MasterVolt Inverter
Roger
I've got a MasterVolt Inverter that doesn't work.
There's a remote on/off switch that signals 'fail' as soon as it's switched
on.
Otherwise, at the main box a light comes on saying 'low battery'.
OK - so I suppose I should believe that. BUT:
I got an 'expert' in who said my batteries were knackered, so I've replaced
all of them and charged them up. Result? = no difference, except much lower
bank account.
Now I'm not so sure who to tun to for help.
Can anyone recommend someone who knows what they're doing? My boat's at
Stafford.
Alternatively, a good source of help for MasterVolt products. I've got
equipment but no technical information for it.
Roger
Kevin Warrington
"Roger" <ro...@bridgeside.plus.com> wrote in message
news:Oe9w8.14176$51.484355@wards...
don't know number offhand, but it's on the web and in the magazines. He's a
bit of a wizard with boat electrics and Mastervolt in particular.
You presumably know that your batteries are now in good order, that the
wiring is intact (and all the conections tight) and have a correct voltage
reading from the batteries on-load. Also, that your mains wiring is good
and that there are no heavy loads or shorts connected? Can you disconnect
the remote switch and do you get the same results?
Kevin
Trevor Pavitt
We have a Heart Interface inverter - I believe that the MasterVolt is
virtually the same thing re-badged.
When we had a problem in March 1999 I got in touch with Chris Gibson of
Power Coversion Technology. Unfortuantely I had to take the inverter up to
his workshop in Ashton-under-Lyne but he was then able to fix the problem on
the spot. Might be worth a 'phone call, his number is (or *was*) (0)161 330
3125 or Fax (0)161 330 3126.
HTH
--
Trevor
Nb Lady Elgar
"Nothing matters very much, and few things matter at all."
Kevin Warrington
"Trevor Pavitt" <tre...@ladyelg.fsnet.co.uk> wrote in message
news:a9u389$uob$1...@news6.svr.pol.co.uk...
generation Heart and Mastervolt *combi's* are basically the same, but not
the stand alone inverters and chargers. Our problem that I alluded to
earlier was with a Combi that decided it would invert but not charge (there
is some hideous solid state contactor device that switches between land line
/ charger and inverted power that appears to have gone "phut" in our unit).
It seems that running a generator accelerates the life of this component as
it switches between pass-through and inverting mode depending on the
condition of the genny output (I think I understand why, but it is
technically tedious). Hence, in our case, we disconected the charger output
from the combi (which we still use as an inverter) and installed a new
charger. I probably should surround the above by copious usage of "I have
heard from sources" and "it is alleged" as I have no rigourous scientific
proof, just heard from a couple of people who've seen similar problems.
Suffice it to say that we now have an inverter and a charger that are
independent and both work a treat - none of which helps Trevor with his
problem :-(
Kevin
brian
news:a9v33t$680nd$1...@ID-88927.news.dfncis.de...
>
> "Trevor Pavitt" <tre...@ladyelg.fsnet.co.uk> wrote in message
> news:a9u389$uob$1...@news6.svr.pol.co.uk...
> >
> > "Roger" wrote:
> > > Help, please!
> > >
> earlier was with a Combi that decided it would invert but not charge
(there
> is some hideous solid state contactor device that switches between land
line
> / charger and inverted power that appears to have gone "phut" in our
unit).
> It seems that running a generator accelerates the life of this component
as
> it switches between pass-through and inverting mode depending on the
> condition of the genny output (I think I understand why, but it is
> technically tedious). Hence, in our case, we disconected the charger
output
> from the combi (which we still use as an inverter) and installed a new
> charger.
snip
>
That is why I was advised to have a seperate charger/inverter, but as I dont
intend to have aland line or generator I only bought the inverter.
--
--
Brian from sunny Suffolk by the river Hundred
The East Anglian Narrowboat Moving Co.
brian
>
> I've got a MasterVolt Inverter that doesn't work.
> There's a remote on/off switch that signals 'fail' as soon as it's
switched
> on.
> Otherwise, at the main box a light comes on saying 'low battery'.
>
Can you check the voltage with a digital volt meter on the actual 12 volt
terminal posts of the inverter whilst it is trying to function. If thats
low the inverter is telling the truth.
If it is low go to the battery terminals and check there, if thats OK then
you must be losing it between the two, Isolator switch, fuse or fuse
connections, battery connections , or even connections onto the inverter.
Thats why I said test on the posts, not the cable lugs
--
--
Brian from sunny Suffolk by the river Hundred
The East Anglian Narrowboat Moving Co.
> Roger
>
>
Niall
<kj.war...@virgin.net> wrote:
> Our problem that I alluded to
>earlier was with a Combi that decided it would invert but not charge (there
>is some hideous solid state contactor device that switches between land line
>/ charger and inverted power that appears to have gone "phut" in our unit).
If that's a Solid State Relay (SSR) my experience with these things in
control panels is that they *must* be protected with fuses of type "FF
- for semiconductor protection", even fast fuses do not blow quickly
enough to save the SSR if a fault develops.
--
Niall
Andrew Denny
Streethay. I also have a 5kw genset, and in three months or so the
genset output had 'blown' the charger relay switch (whatever that is)
and I wasn't happy. Mastervolt came out and replaced it under
guarantee, but said it would be chargeable again if they did it,
because the cause was apparently poor output from my genset. They
also submitted a £300 bill for coming out to replace it (the warranty
only covered the equipment), but after I complained they agreed to
swallow the charge.
I'm told privately by sources in the boat electrics industry that
combis are an unhappy, cheap compromise, although that didn't stop
Kuranda marine promising that if I traded my Dakar for a Victron
combi, it would be a perfectly happy match with my genset.
Later, Mastervolt said that since I was still unhappy they would swap
the Dakar for a Mastervolt 100amp charger only, but I decided to stick
with the unit and the luxury of 240v when cruising, and just accept
that I shouldn't use the genset to charge batteries. I was told that
this can be done, but it's advised to present an additional load to
the genset besides the charger alone, at least for the first few
minutes, such as some cabin 240v units such as TV - say a couple of
hundred watts. I'm told this stabilises the relay switches as the
charger gets used to the load its presented with, though I can't say I
fully understand this.
I found Ken Worral, based on the Macclesfield canal at a marina just
north of Bollington, a good source of information, and he was about to
come up with a solution for me last year, involving putting a
permanent small load on the genset output (with 5kw it had a little to
spare!) but foot & mouth intervened and we never went ahead.
Regds
Andrew Denny
Peter Forbes - Prepair Ltd, Luton, UK
A lot will depend on the type of charger. A controlled thyristor charger
is much more rugged than switch mode or linear types, but has the
disadvantage of weight and volume.
Running a charger from a two-pole generator will cause problems for a
lot of equipment as the sine wave is not very good at all, and if the
power factor of the charger is low, which they usually are, then things
get worse, especially if the generator regulator can't cope with an
inductive load such as a transformer.
We did some tests for the railways using one of our 110V DC 50A mobile
chargers and a genset. To get 5.5kW out of the charger reliably, we had
to use a 15kVA generator, as anything smaller just could not cope with
the charger.
We have just returned from commissioning a 4-way 118V DC 55A 26kW
charger for a subsea application, and they have all sorts of problems
with ship generated supplies, but the total power available was in the
MVA range, so no problem for our kit.
--
Peter
Peter Forbes
Prepair Ltd
Luton, UK
email: pre...@easynet.co.uk
home: die...@easynet.co.uk
Mike George
wrote:
<snip>
>Later, Mastervolt said that since I was still unhappy they would swap
>the Dakar for a Mastervolt 100amp charger only, but I decided to stick
>with the unit and the luxury of 240v when cruising, and just accept
>that I shouldn't use the genset to charge batteries. I was told that
>this can be done, but it's advised to present an additional load to
>the genset besides the charger alone, at least for the first few
>minutes, such as some cabin 240v units such as TV - say a couple of
>hundred watts. I'm told this stabilises the relay switches as the
>charger gets used to the load its presented with, though I can't say I
>fully understand this.
>
We have a Mastervold 80 amp charger, which works fine when we're using
a shore line but never gets pst the 'absorption' stage when it's
charging from the generator. I spoke to Keith at Ampower about it and
he said it's likely that the frequency of the power fom the generator
is a bit too high. Our washing machine won't work unless there's
another load on the system too, which I think might be caused by the
same thing.
Next time we're cruising I'll try leaving a 1kw heater on all the time
and see if that works.
>I found Ken Worral, based on the Macclesfield canal at a marina just
>north of Bollington, a good source of information, and he was about to
>come up with a solution for me last year, involving putting a
>permanent small load on the genset output (with 5kw it had a little to
>spare!) but foot & mouth intervened and we never went ahead.
So you'd recommend Ken as someone who knows what he's talking about
regarding electrickery?
--
Mike George, UK
http://www.nbmajortom.com
Ian McCarthy
Warble Wharf Broadway
Hyde
Cheshire
SK 14 4QF
TEl 0161 368 2888
They we dead good when I used them a couple of years ago.
--
Cheers ian mac
Kevin Warrington
"Mike George" <mi...@nbmajortom.com-nospam> wrote in message
news:3cc9a7d0...@news.freeserve.net...
<<snip>>
> We have a Mastervold 80 amp charger, which works fine when we're using
> a shore line but never gets pst the 'absorption' stage when it's
> charging from the generator. I spoke to Keith at Ampower about it and
> he said it's likely that the frequency of the power fom the generator
> is a bit too high. Our washing machine won't work unless there's
> another load on the system too, which I think might be caused by the
> same thing.
>
> Next time we're cruising I'll try leaving a 1kw heater on all the time
> and see if that works.
>
our case the immersion heater. One minor problem, though - we "forgot" to
turn the immersion heater off before we turned the genny off and so were
then running the immersion heater off the invertor. That was fine until
someone had a shower and removed most of the hot water, causing the
immersion heater to turn itself on, thus flattening the batteries rather
quickly and, of course, the sole purpose of running the genny had been to
recharge the batteries.
Kevin
Mike George
I tried the experiment and left the genny running for 5 hours with a
1kw heater plugged in, and it didn't make any difference. Did it work
for you? And if not, have you found any other way around it?
One advantage of the fan heater is that it's easy to notice that
you've left it on, although we usually plug ours into a socket which
is only live when the genny is running. It's also easy to set the
thermostat high so that it doesn't keep switching itself off like an
immersion heater would. The disadvantage is that if we do leave it
swithced on and plugged in it will come on next time we turn the genny
on, which could be dangerous, wo we've got into a strict routine of
unplugging it and putting away when it's not in use.
Kevin Warrington
"Mike George" <mi...@nbmajortom.com-nospam> wrote in message
I can't recall us ever getting the charger to show the "top" level of led
except when connected to the land-line, even with another load on the genny.
It doesn't seem to cause us any problems though as the batteries seem to
have almost as much stored energy when all the leds except the top one are
on as they do when they've been subjected to a float charge. At least, they
do now since I sorted out the loose connections. I've not had access to a
scope or frequency counter for years, but would be absolutely staggered if
the output from the generator was 50Hz, sine wave and 240V rms and so
suspect that the charger is looking for mains type conditions to get a full
charge. I suspect (with some inside knowledge of switch mode technology
from years gone by) that there are some design trade-offs that create this
situation with anythong other than "pure" mains and that the trade offs are
necessary to make the things affordable (and we can probably discuss that
last word as well).
Kevin
Mike George
<kj.war...@virgin.net> wrote:
>"Mike George" <mi...@nbmajortom.com-nospam> wrote in message
>news:3cd125f0...@news.freeserve.net...
<snip snip>
>> I tried the experiment and left the genny running for 5 hours with a
>> 1kw heater plugged in, and it didn't make any difference. Did it work
>> for you? And if not, have you found any other way around it?
>>
<snip>
>Sorry for tardy reply - not been reading newsgroups for a few days.
>I can't recall us ever getting the charger to show the "top" level of led
>except when connected to the land-line, even with another load on the genny.
>It doesn't seem to cause us any problems though as the batteries seem to
>have almost as much stored energy when all the leds except the top one are
>on as they do when they've been subjected to a float charge. At least, they
>do now since I sorted out the loose connections. I've not had access to a
>scope or frequency counter for years, but would be absolutely staggered if
>the output from the generator was 50Hz, sine wave and 240V rms and so
>suspect that the charger is looking for mains type conditions to get a full
>charge. I suspect (with some inside knowledge of switch mode technology
>from years gone by) that there are some design trade-offs that create this
>situation with anythong other than "pure" mains and that the trade offs are
>necessary to make the things affordable (and we can probably discuss that
>last word as well).
Our charger only ever gets to 3 LEDs lit, which means (I think) the
batteries only get up to 50% charged. The big problem though is that
this is wrecking the batteries because they're being charged at too
high a rate. They're also spitting electrolyte out everywhere, and the
acid is eating away at the steel, fuel pipes, etc so I have to sponge
it off with a bicarbonate solution. I'm thinking of just using the
alternator to charge all the batteries, which will mean longer engine
running times but healthier and longer-living batteries.