Power Drain - 2007 Great West Legend with Prosine 2.0 Inverter

I just purchased a 2007 Great West Legend with a Xantrex Prosine 2.0 inverter. When running the inverter, with no load (all 120V breakers off) it still says it is outputting 8 amps at 120V and pulling about 80 amps from the coach batteries. That is like 1000W, but nothing seems to be getting hot and there is no smoke. Could it be that the converter, going from 120V back to 12V is connected after the Prosine? Could the Prosine be inverting 1000W from 12V to 120V, and then the converter takes that 120V and converts it back to 12V again and pushes it back to the battery? Should the converter be connected before the Prosine, so it is only working if on shore or gen power? Any other ideas about what may be happening? If the generator or shore power is present, the inverter shuts off and passes the power through as it should. With the breakers off in this case, there is no measurable load.

There are a few other electrical issues with this van, there is a drain on the engine battery and they just added a battery cutoff and lived with it. So, the installers of this stuff may be suspect. It may have been a few owners ago, but I want to fix it. Any suggestions welcome.

Mark

I bought a DC clamp meter, an Extech AC/DC clamp meter, 380950. Other brands of course will also work.

The reason I bought it is that it can measure relatively low currents like you are trying to find, and you don't need to disconnect anything to measure what is going on inside of a wire.

Your idea that the converter could be pulling in power and sending it into a loop is entirely possible, (but not correct) depending on how it is wired. I guess an easy way to tell would be to unplug a few things and see what changes

Is there any chance that a heater is on, such as a storage bin / gray water freeze protector or water tank heater?

I assume that you don't have a Rixens/Espar hydronic heating system on a van that old. I ask, because if you do, there is a 120VAC heating element in the expansion tank.

In any event, showing a load with all the breakers off is certainly a red flag. I would not ignore that one.

avanti said:

I assume that you don't have a Rixens/Espar hydronic heating system on a van that old. I ask, because if you do, there is a 120VAC heating element in the expansion tank.

In any event, showing a load with all the breakers off is certainly a red flag. I would not ignore that one.

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I just got it and there was no mention of a hydronic heating system.

The wiring is suspect because I found other errors that I corrected.

I do have a clamp on meter, and yes I will have to tear into it and probably disconnect some things to figure this out. 1000W is going somewhere. I know I better find it! Thanks everyone for the suggestions.

Mark

Re: Power Drain - 2007 Great West Legend with Prosine 2.0 Inverter - Solved

I believe the problem is solved, more or less. I unplugged the converter as it seems to not be needed.

I fixed the corroded fuse holder on the solenoid that connects the engine battery to the house batteries when the engine is running and it charges the house batteries when the engine is running.

The Prosine 2.0 Inverter / Charger will charge the house batteries when there is AC, shore power or genset, and it can be switched on or off from the control panel. It will generate AC from battery power when there is no AC input. That can also be switched on or off from the control panel. It automatically picks one, inverting or charging, depending if there is an AC input.

I added a Morningstar solar charge controller and set the battery charging thresholds to the same as the Prosine 2.0..

Everything seems to play together well in all combinations I tried. You can even enable all three and the Prosine and Morningstar will help charge depending on the battery voltage. It appears that they both can charge at the same time also.

As an aside, I used a good set of crimpers for small wires and a hydraulic hex crimper for battery lugs and they came out very well, highly recommended. The crimps on the existing battery lugs on the house batteries are lousy and will have to be replaced eventually. I am not that thrilled with the quality of workmanship in the electrical systems. Not sure who did the installs.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions.

Mark