Inverter Issue

[Kris9128]

Evening all, apologies if this post is in the wrong place.

I am need of some advice regarding boat electrickery. The Inverter is not playing ball. when 1st turned on, it cycles through the lights/start up stuff, seems to work for about 2 seconds then shuts off. It then repeats the sequence after about 30 seconds and so on and so on. 

Everything appears to be wired up correctly. I unplgged the 240V outlet and it still does the same issue, so im leaning towards a dodgy inverter.

I put a tester into the 240V plug and it shows "no earth" when connected to inverter (for the brief 2 seconds it produces power) but shows no issues when shore power is connected. 

 

The inverter is a Vetus 3000W puer sine wave inverter . Model number IV300012

 

Any advice/guidance would be greatly appreciated

Many thanks, Kris

[MtB]

Flat batteries.

 

To expand on that, put your multimeter on your inverter input terminals and monitor the voltage while the inverter boots up. I bet it tumbles down to the 10Vdc region. 

 

Failing that, RTFM!

 

 

 

 

Edited September 1, 2023 by MtB
Tidy it up

[BoatinglifeupNorth]

Try disconnecting shore power and run the engine to get some charge into batteries and try your inverter with the engine running making sure the alternator is producing charge/amps and see what happens. Does the inverter work?

 Looking at your posts, is this the one you were talking about buying? Did you buy and have a survey?

Edited September 1, 2023 by BoatinglifeupNorth

[Jen-in-Wellies]

In order of decreasing probability, inverter issues reported on CWDF actually turn out to be:

1. Batteries discharged, or dying
2. Master switch, fuse, or other 12V electrical connection with dodgy continuity
3. A problem with the inverter.

[Chewbacka]

11 hours ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

In order of decreasing probability, inverter issues reported on CWDF actually turn out to be:

1. Batteries discharged, or dying
2. Master switch, fuse, or other 12V electrical connection with dodgy continuity
3. A problem with the inverter.

Very true, and 1&2 can easily be checked with a voltmeter connected at the inverter input connections.

[BoatinglifeupNorth]

14 minutes ago, Chewbacka said:

Very true, and 1&2 can easily be checked with a voltmeter connected at the inverter input connections.

As said the easiest way to check if its a pre inverter problem is to check the incoming voltage on the inverter input, if he’s getting over 12v coming in, then check the voltage on the 240v output to ring main to see if its an inverter problem.. 
 It looks like he has just bought the boat in the last week or so, so may be worth speaking to the seller to see if there’s any form of isolation fitted between batteries and inverter that he’s not aware of?

[MtB]

1 hour ago, Chewbacka said:

Very true, and 1&2 can easily be checked with a voltmeter connected at the inverter input connections.

 

As already suggested in Post No 2  

 

 

 

[BoatinglifeupNorth]

35 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

As already suggested in Post No 2  

 

 

 

I’m with you on low/dead batteries, as a newly bought boat, probably been sat on shore power with dead batteries for a while.

[ditchcrawler]

As for showing no earth of the 240 volt side, it could be the inverter has never been bonded down. 090134.01-r05-2020-06-Inverter.pdf (vetus.com)

Edited September 2, 2023 by ditchcrawler

[Kris9128]

Hi All. thanks for the advice so far. However, the plot thickens. 

yes the boat is new to me, no  i can't ask the previous owner owner (he sadly passed away last year and boat was sold by his sister who knows less about boats than i do). 

Went up this morning, checked voltage across the batteries and evrything was ok. 

Turned invertor on and it cycled through, as described previously. 

Tried to turn TV on and got nothing. 

Out of dersperation i went and bought kettle. Got back to boat, plugged in and ta da. It worked. 

Checked invertor and it was functioning fine. 

Tried TV again and it burst into life. 

When kettle switch off, about 1 min later TV went off (and wouldnt turn on)

Switch kettle on again and tv would work, kettle pops off anf TV goes off. 

 

So Inverter works but only seems to work when item with high draw needs it. 

 

any ideas????

 

Thanks, kris

[Tony Brooks]

I suspect this is caused by how the standby power saving mode is set. It might need a larger load to wake the inverter up. However, I would have thought most mains TVs would be enough.

 

manual here https://vetus.com/wp-content/uploads/090134.01-r05-2020-06-Inverter.pdf

 

Try turning power save off

Edited September 2, 2023 by Tony Brooks

[BoatinglifeupNorth]

Here’s the manual, have a read of the setup and the power mode dip switch set up.

https://vetus.com/wp-content/uploads/090134.01-r05-2020-06-Inverter.pdf

 

😂 already posted as I was reading through it.  Thought the OP would of thought of looking for a manual first though 😂😂
 

Edited September 2, 2023 by BoatinglifeupNorth

[ditchcrawler]

1 hour ago, Tony Brooks said:

I suspect this is caused by how the standby power saving mode is set. It might need a larger load to wake the inverter up. However, I would have thought most mains TVs would be enough.

 

manual here https://vetus.com/wp-content/uploads/090134.01-r05-2020-06-Inverter.pdf

 

Try turning power save off

I go along with that, trouble with the TV is the power is probably not on long enough for the TV electronics to fully fire up. I understand modern fridges with electronic controls can have the same problem 

[MtB]

1 hour ago, BoatinglifeupNorth said:

Thought the OP would of thought of looking for a manual first though 😂😂

 

As already suggested in Post No 2 😅

[BoatinglifeupNorth]

Just now, MtB said:

 

As already suggested in Post No 2 😅

😂👍 maybe he wanted you to find one for him and not just sugest it😂

[David Mack]

18 hours ago, Kris9128 said:

Went up this morning, checked voltage across the batteries and evrything was ok. 

Turned invertor on and it cycled through, as described previously. 

This is not what you have been advised to do. Connect your meter probes across the 12V input terminals to the inverter (not the battery). Then turn the inverter on while keeping the meter probes connected. The displayed voltage will drop. If it drops by say 0.1 or 0.2 volts, then the problem may well be the inverter. But if it drops to below 12V then you have either a flat battery or a wiring/master switch/fuse/connection problem.

[Kris9128]

Thanks again for all the advice. It was power saving mode that was causing the issue.

Switched it off and everything is now working as it should. 

Again, thanks everyone.  Much appreciated 

Kris. 

[MtB]

Just now, Kris9128 said:

Thanks again for all the advice. It was power saving mode that was causing the issue.

Switched it off and everything is now working as it should. 

Again, thanks everyone.  Much appreciated 

Kris. 

 

Excellent news, thanks for the update and the solution!! 

 

 

[Tony Brooks]

7 minutes ago, Kris9128 said:

Thanks again for all the advice. It was power saving mode that was causing the issue.

Switched it off and everything is now working as it should. 

Again, thanks everyone.  Much appreciated 

Kris. 

 

Thanks for the feedback from me as well. It is such feedback that allows us all to learn.

[BoatinglifeupNorth]

Hopefully the next person that has a similar issue, will be able to save time by just using the search function and this will help👍

[Mike Todd]

On 02/09/2023 at 16:32, Tony Brooks said:

I suspect this is caused by how the standby power saving mode is set. It might need a larger load to wake the inverter up. However, I would have thought most mains TVs would be enough.

 

manual here https://vetus.com/wp-content/uploads/090134.01-r05-2020-06-Inverter.pdf

 

Try turning power save off

I was going to suggest power saving. A few years back when we had just had an inverter fitted to our previous boat we also added a tv at much the same time. Found it would not work - complained to large retail that it came from and had my money back. I was somewhat discomforted when I discovered that the issue was with power saving as the power saving detection on the inverter did not work with the power save on the tv - or something like that, it was a few years ago. Turned off the inverter power saving feature and it work well for years! (That one was a Sterling unit)

[Norm55]

I now have similar issue on my 14 month old boat.  Batteries ok, date stamp says nov 21 All ok when on shoreline but when disconnected and about to leave, inverter dead. 12 volt only

Hook up shoreline again and all working . Its a combi type .    Mega fuse had previously melted with 600 amp fuse in !   Now changed to 300 amp . All since been well till today.

So am thinking fuse has blown ( no spare onboard ) but why has it gone again? 

 

[BoatinglifeupNorth]

29 minutes ago, Norm55 said:

I now have similar issue on my 14 month old boat.  Batteries ok, date stamp says nov 21 All ok when on shoreline but when disconnected and about to leave, inverter dead. 12 volt only

Hook up shoreline again and all working . Its a combi type .    Mega fuse had previously melted with 600 amp fuse in !   Now changed to 300 amp . All since been well till today.

So am thinking fuse has blown ( no spare onboard ) but why has it gone again? 

 

Sounds like your inverter side of the combi is knackered, if your batteries are ok as you say, you need to test your getting 12 plus volts in when in inverter mode and see what your getting out of the output connections, if getting nothing, you know where the problem is. What make/model inverter?

 Has it got a remote control board?

Edited September 17, 2023 by BoatinglifeupNorth

[Norm55]

Its a stirling  all charging lightscare ok when on landline but nothing when shoreline disconnected 

[Tracy D'arth]

1 hour ago, Norm55 said:

Its a stirling  all charging lightscare ok when on landline but nothing when shoreline disconnected 

Its in power save mode.