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Topic: If You Can’t Sleep At Night It’s The Heat or Keep Your Cool Inverter  (Read 535 times) previous topic - next topic
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If You Can’t Sleep At Night It’s The Heat or Keep Your Cool Inverter
Well here’s something I never expected.

Here’s a fun little incident I experienced last night. Talk about solar. Yesterday I enjoyed the AC in the rig. So nice. Everything was working as usual. Fridge, TV, lights, AC… the whole shebang.

Last night I heard an alarm inside the rig. When I went in to see what was the matter, the solar monitor was flashing an alarm about low battery. ??? The rig is always on shore power plus it has ample solar.

Pretty soon everything shut down. No lights, ceiling fans, fridge EVERYTHING.

I went to the garage where I had my surge protector plugged in. NO POWER. Again ???

I moved the protector to a dedicated 110 post along the driveway and it turned on. Followed the procedure (waited a couple of minutes and connected to the rig.

NO CHANGE! I checked every breaker I could. Both in the LD panel and inside where the batteries are located. Didn’t see anything out of the ordinary.

The 3000 watt inverter kicked on but nothing changed. It felt really warm. (Pretty tight space for all my solar electronics and the inverter is located below a dinette seat with only a small hole AM Solar put in for ventilation) Due to the high heat I thought that it had hiccuped and did something uncalled for.

Still no lights etc…still confused as to what to do or who to call. AM Solar was out of the question. My next move was to relocate the food in the fridge of which there was plenty. I mean plenty.

I decided to check the AM install again. They did a fantastic job of protecting the system. I checked the DC House breaker AGAIN and depressed the red plunger to hopefully reset that breaker. RATS! No good.

I looked below the breaker and noticed (out of sight but not out of reach) a toggle and I managed to reset it like a standard breaker. That did the trick.

Everything came back to life. Lights, fridge etc…even the AC. The battery monitor showed something like 12 % and the voltage reading on the Victron was down to 13.something. Not good.

The fridge had warmed to 34 degrees where it is normally showing 24. The freezer had warmed to 7 or 8 degrees from its usual 1 degree.

That’s why I was desperate to move the food (too bad all our fridge’s & freezers were completely full.

This morning I checked the breaker that feeds the plug inside the garage where I normally plug in for shore power and it had tripped.

What the heck? A cascade of failures. Felt like Chernobyl.

Just took a look at the system and everything is back to normal.

So I’m going to add 2 much larger vent openings in both battery/electronics area and the inverter area. I’m thinking a fan or 2 would also help keep it cooler in those areas.

So, what’s your take? Was it the heat that started the cascade? Glad it happened at home and not on the road.

Happy I could keep my cool when all else around had heated up so completely. Figured it out so that’s what really matters.

 Keeping His Cool In A Heatwave

Kent
2015 27' RB "MissB.Haven"
Re: If You Can’t Sleep At Night It’s The Heat or Keep Your Cool Inverter
Reply #1 –
"So I’m going to add 2 much larger vent openings in both battery/electronics
area and the inverter area. I’m thinking a fan or 2 would also help keep it
cooler in those areas."

Kent, I think your solution is a good way to proceed. It certainly can't hurt to have more air circulation in both hot and cold environments. The fan is also a good idea.
Mike C 
2010 RB "Monty"  &  2021 RB "Villa Verde"
2004 Born Free 26'
1998 Beaver Patriot 33'
1992 Barth Breakaway 28'
1982 Fleetwood Jamboree 23'
1982 Dolphin/Toyota 22'
Re: If You Can’t Sleep At Night It’s The Heat or Keep Your Cool Inverter
Reply #2 –
Kent, I'm just curious--you said you normally keep your fridge at 24°. Don't your drinks and produce freeze? Or was that a typo?
Andy Baird
2021 Ford Ranger towing 2019 Airstream 19CB
Previously: 1985 LD Twin/King "Gertie"; 2003 LD Midbath "Skylark"
Re: If You Can’t Sleep At Night It’s The Heat or Keep Your Cool Inverter
Reply #3 –
Hi Andy,

I have the “eyebrow” on the fridge one setting below max (I think it’s a 5 point setting) so it’s on setting 4 otherwise if set to 5 things like lettuce will freeze but on 4 beers are excellent.

I use a remote thermometer that sits on the countertop and there are two sensors that are placed in the freezer in the back near the wall and one in the fridge on the wire shelf nearest to the chilling fins.

I wonder how accurate the temperature reading really is but those are the numbers it gives for where the sensors are placed.

Those numbers stay the same on the monitor. I have an analog thermometer in the fridge but the numbers are too small to read in a hurry. I like the digital thermometer.
2015 27' RB "MissB.Haven"
Re: If You Can’t Sleep At Night It’s The Heat or Keep Your Cool Inverter
Reply #4 –
Quote from: Andy Baird  - 
Kent, I'm just curious--you said you normally keep your fridge at 24°. Don't your drinks and produce freeze? Or was that a typo?

I picked up on that as well.  Generally, fridge temperatures between 34 and 38 are the target; most residential fridges default to 37.  As long as you're below 40F, you're okay for food safety.  Below 34 and you risk freezing, especially produce which contains a lot of water.
Re: If You Can’t Sleep At Night It’s The Heat or Keep Your Cool Inverter
Reply #5 –
Okay…I just checked the analog thermometer in the LD fridge and it reads 35. I’ll try to find the digital thermometer manual and see if the numbers can be made more accurate. Not that it matters.

The thought of drinking a 24 degree beer sounds kinda refreshing during the summer.

Kent
2015 27' RB "MissB.Haven"
Re: If You Can’t Sleep At Night It’s The Heat or Keep Your Cool Inverter
Reply #6 –
Do you have s way to check the temp of the equipment or of the space it occupies? If not, you could put one of those sensors there to confirm that overtemp is the true cause of the shutdown.
2013 27’ Mid-Bath
2005 Honda CR-V
Re: If You Can’t Sleep At Night It’s The Heat or Keep Your Cool Inverter
Reply #7 –
Quote from: Keith S  - 
Do you have s way to check the temp of the equipment or of the space it occupies? If not, you could put one of those sensors there to confirm that overtemp is the true cause of the shutdown.
I second this suggestion. It's easy to do, and might avoid "fixing" the wrong cause. I monitor the air temerature going into my inverter/charger, using a temperature probe connected to the solar charge regulator for trickle charging the engine battery (normally the probe goes on the battery being charged). The regulator has Bluetooth, so the temperature shows on the main display panel.
2005 Jayco 24SS
Re: If You Can’t Sleep At Night It’s The Heat or Keep Your Cool Inverter
Reply #9 –
Quote from: Keith S  - 
Do you have s way to check the temp of the equipment or of the space it occupies? If not, you could put one of those sensors there to confirm that overtemp is the true cause of the shutdown.

Probably not the most elegant solution but I use a Blink camera system at home. The cameras also monitor temperature (probably not the best accuracy but gives a rough idea), so I have a camera placed in the LD which can be moved around as needed. The camera allows high and low alarms to be set which alert my phone. Since the system requires WiFi, the LD camera only works while parked at home but the other (home) cameras can be accessed on the road.
Greg & Victoria
2017 Mid-Bath  “Nocona” towing a manual 2015 Forester
Previously a 1985 TK
SKP #61264
Re: If You Can’t Sleep At Night It’s The Heat or Keep Your Cool Inverter
Reply #10 –
Thanks for the suggestions everyone.

I actually have another remote temp monitor I have stored in the LD. I’ll set one sensor with the battery bank/electronics (that area under the dinette seat is pretty stable since nothing is producing heat) and the other with the 3000 watt inverter. I wondered if I’d ever have a need for the extra monitor. Thanks.

I’m not British and while a cool beer is fine I prefer it as cold as possible. American sensibilities…crazy huh?

Anyway, moving the surge protector to the outside pedestal seems like a practical answer to some of my concerns.
2015 27' RB "MissB.Haven"
Re: If You Can’t Sleep At Night It’s The Heat or Keep Your Cool Inverter
Reply #11 –

For what it's worth, I've been very happy with the small Bluetooth Govee temperature/humidity sensors. For less than fifteen bucks apiece, it's affordable to buy a number of them. I have half a dozen scattered around--in my RV fridge and freezer, my truck fridge and freezer,  inside the rig, and so on. The Govee iPhone app lets me read all of them at a glance on one screen, so I can easily keep an eye on everything. One caveat: they're not waterproof. (Govee says not to use them in refrigerators, but I've been doing that for years.) A battery lasts about a year.

As an Amazon Associate Lazy Daze Owners' Group earns from qualifying purchases.
Andy Baird
2021 Ford Ranger towing 2019 Airstream 19CB
Previously: 1985 LD Twin/King "Gertie"; 2003 LD Midbath "Skylark"
Re: If You Can’t Sleep At Night It’s The Heat or Keep Your Cool Inverter
Reply #12 –
Here is a link to the wireless thermometer I have in the rig. I’ve been using it for about three years and it has worked flawlessly.

Amazon.com: (UPGRADED) AMIR Refrigerator Thermometer, Wireless Indoor...

As of yet, I haven’t read the manual to determine a more accurate temperature reading.

Kent
2015 27' RB "MissB.Haven"
Re: If You Can’t Sleep At Night It’s The Heat or Keep Your Cool Inverter
Reply #13 –

At Andy's suggestion, I bought two Goves for our refrigerator to help with improving the refrigerator's performance in various weather conditions.
The Govee remote temperature sensor is a neat device that tracks the refrigerator and freezer temperature and displays them on your phone or another device, showing the progression of time and the temperature. They are so sensitive that just opening and closing one of the refrigerator's doors will show. The sensor can be programmed to show high or low temperature alarms on your phone.
The only downside is limited battery life; I get about a year before they need replacement. They take an uncommon lithium button battery. Amazon can have new ones on your doorstep in one day. Lithium batteries have long shelf lives, so I keep fresh batteries on the LD for use when on the road.

Larry
Larry
2003 23.5' Front Lounge, since new.  Previously 1983 22' Front Lounge.
Tow vehicles  2020 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon, 2001 Jeep Cherokee
Photo Collection: Lazy Daze
Re: If You Can’t Sleep At Night It’s The Heat or Keep Your Cool Inverter
Reply #14 –

As Larry pointed out, the Govee sensors maintain a history of both temperature and humidity, which can be displayed by the Govee app. The attached screenshot shows the history for my freezer for the past week, but note that it can be displayed by the hour, day, week, month, or year. This can be very useful in tracking day/night cycles, pinpointing exactly when a power failure took place, and so on.

X

I've also attached a screenshot showing the app's default overview of all my sensors. This at-a-glance view is very handy.

X

It's a very well-designed system.

Like Larry, I keep spare batteries on hand. The Govee sensors take CR2477 button cells.

As an Amazon Associate Lazy Daze Owners' Group earns from qualifying purchases.
Andy Baird
2021 Ford Ranger towing 2019 Airstream 19CB
Previously: 1985 LD Twin/King "Gertie"; 2003 LD Midbath "Skylark"
Re: If You Can’t Sleep At Night It’s The Heat or Keep Your Cool Inverter
Reply #15 –

I've used a couple of these Govees for a few years:
Amazon.com: Govee Hygrometer Thermometer H5075, Bluetooth Indoor Room...

It uses two AAA batteries that seem to last a long time. I like having the display, even though I sometimes put them where I can't read it. The app to download the log file and chart is very good.

As an Amazon Associate Lazy Daze Owners' Group earns from qualifying purchases.
2005 Jayco 24SS