Pulsating interior lights???

[dfbergeron]

On a recent overnight spent in my 2007 Dodge Sprinter Roadtrek Agile ss, equiped with an Inverter/Charger, most of my interrior 12v lights pulsated when in the one position and the Inverter/Charger switch was either in the auto or charge batt only position. The only time the lights would stop pulsating was if I turned the Inverter/Charger off on the unit itself, not the wall mounted switch in the coach. Is this normal? I wanted to charge my coach battery also during the night, so I switched the switched back to charge batt after shutting off the lights. This seemed like a waste of time and effort. Thanks for any helpful with this. Dennis in Ma.

[OrioN]

Hello...

Is this a 'new' problem? Or you just noticed this now?

Also, can you describe the pulse cycle?

Thanks!

[dfbergeron]

Hello,

Just noticed it. I forget to mention I had the unit plugged into shore power. The pulsing is constant. It is a steady increase and decrease in light intensity. The flourescent light fixtures work fine, the lights that have the incandescent bulbs pulse.

Thanks

[OrioN]

Hello,

Just noticed it. I forget to mention I had the unit plugged into shore power. The pulsing is constant. It is a steady increase and decrease in light intensity. The flourescent light fixtures work fine, the lights that have the incandescent bulbs pulse.

Thanks

It's possible that the voltage from the charger is rising and falling (pulsing) possibly to keep the battery bank in a specific (ie. float) charge state. Therefore the the bulbs are getting brighter and dimmer in tune. However, I have an invertor/charger, and the bulbs will different brightnesses depending on the system volts, but no 'pulsing'. I'm suspecting that there may be issue with the charger. Also, it's possible the shore power is 'bad' (ie. reverse polarity, etc.) and causing issue with the charger. Lastly, can you seeif some other equipment may be running that is drawing a pulsed current?

[CocoaVan]

Doesn't appear normal to me, either.
It sounds like you are not at the same location you experienced the problem. Can you duplicate this problem at home while plugged into shore power? If so, do you have any means to measure the actual voltage on the 12v side of the inverter while the voltage is going up and down? If so, tell us the voltage range. I keep a $20 Sears Digital Multimeter in the tool box just for such occasions. Can you take a similar voltage reading at a 120v outlet while plugged into shore power? That would tell us if the shore power voltage was fluctuating. But even if it was, your inverter/charger should be regulating the DC voltage better.
About how long does one "cycle" last?
Is the pulsating still noticeable when you turn on another load, such as the roof vent fan or the TV?
I imagine your refrigerator is running on 120v AC power while plugged into shore power, correct? I doubt its current draws would impact the inverter/charger, but just for grins, turn off the refrigerator to eliminate it as a trouble maker.
What brand/model of inverter/charger is in your Agile SS?
Do you have a generator on your Agile SS? If so, does the same pulsation occur when you switch over to generator power?

Brian

[dfbergeron]

Thanks for your input. The fridge was on Gas. The cylce was constant - bright-dim-bright-dim etc, it did the same while I ran the generator. Not sure of the brand of Inverter/Charger, will check. I will plug it in later today here at home and see if the source was bad.