inverter and Converter/Charger Wiring

[jhoog]

Anybody have an idea on how these are wired?  I have a 95 Fleetwood Bounder and an Onan 5500

I know from my house batteries I have positive negative going into my inverter.  But where do the positive/negative come from that go into my intellipower for charging?  Also, the plug from the intellipower, does that get plugged into the inverter? or plugged in elsewhere? I attached pics below of what devices are in my coach for reference.

 

[LTG]

The information I am providing is based only from what can be seen from the photos.
The Inverter has wires attached to +  and - terminals. Trace them to see where they go. The Inverter is hard wired. Trace the wire and see where it goes.  The two cards plugged into the inverter at the front outlets are going to some appliances. You can follow those wires to the appliances.
The converter has a hard wire going into the converter. Trace the wire to see where it is coming from. There should be + and - wires going from the converter to the batteries. The DC wires cannot be seen in the photo. Look at the backside of the converter.
In general, an inverter receives power from the batteries and produces 120 Volt AC. A Converter receives power from a 120 Volt AC source and converts to DC to charge the batteries. They are separate units and are not connected. Sometimes, the units are in the same box and are called an Inverter/Charger.

 

[IBTripping]

Not an expert, but I see your inverter output is a "modified sine wave." You may want to replace with a "pure sine wave" inverter which is less harmful to sensitive electronic devices that may be powered by the ac current from the inverter.

It looks to me that your charger/converter may have been updated because it has the Intelligent Charge Wizard which can connect with your smartphone allowing you to read the charging data on your smartphone. When you are hooked to shore power, the converter changes the shore power ac current into dc current to power your RV's dc appliances. It also charges the house batteries.  So, one line is the ac line from the shore line and there has to be line from the converter/charger to the house batteries.

I'm really just guessing, but I think the line to the batteries is the red (positive) and white (negative) wires. But, manufacturers follow some strange electrical protocols because I'd think the negative wire should be black. Again, just guessing and really not sure on this, the solid black wire may be the ac wire that would be encasing a black (positive) and a white (neutral) from the shore line.

That's the best I can suggest and my brain is hurting from doing all that thinking. I'm sure others will soon post and say if I'm partially or (more likely) totally wrong.

 

[AStravelers]

Anybody have an idea on how these are wired?  I have a 95 Fleetwood Bounder and an Onan 5500

I know from my house batteries I have positive negative going into my inverter.  But where do the positive/negative come from that go into my intellipower for charging?  Also, the plug from the intellipower, does that get plugged into the inverter? or plugged in elsewhere? I attached pics below of what devices are in my coach for reference.

The positive/negative from the inverter should only be coming from the batteries.  That inverter doesn't have a built in charger so nothing from the inverter would be going directly to the intellipower.

The intellipower basically has 2 connections.  120V AC from shore power/generator and the other 12V DC to the battery(s) and to power your 12V devices such as lights and control boards for the fridge, water heater, etc.

BTW I don't see the plug you are referring to:  "Also, the plug from the intellipower, does that get plugged into the inverter?" 

If this doesn't answer your questions, please reply with additional details

 

[jhoog]

The positive/negative from the inverter should only be coming from the batteries.  That inverter doesn't have a built in charger so nothing from the inverter would be going directly to the intellipower.

The intellipower basically has 2 connections.  120V AC from shore power/generator and the other 12V DC to the battery(s) and to power your 12V devices such as lights and control boards for the fridge, water heater, etc.

BTW I don't see the plug you are referring to:  "Also, the plug from the intellipower, does that get plugged into the inverter?" 

If this doesn't answer your questions, please reply with additional details

Okay, so I see where the inverter connects straight to the batteries on mine. I can only assume the positive and negative going to the intellipower are going back to the generator as they are loomed and go sort of out of sight.  (definitely not back to the batteries). 

My RV has the shore power plug but unlike my past RV I don't see a place to "plug it in" when I use my generator to connect it complete the circuit.

 

[jhoog]

okay I figured out the wiring aspect of it.  I tested voltage going into the intelli-power and it is getting 12v but nothing seems to be going out of it.  The fan on the side isn't running, etc.  I am just going to assume this thing is bad

 

[AStravelers]

Okay, so I see where the inverter connects straight to the batteries on mine. I can only assume the positive and negative going to the intellipower are going back to the generator as they are loomed and go sort of out of sight.  (definitely not back to the batteries). 

My RV has the shore power plug but unlike my past RV I don't see a place to "plug it in" when I use my generator to connect it complete the circuit.

You have an much older RV and perhaps someone did some rewiring.

So........:
--  A converter (Intellipower) would normally not have a reason to route the 12V DC leads directly to the generator.  The 12V DC leads would go to the battery and to the 12V wiring in the RV for lights and control boards for fridge and other devices.

--  About the shore power plug....It is common in RV's which are NOT entry level to have a transfer switch for the 120V AC power so there would be no need to move the AC power cord to a "generator plug".

 

[AStravelers]

okay I figured out the wiring aspect of it.  I tested voltage going into the intelli-power and it is getting 12v but nothing seems to be going out of it.  The fan on the side isn't running, etc.  I am just going to assume this thing is bad

--  Please give us more details about your statement:  "I tested voltage going into the intelli-power and it is getting 12v but nothing seems to be going out of it."  ---  When the intellipower has 120V AC power going to it I would expect to see about 13.4V or higher on the 12V leads.  If you have measured 120V at the intellipower and it is not puting out 13.4V then it is probably bad. 
--  If there is no 120V AC going to it then you should see 12V from the batteries.
--  The fan would only run if the intellipower is putting out significant 12V power.  Typically that would be to charge batteries which are significantly discharged.

 

[jhoog]

You have an much older RV and perhaps someone did some rewiring.

So........:
--  A converter (Intellipower) would normally not have a reason to route the 12V DC leads directly to the generator.  The 12V DC leads would go to the battery and to the 12V wiring in the RV for lights and control boards for fridge and other devices.

--  About the shore power plug....It is common in RV's which are NOT entry level to have a transfer switch for the 120V AC power so there would be no need to move the AC power cord to a "generator plug".

In this case since all inside lighting/appliances work just fine, I can somewhat assume that the DC leads are in the RV for lights and what not...There is definitely nothing else going to the batteries other than 2 leads from the inverter and what looks to be from the Generator.  Should I run another set of wires from the intelipower to my batteries as well? I really have no clue how any of this works to be honest.  It doesn't make much sense to me.  With how everything else on this RV has been since I bought it, I wouldn't doubt that someone rewired it and did it horribly wrong.

 

[Chakara]

Let me see if I can draw an ASCII to make since of it.


Yeah - that didn't work, but I found this and from a very simple level brings it together well IMHO

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/29/18/11/291811ceb995176958b059a3d3b7c047.jpg

Take a peek and see if it helps.

-Kyle

 

[LTG]

All inside lighting works just fine. That means your converter is working.
All appliances are working just fine. That means your on shore power, or the generator is on, or the inverter is running. If shore power is on, the  shore power is working. If the generator is on, the generator is working. If the inverter is on, the inverter is working.
So, are you just trying to figure out how things are wired?
Are, is there something that is not working?

 

[jhoog]

All inside lighting works just fine. That means your converter is working.
All appliances are working just fine. That means your on shore power, or the generator is on, or the inverter is running. If shore power is on, the  shore power is working. If the generator is on, the generator is working. If the inverter is on, the inverter is working.
So, are you just trying to figure out how things are wired?
Are, is there something that is not working?

Sorry, yea everything works except for the actual charging portion.  As my generator runs, my batteries drain to the point of it all shuts down after some time. 

 

[LTG]

OK. I get it. Your converter, which is also your battery charger, is not charging your batteries. You think that maybe the converter is not hooked up to the batteries. Read Reply #7 above. Test the DC outlets at the converter. If you have DC output of more than 13 volts at the converter, the battery charging function is working. If no DC voltage from the converter, the converter is bad. The converter has 120 Volts AC or your lights would not be working.  Now test the DC voltage at the batteries. An hour or so later, test the DC voltage at the batteries. If the DC voltage is not higher than the first reading, the batteries are not being charged. That means the converter is not connected to the batteries, or there is a relay/combiner between the converter and the batteries that is not letting the charge from the converter to pass through.

 

[AStravelers]

LTG pretty much nailed it. 

 

[jhoog]

Thanks for that. I am going to dive into this a little deeper this weekend and try to trace some wiring.  Something is definitely wrong somewhere.