Inverter/Battery bank issues...

[RickB]

Ran my Trojan 125's low on water and now my inverter is not going into invert mode and the fan is running non stop when I'm hooked up to shore power. Equalized the batteries a couple days ago and still the inverter will not work. Noticed the ends of the batteries are bulging out a bit so I'm thinking they are toast.

I unhooked the positive lead to the batteries and will leave it off all night and see if it resets. If not, I'm thinking about the Sam's club golf cart batteries which are less than half the cost of trojans.

Any thoughts?

Rick

[Brian Diehl]

Rick - did you get your multimeter out and measure the actual voltage of each battery? 

[Dave5Cs]

Is there a reset breaker on the inverter anywhere that needs to be reset? Or did you unplug the inverter completely and then plug it back in and let it reset itself. Any inline fuses between it and an equalizer or Vanner? Just some thoughts. As brian said check them all with your MM and maybe if they check out ok do a load meter test on them before you spend a bunch of doe on new ones.
Dave5Cs

[RickB]

I will check the batteries individually but the bulging out at the ends seems like a pretty tell tale sign.

I unplugged the inverter overbite and am about to hook it back up in hopes it has reset itself.

RB

[RickB]

The batteries read:

6.16
6.20
6.15
6.11

Here is a photo of the end of one of them. Are these still good?

[eagle19952]

posts need attention...

[Lin]

Do you have a way to charge the batteries separately or in pairs?  Do you have a hydrometer to test the individual cells?  For the hydrometer test to be accurate, the batteries should be charged, but even doing it in their present state might give a clue to any bad cells.  If only one cell is bad in even one battery in the bank, the bank will never properly charge and therefore keep your inverter charger working full time.

[TomC]

I use 2-8D deep cycle batteries (equal to 4 golf cart + a little more [510 amp/hrs compared to 440]). They are Lifeline AGM's. Yes they are expensive. But picture this. In the 7 years that my first set last (they have a 5 year warranty), I did nothing to the batteries-not even clean the terminals-since AGM batteries do not gas. They are sealed, so no watering or checking. For 7 years, it was as though they weren't even there. To me, that is worth the twice cost of AGM's. Good Luck, TomC

[Brian Diehl]

Those look just like mine.  Voltages also look good.  I don't think the batteries are your issue.  Make sure your cables are good and measure the system voltage once everything is hooked up again.  Measure the voltage also when you try to turn the inverter back on

[RickB]

It's not the batteries. I hooked up a single 12 volt battery that I know is good and it randomly turned on once but since then, nothing. I'm trying to isolate the problem because my inverter is saying it's on. So, either it's on and the power switches aren't working or it's saying it's on without actually turning on.

Trying to get a reading on the output of the inverter when it's on but I am such a non-electrical guy that I'm not sure I'm testing the right thing. I'm pretty sure the inverter is toast but I just haven't had the "aha" moment where I can definitively say that's the problem. We leave for Colorado in two weeks and I have a lot of other things to take care of so I hope I can get this figured out soon.

Rick

[Dave5Cs]

My inverter won't come on unless there is greater than 5 amps going out? If you have a remote it would say in the tech section or whatever remote you have. If you don't have a remote for it then it is whatever it is set at the factory.
Dave5Cs