No Power when Boondocking

dcampbell · 05-13-2020, 03:36 PM

Hi Everyone,

I have a 2012 Greyhawk FS31. When on shore power or generator everything works. When disconnected, nothing. No lights, no nothing. Dead.

My inverter control panel says it's at 14.4 and the house battery checks out too. I can hear the fan on the inverter start up.

Underneath the house battery slide out I found two wires just hanging there. One red with a white stripe and one black with a white stripe. They don't look to be broken because the ends are clean cut.

I've checked the fuses inside but not under the hood yet. After that I'm at a loss as to what to do.

Grumpy · 05-13-2020, 03:41 PM

Have you pushed the battery disconnect switch? The wires in question are probably the solar pre-wire. The inverter only operates the front TV.

dcampbell · 05-13-2020, 06:22 PM

Thanks Grumpy.

So what you're saying is that when boondocking I can only run my TV?

Is there another battery disconnect that I don't know about? Pushing that kills everything even when plugged in.

Cavie · 05-13-2020, 08:57 PM

tell us the make and model # of your inverter.

dcampbell · 05-14-2020, 02:54 PM

Hi Cavie,
The inverter is a Xantrex Pro XM1000

Cavie · 05-14-2020, 03:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dcampbell

Hi Cavie,
The inverter is a Xantrex Pro XM1000

Here is all the info you need. There is a GFI outlet with resets on it.

http://www.xantrex.com/documents/Pow...M1000-1800.pdf

Grumpy · 05-14-2020, 03:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dcampbell

Thanks Grumpy.

So what you're saying is that when boondocking I can only run my TV?

Is there another battery disconnect that I don't know about? Pushing that kills everything even when plugged in.

That's is the only outlet that it is connected to the inverter. No other outlets are powered except on shore or geny.

When you say no lights, your 12 volt lights should be working on battery, if not that sounds like a fuse someplace.

dcampbell · 05-14-2020, 04:58 PM

So close Cavie!!

As soon as I saw the image of the inverter I ran out and checked it. There is only one GFI in the motorhome and that's in the bathroom and it wasn't tripped. I tripped it anyway. No go. The front of the inverter is smooth. There is no GFI on the box itself.

Then I got thinking, How about the transfer switch. The inverter panel says I'm on utility power and when I disconnect it goes dark. Should it switch to the batteries?

I wish I understood how this is setup but I'm a Carpenter not an Electrician.

Cavie · 05-14-2020, 05:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dcampbell

So close Cavie!!

As soon as I saw the image of the inverter I ran out and checked it. There is only one GFI in the motorhome and that's in the bathroom and it wasn't tripped. I tripped it anyway. No go. The front of the inverter is smooth. There is no GFI on the box itself.

Then I got thinking, How about the transfer switch. The inverter panel says I'm on utility power and when I disconnect it goes dark. Should it switch to the batteries?

I wish I understood how this is setup but I'm a Carpenter not an Electrician.

It should switch to the battery But it will only power what is hooked to it on the output side. If your's does not have a gfi then it must to be the pro model. I'm confused. See if you can find some small reset buttons maybe on the back side. Maybe a gfi on the back. Google what ever model # is printed on the inverter.

Grumpy · 05-14-2020, 05:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dcampbell

So close Cavie!!
As soon as I saw the image of the inverter I ran out and checked it. There is only one GFI in the motorhome and that's in the bathroom and it wasn't tripped. I tripped it anyway. No go. The front of the inverter is smooth. There is no GFI on the box itself.

Guarantee you no other outlets are connected, only the TV.

Right from the brochure.

OPTIONS
22" LCD HDTV in bedroom
400-watt inverter
Aluminum rims

JimD · 05-14-2020, 05:58 PM

Not sure why everyone is focused on the inverter. It has nothing to do with the lights all being off. Apparently the display shows 14+ volts which means the converter is operating when on shore power and the inverter is receiving the voltage.

So, when on shore power the lights work. That means the converter is working since it is supplying the 12 volts necessary for the lights. When the shore power is disconnected, the 12 volt duty falls to the house battery.

The problem here is lack of 12 volts from the battery for whatever reason. Could be a blown inline fuse or a battery disconnect switch or a dead battery or a corroded connection or whatever.

Measure the voltage across the battery with and without shore power. With shore power the battery voltage should be 13-14.5 volts meaning it is getting a charge from the converter. Given the symptoms I would suspect the charge voltage will be absent.

If you have 12+ volts at the battery but no 12 volt items inside the rig works when not plugged in, you have an open circuit in the battery feed. Could be on the positive or ground side.

dcampbell · 05-16-2020, 12:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimD

Not sure why everyone is focused on the inverter. It has nothing to do with the lights all being off. Apparently the display shows 14+ volts which means the converter is operating when on shore power and the inverter is receiving the voltage.

So, when on shore power the lights work. That means the converter is working since it is supplying the 12 volts necessary for the lights. When the shore power is disconnected, the 12 volt duty falls to the house battery.

The problem here is lack of 12 volts from the battery for whatever reason. Could be a blown inline fuse or a battery disconnect switch or a dead battery or a corroded connection or whatever.

Measure the voltage across the battery with and without shore power. With shore power the battery voltage should be 13-14.5 volts meaning it is getting a charge from the converter. Given the symptoms I would suspect the charge voltage will be absent.

If you have 12+ volts at the battery but no 12 volt items inside the rig works when not plugged in, you have an open circuit in the battery feed. Could be on the positive or ground side.

Hi Jim,

I measured the voltage at the battery with and with out shore power. I get 14 volts with shore power and 3 volts without. So I'm guessing my battery is bad.or it's not being charged by shore power.

RetiredOne · 05-16-2020, 04:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dcampbell

Hi Jim,

I measured the voltage at the battery with and with out shore power. I get 14 volts with shore power and 3 volts without. So I'm guessing my battery is bad.or it's not being charged by shore power.

If you're getting 14 volts on shore power and it drops to 3 when shore is unplugged, it looks like your converter is working but your battery is gone and won't hold a charge. Time for a new battery.

JimD · 05-16-2020, 04:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dcampbell

Hi Jim,

I measured the voltage at the battery with and with out shore power. I get 14 volts with shore power and 3 volts without. So I'm guessing my battery is bad.or it's not being charged by shore power.

Yep, battery is toast. I'm surprised it didn't pull down the converter output when it tried to charge.

dcampbell · 05-22-2020, 04:57 PM

Thanks Everyone for all your help.

My wife has been furloughed and my pay cut by 15% so a new battery will have to wait, but I will update this thread when I do get a battery.

Swiss67 · 05-27-2020, 01:37 PM

I had a similar issue on my trailer and found the fuse which was close to the battery blown, charged the battery replaced the 30 amp fuse and it works again:

AKRUEBBE · 05-27-2020, 02:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grumpy

Guarantee you no other outlets are connected, only the TV. Right from the brochure. OPTIONS
22" LCD HDTV in bedroom
400-watt inverter
Aluminum rims

I have an outlet in the cabinet above the TV than runs off the inverter and it's not the one the TV is plugged into.

jimmoore13 · 05-27-2020, 02:25 PM

Your problem is solved. New battery.

I'll add two cents.
Blade Fuses are hard to read. Had this been a fuse, it can be difficult to tell if a fuse is blown while it's still in the panel.

I once saved a guy's weekend by going to his panel and inspecting. From the front with the fuses in, everything seemed OK.

I then pulled each fuse and used a flashlight from behind the fuse to inspect. Low and behold, one of the fuses was blown. In this case, he was boondocking, and it was the fuse that ran his water pump and several other things. New fuse and all was well.

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