters and chargers need to breath fresh cool air. Not recycled heat.
Where was the fuse?
Vanners use transformers in their old stuff that generates huge amounts of heat. Maybe the fan died which complemented no cooling.
Dunno.. |
Tim Hoskinson (Tdh37514151)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, June 13, 2005 - 10:50 pm: | |
I have never owned a vanner but even the cheapest inverters have a over current release that will not allow the unit to operate over the maximum peak current. I have a 850 watt coleman thats been running a 95 watt referigerator for 2 years no problems and it runs 3 to 4 days at a time. You must have had a unusual failure in the output section of the machine. I would check the unit for signs of mice or water intrusion that is if their is enough left of it to check out. Best of luck. Tim |
Jim (Jim_in_california)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, June 14, 2005 - 2:42 am: | |
Vanner generally makes good stuff.
Either he drew a LOT more than just a fridge or this was just a bad-luck factory defect in the inverter. Cooling issue is possible I guess but seems unlikely in a bus bay...?
Pure sine, mod sine, it don't matter, the only fridge that'll out-draw a 3600 inverter is a walk-in type...
<scratches>
*Maybe* it was wired in funky somehow but...I really don't see how. Not if the smoke was coming from IN the inverter vs. "near it" (bad wiring in that case). |
Richard Bowyer (Drivingmisslazy)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, June 14, 2005 - 8:27 am: | |
I can not imagine any inverter without a safety overload circuit of some type to protect it. Even with a major overload it should shut down instead of letting the smoke out. I firmly believe you had a catastrophic failure within the inverter not caused by the load or by temperature.
Richard |
Jack Gregg (Jackinkc)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, June 14, 2005 - 1:09 pm: | |
If you are plugging in at night, pack your refrigerator COMPLETELY full of plastic water bottles (full of water) – freezer & refrigerator. You might squeeze a little out of the ones put in the freezer to leave expansion room. Watch the temperature with an independent thermostat but you should be able to go the whole day without the temperature getting too high. Don’t open the door much. For an extra measure, freeze “blue ice” at night then put it in the refer section at noon the next day. |