electrical question

[jeffschropp]

Hi. I'm having electrical problems with my ceiling lights. My rig has a generator, inverter, power converter, house batteries, etc. I think my house batteries are "dead" and i need to get them tested, but still curious if the symptoms below would be any different with new house batteries.

The engine is running and the generator is running. Battery disconnect is disengaged. Single light on over the stove . Inverter is on and reading 13.2 input. Turned on main dining area lights. after a couple of seconds, lights are flashing and inverter said 13.0, then down to 12.5. Now, the Inverter just went black and all of the lights just went black. I turned off the dining area lights and the inverter came back on and reading 13.5 and the light over the stove is back on. Repeated the same process and the inverter dipped to 12.5 before it and all of the ceiling lights went black. Now it's trying to come back on after 10 seconds. The inverter is flashing OL - E05 indicating an overload. I pressed the reset button on the inverter, but still flashing OL - E05.

i was thinking with the generator running, even with dead house batteries, the ceiling lights should be working? Not flashing and then going out?

Thanks for your ideas and comments.
Jeff

[craigav]

While I am not sure how yours is wired up, generally speaking you wouldn't want the inverter to be on when the generator is on or when on shore power. I would turn the inverter off and test again. ~CA

[JimD]

You are going to have to break out a voltmeter to see where your power is dropping off. Either the generator or engine alternator should be able to maintain the battery voltage. It should not be decreasing with a minimal load.

It is possible you have a poor connection in the circuit somewhere causing the voltage to reduce. I would check the battery to frame ground first as there have been numerous issues related to loose grounds.

Measure across the battery while your items are turned on and see if it is dropping. Your battery may indeed be bad enough to pull down any charging but that is not common. Your rig's converter should be able to supply enough voltage on its own.

If the voltage is steady at the battery then next test point would be the fuse panel. If the voltage is stable at the battery but drops when it gets to the fuse panel, you probably have a poor connection between the two. Once again the ground is suspect.