Solar Upgrade Issues

[peanut]

Originally Posted by foldbak

I can't believe the dealer didn't tell you this.

Dealers and sales agents will tell you or not tell you whatever they think will make a sale.

[JRTJH]

Originally Posted by peanut

Dealers and sales agents will tell you or not tell you whatever they think will make a sale.

Yep, just like the "age old comments about tow vehicles"....

What will you be using to tow your new trailer? Oh, you've got a F150, your truck will tow anything on the lot.....

You can sub "F150" with "1500, F250 or 2500"..... Maybe even throw in, Explorer, Titan, Tundra, Expedition, Yukon or Suburban as well.....

Fact is, salesmen are inclined to embellish to enhance or omit to prevent anything that might have an effect their commission..... Yes, they do have a "vested interest in you buying from them"... Their "interest" usually doesn't extend to "customer satisfaction" since they'll be at another dealership or selling water softeners or trucks by the time you find out what they told you isn't "exactly correct information"....

[peanut]

Originally Posted by Handymen 05

Bulldog, I have a residential Refrigerator AC.

Are you sure of that? A "residential" fridge would be 120vac.
The "build and price" page for your trailer on the Keystone website lists only two options for the refrigerator - - - gas/elec absorption OR 12vdc.

If your fridge is truly a 120vac residential model, it would draw its power from the batteries thru the inverter.

If your fridge is 12vdc it would run directly off the batteries and not thru the inverter.

[firestation12]

Originally Posted by Handymen 05

Thanks Marshall,
The fridge has a rating of 13.5 Amps. I press the power button on my inverter and on the screen it shows I have a full charge on the battery bank. The screen also shows that the RV is not using battery power and than shuts itself down.

In theory, it takes 10 amps at 12 volts to produce 1 amp at 120 volts (10:1) leaving out the losses incurred by the inverter etc.. If your fridge is consuming 13.5 amps at 120 volts per hour, you’ll need in excess of 135 amps per hour of your 200 amp AH batteries. With no solar replenishment, your batteries won’t make it 2 hours before the the battery BMS cuts out. As suggested by foldback, I post #19, you need more solar and more lithium storage. Even with 1200 watts (that is only 10 amps after conversion to 120 volts). Not sure how many hours the fridge runs in 24 hours, but since it doesn’t run continuously, 1200 watts may be enough. It is predictable that with your current setup that you would be having problems regardless if everything was working correctly. Good luck with turning bad news into a workable solution.

[Bhackleman]

I'd forgotten i had issue with my inverter. I was occasionally getting some fault codes that I had no idea what they meant. It took me forever to find manual for the magnum inverter that also included all the error codes and how to program different settings for the inverter operation. Once I had it, I discovered that the errors were low voltage, but I also knew I had fully charged batteries. It turns out a battery connection was loose.

[SWillier]

Do you have a smart shunt or similar?

It won't fix your capacity issue that it sounds like you have, but it will give you the information and monitoring to better understand what is happening in your system and what you need for your typical use. If it is always negative, you know you are getting no battery charging and how long your current capacity will last. It will also show you your true cumulative use to know how much more charging or storage you need.