Howie:

OK...enough with the a to z's....need pics! Gosh darn it...you came up with the "Greatest Diagram On How To Hookup Your Inverter, Except How To Hook Your 120v Inverter Line To Your Panel"... Know To Man", but you left out the 'how to blend it in with the panel'. Has that camera run outta film?

Poor 'ol Kris has a fried inverter, and we need to help...a pictorial will take me days to figure out how to post here...you've got the karma, dude!

You're so fun!

Sean

Howie,

I just noticed that you said on my signal post that you could not find my pictures of additions. My photo ID is KCKASH. Look under that name.

Clark

Yup..those are the same instructions I got from you before, and I triple checked em.

The ONLY thing I can figure is that I have a faulty switch that allowed the generator to back-feed into the inverter.

OR I switched it too fast.

OR I've got something hot touching the chassis somewhere and the chassis ground is back-feeding the inverter.

I've got to go outta town for a few days. Next week I'm gonna replace both switches, then get serious with a voltage meter/tester and try to figure out what isn't working right.

I'm 99% sure that everything is wired perfectly, so I'm kinda stumped.

So Howie...you can switch over to inverter when your generator is running?

quote:

Originally posted by PhatFireMan:
Howie...are you able to switch from the generator/shore power setting to the inverter setting while the generator is running or the shore power is hooked up?
I figured I was covered because the switch has the center "off" position, a break in the connection before switching over.

If I flip the DPDT "center off" 20amp toggle switch UP..... the inverter and
battery are running the 2 TV outlets. I can have
the toaster, hair dryer, vacuum, etc plugged in
and they will work exclusively on the batteries.


I flip the DPDT "center off" 20amp toggle switch to the MIDDLE position and
there is no power to the 2 TV outlets.

I flip the DPDT "center off" 20amp toggle switch to the DOWN position and the
2 TV outlets work on either the generator or
shore power.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: 56Nomad,

I understand the concept well enough...I'm just wondering if you have actually tried switching it back and forth with either the generator running or the shore power hooked up?

I had mine all wired up and it worked fine. It was when I had the generator running and I switched it to inverter mode that it went ZAP!

quote:

So Howie...you can switch over to inverter when your generator is running?

Yes...... no problem with that.

However, if you have the TV running or any
appliance.... it will shut down as the middle
position on the DPDT "center off" 20amp toggle switch shuts the power off to all.

Flip the switch from center to up..... will
give you 110V powered by batteries.

quote:

Originally posted by PhatFireMan:
I understand the concept well enough...I'm just wondering if you have actually tried switching it back and forth with either the generator running or the shore power hooked up?

Hi Kris,

Yes, I can switch the toggle back and forth,
without problem. I have been careful to let
the switch stay in the middle (OFF) position
for few seconds before moving to the UP or DOWN
position. In theory, I don't think it shouldn't
make any difference, but I do it anyway.

Thanks Howie!

I'm gonna try two new switches, and quadruple check all my wiring.

If not...screw it I guess. Run the generator forever.

Testing Testing

Well...I replaced one switch, I triple checked everything. I went so far as to use a voltage meter on just about every wire to make sure I wasn't getting a back-feed from somewhere.

I'm pretty sure it was either a bad switch, or that the ground wire was touching either a hot or neutral wire when I shoved it all into the J-box the first time.

Cause now it all seems to work just fine. I can switch from generator to inverter and vice versa with the generator running and everything. Yahoo!

Thanks everybody for all the help. And thanks Howie for the heads-up on the killer inverter for cheap. Next stop...solar panels and some more batteries baby!

Would sure like to see all you folks up in Mammoth July 14th - 18th. Or Pismo the 5th - 9th for that matter.