Inverter Input Breaker Tripped After Generator Start

[Gyrophoenix]

The title says it all. Never had this happen before. Have two 4,000 watt inverters. Yesterday, after turning on the generator, (everything turned off, no loads), one inverter correctly switched over to genny/shore line mode, the other stayed in inverter mode.

Called AIMS support, and we verified that the inverter which didn't switch over was not receiving any power from the generator (or from the shore line, as I tried that as well).

Looked at the breaker array in the Intellitec box, and there it was! The breaker to that inverter (the input breaker) was popped. Cycled it, and the world is good again.

But... I'm curious as to what circumstances may have caused the breaker to pop. I can't recall any instances of power spikes, or unexpected shut-downs or start-ups under load. The shore line has a Hughes Power Watchdog on it. So that's covered.

Any thoughts? Thanks.

Baron

 

[John From Detroit]

What kind of Generator or breaker... I'm 100% convinced the breakers ONAN uses turn off from vibration.

True story. Next site camper to a friend had no power to half the RV.. Friend came to me. As I walked back I ask about an inverter.. Tripp lite uses the same breaker as ONAN.. Sure enough \ /

Made them / / and and he walked in his wife ask "Does he think he can fix it"
Husband answered "He already did"

 

[Brad Buchanan]

The title says it all. Never had this happen before. Have two 4,000 watt inverters. Yesterday, after turning on the generator, (everything turned off, no loads), one inverter correctly switched over to genny/shore line mode, the other stayed in inverter mode.

Called AIMS support, and we verified that the inverter which didn't switch over was not receiving any power from the generator (or from the shore line, as I tried that as well).

Looked at the breaker array in the Intellitec box, and there it was! The breaker to that inverter (the input breaker) was popped. Cycled it, and the world is good again.

But... I'm curious as to what circumstances may have caused the breaker to pop. I can't recall any instances of power spikes, or unexpected shut-downs or start-ups under load. The shore line has a Hughes Power Watchdog on it. So that's covered.

Any thoughts? Thanks.

Baron

Hey there. we just installed a 3000 watt AIMS inverter and it had some growing pains. Did you work with Angel? he is pretty sharp.

As to the question I don't know what kind of transfer switch you have but I had to replace the one in our unit and it has a built-in delay of about 10 seconds to let the genny stabilize before it switches the load.

I have had one of the breakers in the inverter trip but as we figured out it was from low battery voltage.

 

[Gyrophoenix]

What kind of Generator or breaker... I'm 100% convinced the breakers ONAN uses turn off from vibration.

True story. Next site camper to a friend had no power to half the RV.. Friend came to me. As I walked back I ask about an inverter.. Tripp lite uses the same breaker as ONAN.. Sure enough \ /

Made them / / and and he walked in his wife ask "Does he think he can fix it"
Husband answered "He already did"

Hello John,

Interesting input. The breaker that popped is not on the Onan generator. It is in a breaker panel located above the Intellitec layout, inside the coach. It's a standard commercial "house" type breaker. So vibration was not the issue.

But.... interesting you should bring up the subject. Twice last year the breaker ON the Onan generator popped. Both times the generator was running on only about a 66% load. So there's no way it should have popped. (And we were not moving, and had not moved for a few weeks, so it wasn't from "moving down the road" vibration.)

I took it in to Cummins, and they ran a thorough diagnostic on the Onan. Ran it in all sorts of configurations, including full load. No matter what they did, they couldn't get the breaker to pop. So... no joy there.

Anyway, now I know where to look if it happens again. Still can't figure out why it happened.....

 

[Gyrophoenix]

Hey there. we just installed a 3000 watt AIMS inverter and it had some growing pains. Did you work with Angel? he is pretty sharp.

As to the question I don't know what kind of transfer switch you have but I had to replace the one in our unit and it has a built-in delay of about 10 seconds to let the genny stabilize before it switches the load.

I have had one of the breakers in the inverter trip but as we figured out it was from low battery voltage.

Hello Brad,

I've never had a moment of problems with either 4,000 watt inverter. They've worked as anticipated from the get-go.

And yes, I did work with Angel. He is very, very good.

The transfer switch wasn't involved in this issue, and haven't had a problem with it, knock on wood.

The AIMS inverters have a built-in 15 second delay when switching from inverter to generator.

Thanks for the input.