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Losing some voltage somewhere

January 15, 2015, 09:44:26 pm

I have developed a bit of an electrical problem. When I hook up to shore power or turn on the generator as the heart inverter/charger comes on-line, I can watch the voltage on the progressive ECM drop and the amps go up.  the ECM will kick the power off and then start the initialization cycle again.  The 2 8D gel house batteries are holding a charge(about 12.8V).  Any ideas?

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Re: Losing some voltage somewhere

Reply #1 – January 15, 2015, 10:06:26 pm

You don't say what kind of shore power you are connected to:  15 amp 30 amp 50 amp.

How low did voltage get?

You don't say want inverter/charger you have, but most have the ability for you to program it limiting the amps of 120 VAC that are used for charging.  Called power share/power save on many.  If limited shore power, set it to the lowest setting.

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Re: Losing some voltage somewhere

Reply #2 – January 15, 2015, 11:30:43 pm

Brett has the right idea.  We need to know where the volts and amps are before and after the problem.  Since it also happens with the generator, the shore power is probably OK.  If the amps are in the normal range for the generator, you likely have a bad connection somewhere dropping volts as the amps rise.  That bad connection is would be getting hot, dangerously hot.

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Re: Losing some voltage somewhere

Reply #3 – January 15, 2015, 11:56:47 pm

The inverter / charger is a freedom 20. I had it plugged in to a 15amp circuit with everything off just to keep the batteries topped off while its in storage. its currently unplugged.  I ran the generator today. the voltage would drop down to 101 on the ECM and it would cut out and start the initiation cycle over. the ECM shows an error code of E-4. (below 104V).

I'll check the power sharing setting tomorrow.

Rick

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Re: Losing some voltage somewhere

Reply #4 – January 16, 2015, 12:07:40 am

The lack of proper power share/power save setting could easily explain this occurring on 15 amp shore power.

But, would not explain it happening on the generator.  Said another way, the generator would provide plenty of power to run the inverter/charger and many other appliances all at the same time.

Were it me, I would check the ATS wiring and wiring into the main breaker box for a loose or burned connection.

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