Ooops - Invertor Didn't Work

[Len and Jo]

We used our 'B' two weeks ago for a long weekend.  Went to turn on the inverter, so we could have 110 power as we went down the road and IT KEPT turning off within a a second on turning it on.    Well, we really didn't need it for for weekend since we were going to be at a campground with hookups.  Got around to R&Ring it today (getting ready to put in in the storage lot for winter).  I have been questioning Trip-Lite inverters ever since we lost our first one with very few hours on  it during our Alaska trip.  The one now that wasn't working is a 1000 watt compact unit.  Turned out the problem was/is me!    The inverter will turn itself off if it detects  low battery power.  House battery was at 12.6 volts.  :-\ :-\  One of the battery cables going into the back of the unit was not tight.  That way all summer I assume.  Loss cable...poor connection...voltage drop...."low voltage"....unit turns off.  So fix was simple, tighten the battery cable!!  : : : All is well with the world.

Now I can disconnect it for winter storage!!

 

[Tom]

One of the battery cables going into the back of the unit was not tight.

That will do it Len. Glad you found and fixed the problem.

 

[John From Detroit]

One of the battery cables going into the back of the unit was not tight.  That way all summer I assume.  Loss cable...poor connection...voltage drop...."low voltage"....unit turns off.  So fix was simple, tighten the battery cable!!  : : : All is well with the world.

Now I can disconnect it for winter storage!!

So, you are saying you had a screw loose eh (Well, in this case a bolt or nut or both).

At least it is no longer loose

Another thing you might find interesting about inverters,  Keep the leads from the battery to the inverter as close to each other as you can,  Those things take one super whomp when they start up and the inductance matters, if the wires are close to each other (Read that the outer insulation jacket touching) the inductance is low, if they are far apart the inductance goes up and you get LO BAT when it kicks in

 

[outsidesupply]

Just a note you can have longer battery cable runs if you increase the wire size. This can alleviate the voltage drop. Another thing that could have caused the problem was some inverter freak out in common ground hard wired scenarios.

Since you solved the problem much more simply. This is just for future readers.

Cheers!