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Space heater trips inverter breaker (R-Pod 195) |
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Pod_Geek 
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Joined: 04 Dec 2019 Location: Colorado Online Status: Offline Posts: 260 |
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 Topic: Space heater trips inverter breaker (R-Pod 195)Posted: 02 Jan 2020 at 9:03am |
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Update: Finally got the 195 back from the shop. With the unit off shore power I turned the inverter on (switch is indeed just above the microwave next to a light switch) and tested all five interior outlets. All were live (so we can watch TV for a while while boondocking...yay?). So...@podwerkz I have no option to plug anything in to an outlet is not connected to the inverter (i.e., on the pass-through current). This apparently means the this circuit is limited to a 12A draw rather than 15A as indicated on the breaker in the main box. Oh well...will have to be careful. Thanks again everyone...
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2020.5 R-Pod 195 Hood River
2018 RAM 2500 6.4L |
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Pod People
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Joined: 22 Sep 2011 Location: Chapel Hill,NC Online Status: Offline Posts: 1067 |
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Posted: 21 Dec 2019 at 7:26am |
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I installed an inverter in our 179. For simplicity, all of the outlets that were connected to the inverter have brown face plates rather than white. this makes it easy for us to remember which outlets to use with different load devices. Maybe this will help once you can figure out which outlets are powered by the inverter. Good luck Vann
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Vann & Laura 2015 RPod 179 
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podwerkz
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Joined: 11 Mar 2019 Location: Texas Online Status: Offline Posts: 966 |
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Posted: 21 Dec 2019 at 6:27am |
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So yeah, plug the space heater into a directly shore-powered outlet.
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r･pod 171 gone but not forgotten!
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GlueGuy
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Joined: 15 May 2017 Location: N. California Online Status: Offline Posts: 2630 |
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Posted: 20 Dec 2019 at 10:21am |
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That is a peculiar way to wire it. It would make more sense (to me) if there was only one outlet that was connected to the inverter, and the rest were only powered by shore power.
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bp
2017 R-Pod 179 Hood River 2015 Ford F150 SuperCrew 4WD 3.5L Ecoboost |
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Pod_Geek
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Joined: 04 Dec 2019 Location: Colorado Online Status: Offline Posts: 260 |
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Posted: 20 Dec 2019 at 8:35am |
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All of these comments make sense, and FR clarified things, saying what we all suspected:
The invertor is only in R Pods with the solar package. The solar panel charges your battery which is what powers the invertor so after the sun goes down the solar panel will stop charging the battery which will cause the invertor to stop working once the battery is drained. After the sun goes down you will have power in your outlets until your battery is drained but this is only if you are not connected to shore power. (You can always tell a FR quote because they install invertors in the 195 instead of inverters) However, the fact remains that the 12A inverter breaker tripped while I was on shore power and the inverter was off and ostensibly simply passing the 120V AC through to the circuits/outlets that were connected to it. That's what I found perplexing. Apparently that doesn't matter...any outlets on the inverter-powered circuit are subject to that 12A limit, even on shore power. That's what this paragraph in the manual points out: The AC output of the WF-5110R Inverter, when in Pass-Through mode, is protected by a resettable circuit breaker (see Figure 1 below). A 12A/120 VAC breaker is located on the upper right on the unit’s rear panel. The breaker will trip in a high current situation. Should a breaker trip, reduce or remove the connected AC load and reset the circuit breaker. Re-start the inverter and check for proper operation. Thanks everyone for your comments...this forum will clearly be of great help as our Podding adventures continue. |
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2020.5 R-Pod 195 Hood River
2018 RAM 2500 6.4L |
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offgrid
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Joined: 23 Jul 2018 Online Status: Offline Posts: 5290 |
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Posted: 20 Dec 2019 at 8:24am |
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That inverter has an automatic transfer switch (ATS) in it. When shore power is present the ATS will connect any ac circuits powered by the inverter to shore power, leaving the inverter inactive. When shore power is not present the ATS will connect those circuits to the inverter which will try to power them from your trailer batteries.
Since the inverter has lower peak power capacity (1 kw continuous, 2kw surge) than the shore power receptacle, and MUCH lower energy (power x time) capacity (limited by your battery capacity) it is at best inadvisable if not impossible to run large electrical loads like space heaters on the inverter. So I agree with the suggestion that you find out which outlets and appliances run on the inverter and which on shore power only. With your battery charged and your inverter running disconnect from shore power and see which circuits remain energized and which don’t. Then, only plan on running light loads on the circuits that the inverter powers. If possible put your heavier loads like that space heater on the circuits which only run on shore power. If that’s not possible then shut those appliances off before you disconnect from shore power. |
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1994 Chinook Concourse
1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft 2015 Rpod 179 - sold |
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JR
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Joined: 31 Aug 2018 Location: Manistee, MI Online Status: Offline Posts: 345 |
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Posted: 19 Dec 2019 at 4:35pm |
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After reading most of this, including the WFCO manual and having installed a solar system on my 179 it looks like there is a normal inverter and includes most operational needs. From reviewing the manual you are limited to a 12 amp resettable circuit breaker on the inverter or 1440 watts of power. You can't determine from the manual what is powered from the inverter, to do that you would have to be off shore power have the battery (ies) connected charged and the inverter operational then find out what appliances (refrigerator, water heater, fan for the furnace, TV, and micro wave I don't think any of these will be operational off the inverter) which would indicate that they are wired directly to shore power and not to the inverter. At the same time check the outlets and find out which ones have power while not on shore power. This will let you know what is operating what. Keep in mind that the solar panel (s) will be charging the batteries and then the power will be going to the inverter to be used as 120v in the rpod. When you are on shore power your rpod maybe wired to power your appliances separately (not through the inverter). Also this equipment is not an inverter / converter so to charge your batteries the converter (converting 120v to 12v) has to be working when on shore power, which should be in the WFCO breaker box. An other thing to keep in mind, it looks like you have a remote controller for the inverter and there is an off/on button on both the inverter and remote controller, and the off/on button on the inverter has to be in the off setting for the remote to function then you can remotely control the inverter. The other thing is that the solar panel(s) puts power in the batteries through the charge controller which converts the power from the panels to the batteries. Then the inverter can use this power to deliver 120v power down stream. Also keep in mind that the refrigerator needs 12v power to it's control circuits to work with gas. Hope this helps and is not more confusing.
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Jay
179/2019 |
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Olddawgsrule
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Joined: 20 Sep 2017 Location: New Hampshire Online Status: Offline Posts: 1014 |
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Posted: 19 Dec 2019 at 3:22pm |
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<From my reading of the manual plus the WFCO tech's comments it seems that when shore AC hits the inverter it senses the shore power and goes in to pass-through mode. I'm not saying that shore power powers the inverter. > This is correct and what I mentioned as the transfer switch. The inverter is off line when shore-power is introduced. The 12amp limit is no longer in play since the inverter is not, when on shore-power. <The solar panel powers the invertor I call BS on this one... I'm skeptical of this comment as well.> Just think about this for a moment.. You have a 100watt panel (not sure what you have) and it's supposed to power a 1000w inverter? What part of the math works? Skeptical? It's BS.. Easy way to see if the inverter is causing an issue, is to dis-connect it. If all systems are good without it, then you found the issue. I'm under the impression it's not the inverter... |
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Pod_Geek
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Joined: 04 Dec 2019 Location: Colorado Online Status: Offline Posts: 260 |
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Posted: 19 Dec 2019 at 2:20pm |
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From my reading of the manual plus the WFCO tech's comments it seems that when shore AC hits the inverter it senses the shore power and goes in to pass-through mode. I'm not saying that shore power powers the inverter. From the manual: The AC output of the WF-5110R Inverter, when in Pass-Through mode, is protected by a resettable [12A] circuit breaker...The breaker will trip in a high current situation. Should a breaker trip, reduce or remove the connected AC load and reset the circuit breaker. Re-start the inverter and check for proper operation. So again, I got bitten by the 12A limit imposed by the inverter even though I was on 30A shore power and the inverter itself was not supplying any power.
I'm skeptical of this comment as well.
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Pod_Geek
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Joined: 04 Dec 2019 Location: Colorado Online Status: Offline Posts: 260 |
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Posted: 19 Dec 2019 at 2:07pm |
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Exactly like this one (the 195 is in the shop):  I swear I spotted an on/off switch for the inverter like this one:  Can't verify until I get back inside the R-Pod.
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