Magnum Inverter Question?

dtcerrato · June 23, 2022, 12:32:01 PM

Woke up to the Magnum inverter quirking out - heard a relay intermittantly clicking - it was the inverter cycling between charge & inverting modes with an intermittant overload signal. There was no load on it, plugged in to shore power. The only way I got it to stop & return to normalcy was to kill the AC power to it, ran the inverter with a load & after that everything seems fine (so far).
Wondering if anyone has experienced this anomaly?

sledhead · June 23, 2022, 03:21:14 PM

every now and then the two magnum inverter's I have had to dumb things as well and you did what I have done . stop the a/c power to reset all and it has worked for me . why it has happened

but it has not happened very much .
might have been from a power surge or a blip in 120 pole power

dtcerrato · June 24, 2022, 11:08:02 AM

Thanks Dave, all was good till this morning when it started clicking (relay) again. It wouldn't clear or correct itself this morning, in fact it seemed more bizarre... It inverts but can't get it to charge as it did yesterday. It goes through the self diagnoses but reverts right back to the cycling quirking. It's under warranty so I'll eventually communicate with Magnum. Jon on the other board mentioned bad ground which I'll have to look into...

Jim Blackwood · June 24, 2022, 01:39:05 PM

I'm going to have to start shopping for an inverter soon it appears. What are presently seen as the best choices?

Jim

Dave5Cs · June 24, 2022, 05:01:23 PM

Dan yep like Dave said ours has done it to. When you have no loads on it and it does it I just disconnect the remote and push and hold the on/off button on the inverter itself. Then to turn back on just hook the remote wire back in and hit the on button fast and it will start backup. I try to keep at least a 5 watt light on so it has something to keep it on.

dtcerrato · June 25, 2022, 12:01:40 AM

It was a really bad connection on the neutral of a 50A RV connection then when the neutral totally failed contact it started to heat & degrade the ground connection. I'm almost certain this was the culprit that got the inverter acting wierd - when in fact the inverter was performing just the way it was designed IMO - that is disconnecting from shore power due to low voltage (a multi tester showed 96 VAC) then inverting to keep the pass thru circuits energized while sensing shore power present thus cycling back & forth. It's not a hybrid inverter.
IMO the bottom line for the connection failure was on the female side of a Camco 50A RV cord which had obviously cheaper thinner contacts than it's vintage Leviton male plug mate - probably a foreign knock off. Anyway I think got that one solved (so far)

sledhead · June 25, 2022, 04:49:32 AM

thanks Dave
I forgot about the reset button on the inverter , and because mine is in a dumb spot back near the engine I made a skeleton box around it with really good washable thick furnace filter mat with a 1/2" plexeglass window so I can see what is going on . had to drill a hole in it so I could use a long small screw driver to push the reset button

good thing amazon sells the plug ends Dan

Dave5Cs · June 25, 2022, 09:42:49 AM

Had that happen too Dan. You were lucky on that one. When our plug did that up in Lincoln city OR. the power dropped but didn't go completely off and it took out our TV, Microwave and the heat side of the refrigerator.

dtcerrato · June 25, 2022, 11:19:08 AM

We swear by Magnum inverter. There are many more much cheaper but not as robust with CS as the Magnum.
We didn't replace the plug ends - that connection was in the genny compartment. We just spliced the two ends together with #6 lugs we had on hand. That problem won't happen again - there anyway!
Our power never went out, it is adapted to a 30A shore plug and was at 96 VAC. The neutral was completely gone so the ground was carrying it all - well at least trying to!

muldoonman · June 25, 2022, 07:16:22 PM

Have a working Magnum (2500 Watt) MS2512 Modified Sine Inverter if somebody needs one. Went to a larger Watt Pure Sine in my bus before I sold it.

Jim Blackwood · June 26, 2022, 06:19:59 AM

OK here's a question for you guys. How do you use an inverter to keep the batteries charged? An old problem I'm sure but you have house batteries, configured as a 12v parallel bank and I can see how that would work but then you also have the chassis batteries in series for 24v. If you park for any extended period those have to be kept charged too. It doesn't seem likely to me that an inverter could do that too, and even to keep the house batteries charged wouldn't it have to be a combination charger/inverter? Do they make a charger/inverter that will take care of both banks of batteries, both the 12v house and the 24v chassis at the same time?

Jim

sledhead · June 26, 2022, 08:27:11 AM

I had a 12v house and a 24 v bus set up but changed it to a 24 v on both then went with a Magnum hybrid 24 v inverter charger

made life a lot easer

https://www.magnum-dimensions.com/product-inverter/4000w-24vdc-pure-sine-hybrid-inverter-charger-msh-re-series

buswarrior · June 26, 2022, 09:30:35 AM

Different voltages, different battery types...

Different chargers needed for top marks.

Inverters consume battery power

Chargers charge battery power

Inverter/charger does both.

All are not created equal. Some seamlessly blend shore and battery, some supplement if shore is too small a circuit.

With the high amperages typically being consumed/produced in/by bus conmversions these days, i would not be building a 12v house bank, and certainly not in a 24 volt coach.

No back-up for when it hits the fan, without re-configuration distracting you from the reason you wanted to leave...

Happy coaching!
Buswarrior

Jim Blackwood · June 26, 2022, 10:11:40 AM

OK, but there are a lot of things that run on 12v like the water pump, fridge controls, and more. Run all that through the Vanner?

Here's another complication, the house batteries will be two bays and the fuel tank away from the chassis batteries. Not really convenient for running heavy cables.

Jim

windtrader · June 26, 2022, 10:33:27 AM

Quote from: Jim Blackwood on June 26, 2022, 06:19:59 AM
OK here's a question for you guys. How do you use an inverter to keep the batteries charged? An old problem I'm sure but you have house batteries, configured as a 12v parallel bank and I can see how that would work but then you also have the chassis batteries in series for 24v. If you park for any extended period those have to be kept charged too. It doesn't seem likely to me that an inverter could do that too, and even to keep the house batteries charged wouldn't it have to be a combination charger/inverter? Do they make a charger/inverter that will take care of both banks of batteries, both the 12v house and the 24v chassis at the same time?

Jim

Solar charge controller is primary charge source for house battery. If string of gray days, the generator puts AC into inverter/charger and charges house. Only had to do that once in a couple years.