Sterling Pro Combie

[tommytelford]

I do have another one, I am at home at present so maybe I ought to test it on the car battery, just assumed it was reading right

[cuthound]

13 minutes ago, tommytelford said:

I do have another one, I am at home at present so maybe I ought to test it on the car battery, just assumed it was reading right

Make sure the meter battery isn't flat (ish). They don't read accurately with tired batteries.

Are you sure there are no loose connections between the battery and inverter?  An intermittent connection could cause the inverter to randomly shut down, although you say the low voltage light flashes, which could preclude that. 

[tommytelford]

Checked out meter and it is reading correctly ( unless I have two faulty ones )

[tommytelford]

I have checked the connections and as far as I can see they are all okay, I double checked all my wiring before my boat test a few weeks ago. It seems unlikely to me the inverter would have the same problem after a replacement of the complete control board by Sterling. I think it is unlikely but I think I may buy a couple of new batteries to see if that makes any difference.

[WotEver]

13 minutes ago, tommytelford said:

I have checked the connections and as far as I can see they are all okay, I double checked all my wiring before my boat test a few weeks ago. It seems unlikely to me the inverter would have the same problem after a replacement of the complete control board by Sterling. I think it is unlikely but I think I may buy a couple of new batteries to see if that makes any difference.

The thing is, if you're sure that it's cutting out at 12.7V then Sterling won't have a problem with repairing it. If however they test it and find nowt wrong with it then Charles will be a bit miffed and might charge you. 

[cuthound]

8 minutes ago, WotEver said:

The thing is, if you're sure that it's cutting out at 12.7V then Sterling won't have a problem with repairing it. If however they test it and find nowt wrong with it then Charles will be a bit miffed and might charge you. 

And Charles Stirling apparently tested this inverters predecessor and stated that it was OK, which suggests that the connecting wiring or battery is at fault.

[tommytelford]

That was my thought cutbound, if I was closer I would take it down to Sterling and get them to check it but I am 130 miles away and can't get there when they are open.

 

[WotEver]

30 minutes ago, cuthound said:

And Charles Stirling apparently tested this inverters predecessor and stated that it was OK, which suggests that the connecting wiring or battery is at fault.

Agreed. So something is odd somewhere. 

[smileypete]

Is there one of the dreaded 'red key' isolators that are notoriously bad?

Edited July 25, 2017 by smileypete

[Sea Dog]

Oh no, here it comes again! That urge I get to ask: 'Is it me, or do most posts about dodgy inverters start with "I have a Sterling..." !'  I know, there's lots of them, I've been told before. That's why I have the strength to resist. It's passing now. There. It's gone. Phew, that was close!

[tommytelford]

Red isolator is on my list when I go to the boat next weekend, I know they are notorious

[jddevel]

13 hours ago, tommytelford said:

Where do you think this high resistance could be coming from. I have not actually measured the resistance in the cables

A little anecdote regarding cable construction. About 20 years ago while temporarily burying a 240 volt house mains supply I got the cable hooked in a digger bucket and it "snapped"(it tripped at the substation before automatically resetting) On close inspection of the cable by the attending Western Distribution engineer called out to effect a repair it was discovered that the centre solid copper core was simply butted together in a pointed fashion inside the  plastic sheathing which had stretched and torn on contact. He`d never seen anything like it before. On checking back later with BICCs it was  confirmed that this was how a continuous cable reel was manufactured. The point I`m making that in my situation the voltage was sufficient to overcome that "butted" resistance. If the cable had been stretched in the course of laying I wonder whether that "butted" joint would have partially separated and thus caused a higher resistance. I`ll never know. 

[tommytelford]

Having thought about it I don't think it is red isolator as the Inverter is connected straight to the batteries via a fuselink as recommended by Sterling

[WotEver]

You need to rig up the multimeter semi-permanently to the 12V inverter input and watch it carefully. See if it drops lower than 12.7V BEFORE the low voltage led lights up. 

[tommytelford]

Thanks for all the suggestions I am going to the boat this weekend and will work through them all before contactiing Sterling. He has asked me to take a video of the meter reading and the fault lights

[WotEver]

Just now, tommytelford said:

He has asked me to take a video of the meter reading and the fault lights

See if you can rig it up so that it sees what I just described. 

[tommytelford]

Thanks again for all the help. I went to the boat this weeken and managed to monitor the voltage as suggested. I switched the inverter back on afer it had cut out and the voltage showed 12.5 volts which dropped gradually over about a minute to 10.4 volts and the inverter cut out, within about 5 seconds the voltage reverted 12.5 volts

I replaced the batteries and am pleased to report that the inverter ran all night and right up to 2pm when I left the boat with 4 hours of TV, 240 volt fridge on highest setting and 240 volt drinks fridge plus all of the lights on for about 6 hours and the voltage was still readin 12.45 volts before I plugged in the landline.

My apologies to Mr.  Sterling for threatening to chuck the inverter overboard !!!!!

[WotEver]

Great. All you need to learn now is how to keep those batteries fully charged and the problem won't return

[mross]

1 hour ago, tommytelford said:

Thanks again for all the help. I went to the boat this weeken and managed to monitor the voltage as suggested. I switched the inverter back on afer it had cut out and the voltage showed 12.5 volts which dropped gradually over about a minute to 10.4 volts and the inverter cut out, within about 5 seconds the voltage reverted 12.5 volts

I replaced the batteries and am pleased to report that the inverter ran all night and right up to 2pm when I left the boat with 4 hours of TV, 240 volt fridge on highest setting and 240 volt drinks fridge plus all of the lights on for about 6 hours and the voltage was still readin 12.45 volts before I plugged in the landline.

My apologies to Mr.  Sterling for threatening to chuck the inverter overboard !!!!!

Thanks for letting us know of a good outcome; so many posters never update the 'hive' !!

1 hour ago, tommytelford said: