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We finally arrived at the Fort today after the RV being in the shop all day yesterday with electrical problems. They ended up replacing the electrical panel and the inverter. And that seemed to fix the majority of our problems. It will still need to go back in the shop when we get back in town to fix an issue related to one of those outlets that you can reset. Here's our problem...they told DH that the inverter needed to run until the batteries were completely charged, and then we could turn it off. So it ran all night (making a loud humming noise that kept me awake all night). DH went to the main panel and turned off the inverter when everything was charged, and although the light on the Inverter button is no longer lit up, it is still running (and making that awful noise). Is there another way to turn it off? It's driving me crazy, and now I'm afraid it is possibly doing even more damage to the RV. Help please!

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Inverter or converter? Sounds like it's the converter fan running, that is what charges the batteries not the inverter. If you turn the converter off you will be running on battery power for all your 12v lights. See if there is a breaker for the converter and turn that off and see if the noise stops.

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That is the converter, still charging the battery. Now, do you have a cutoff for your house battery?  If so, then you could cut off the battery, and the converter would probably quit running the fan, and all of your 12V stuff would just be working off the converter.

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If it's the transfer switch humming that would be the relay making the noise. The only way to stop that is to unplug and run off your batteries. You could turn the inverter back on and you should have a TV anyway.

The transfer switch is what connect the generator when it runs and disconnects the shore power.

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I am so confused. I think I've decided that we just aren't campers. It's time to sell this thing and be done with it!

I've read your responses to DH and he's afraid that if we just run off the batteries they will go dead again, which is part of what got us into all these electrical problems. Or are we totally misunderstanding what all of you are saying?

He did flip a bunch of breakers and now the lights on the control panel are showing that the batteries are not fully charged again. I'm starting to suspect that they didn't really fix our problems when it was in the shop yesterday.

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To help clarify things. The converter changes 110 volt to 12 volt which runs many, if not all, of your lights and charges the batteries. The inverter changes 12 volt to 110 volt which allows you to run the TV while going down the road or while stopped, without starting the generator. The transfer switch is a safety relay that only allows power from either the power cord or the generator to enter the breaker panel. Without it you could ruin your generator if it was run while the shore power is connected. It also prevents the generator from energizing the power cord if you are not plugged in. Hope that is not too confusing.

I kind of agree, if they told you that the transfer switch was the inverter they definitely don't know what they are doing. I know the hum is annoying you, but it shouldn't hurt anything. Our's hums a little as well, but it is inside a cabinet and not under the bed.

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That makes total sense. DH thinks he probably misunderstood about the inverter, converter, etc. He's not very mechanically inclined...which I'm sure you guessed by now. :)

I think right now, what concerns us the most is that the batteries were totally charged, but when he flipped the circuit breakers off and on, the batteries were suddenly showing on the control panel like they had been drained. Right now they appear to be charging again. Something is definitely not right!

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How old are the batteries? If they are 4-5 years old they may not show a full charge and may need replacing. Also if you are plugged into shore power, with the converter running, the panel will always show fully charged batteries since it is reading the converter output. The only way you get a true charge reading is with the converter off.

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If you want someone else to look at it, call Camper Connection....407-397-2267. They have a guy who is great with all electrical problems. He fixed problems on our motorhome that no one else was ever able to fix. It was worth it to pay another repair bill. A service call last year was $65.00 and the labor was 55.00. Worth every penny to us.

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If you want someone else to look at it, call Camper Connection....407-397-2267. They have a guy who is great with all electrical problems. He fixed problems on our motorhome that no one else was ever able to fix. It was worth it to pay another repair bill. A service call last year was $65.00 and the labor was 55.00. Worth every penny to us.

I think we used them once before and were very pleased with them. We'll probably give them a call if we don't get any help from the place that did the work on the RV last Friday. Thanks for mentioning them.

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Our Fleetwood has an "AUX Battery" switch on the same panel with the hot water heater, and where you check your black/gray/ and fresh water levels.  If you shut that off that should stop the humming coming from the converter.  And if it continues to hum, please teach it the words so it can just sing along instead.

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Holly I just read this is there anything we can do to help

Thanks, Lotna, but we are just going to have to tolerate the humming until we get home. We called the place that did all the repairs on Friday and they basically said to bring it back when we get home. Toby had them listen to the humming and they did say that it is much louder than it should be. We thought about calling Camping Connection, but that will just cost us even more money. The place that did the repairs needs to make it right!

We are going to sleep on the pull out sofa and keep the A/C fan running to drown out the noise like we've done the last two nights. There's no way I can sleep in the bedroom with the loud humming.

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Our Fleetwood has an "AUX Battery" switch on the same panel with the hot water heater, and where you check your black/gray/ and fresh water levels.  If you shut that off that should stop the humming coming from the converter.  And if it continues to hum, please teach it the words so it can just sing along instead.

I think they determined that it is the transfer switch that is making all the noise. It's crazy!

I like the idea of teaching it the words. Should I teach it It's A Small World, or in honor of Halloween, the Boo To You song???

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Sorry about the rv problems Holly, but I hope you have a terrific time all the same.

 

I think they determined that it is the transfer switch that is making all the noise. It's crazy!

I like the idea of teaching it the words. Should I teach it It's A Small World, or in honor of Halloween, the Boo To You song???

 

Definitely Boo To You!

 

...and now it's stuck in my head. 8)

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