AC & House Battery Issue

[Krissyv]

2015 Thor Tuscany 45AT...all of a sudden, while driving, the ac is blowing warm air. Breakers not a problem. Cools when plugged in to electricity. As well, the house batteries are not charging while driving. Could it be a problem with my inverter? Hope someone can help!

 

[Larry N.]

Well, an INverter doesn't charge batteries, just uses battery power to supply AC power. Conversely, a CONverter charges the batteries and supplies DC current when it has AC power.

all of a sudden, while driving, the ac is blowing warm air

Is that the dashboard A/C or the roof A/C? The roof ones don't run while driving unless you run the generator or you are plugged in to shore power. The dash one shouldn't be affected by plugging in or not, since that runs off of your engine. Circuit breakers are usually for AC current, of course.

I don't know whether your engine alternator charges house batteries or not (many do, but not all), so perhaps others who know more about that segment will kick in on that.

Meantime, a bit more detail about what is running and what is not running when you encounter the problem.

 

[JayArr]

Make and model of "inverter" please?

 

[HueyPilotVN]

Well, an INverter doesn't charge batteries, just uses battery power to supply AC power. Conversely, a CONverter charges the batteries and supplies DC current when it has AC power.

Larry,

Just a minor point but some Invertors are Invertor/Chargers.

The Xantrex 458 in my old CC would charge my batteries if it had A/C present from either shore power or generator.

I do not think that has anything to do with his problem but just a small detail.

 

[Java53]

The batteries not charging while driving could very well be a solenoid gone bad, I have an Itasca 35f and the solenoid separating the house from the chassis batteries failed causing that part of your issue. Easy to troubleshoot with a voltmeter.

 

[John From Detroit]

A/C draws a lot of power. Is it possible the A/C blower relay was engaged (on High it shoud be) so it does not cycle on and off but the batteries got low enough (Due to the alternator's inability to feed that much power to them) that the Compressor relay would not pull in?

Takes more to pull it in than to hold it in.

 

[Krissyv]

Inverter is a MS Series Pure Sine Wave Inverter/Charger Model MS2000
The AC that is not cooling while driving is the rooftop ones, & we run the generator while driving.
I will check the solenoid when I get home from this trip.
Honestly, I do not know if it is the alternator or the generator that charge the house batteries.

 

[Krissyv]

A/C draws a lot of power. Is it possible the A/C blower relay was engaged (on High it shoud be) so it does not cycle on and off but the batteries got low enough (Due to the alternator's inability to feed that much power to them) that the Compressor relay would not pull in?

Takes more to pull it in than to hold it in.

I will check

 

[Larry N.]

Just a minor point but some Invertors are Invertor/Chargers.

Good point, Bill -- thanks for that correction. And it appears the OP has such. A terse, abbreviated post makes it hard to be sure what the situation is, but the OP has now filled in a lot of missing pieces, too, which is great.