What inverter failed?

BTW, I have had several KAWs fail on me. I always check any suspicious reading against my Fluke.

Hey Bill, are the fans on the inverter working? It would be quite possible that one or both of the fans have quit and the internal temperature rises which may effect the output voltage, On inverters usually the output stage(s) dies and blows fuses, increasing voltage with time isn't something I see often as a failure mode..

To update this thread.

I purchased and installed a XANTREX PROWATT SW2000 <> 2000W Pure Sinewave Inverter Model 806-1220 for 359.25 on Ebay.



It seems to work well and because it is a pure sinewave inverter, the microwave works better too.

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In regards to the failure of my free 17yr old Tripp-Lite 1800 Watt Inverter that was gifted to me by MWrench.(Thanks Ed! )

The fan motors worked and seemed fine when I was diagnosing it. I took the unit apart to see if there was something burnt or loose on the board. I saw the heat sensor strapped to a heat sink that would kick on the fan if it got too hot. I watched, and it did work when hot.

After leaving the Tripp-Lite 1800 hooked up for about 3 hours, I noticed that my A/C output went from 112 up to 130 volts. At this stage it appears that the inverter shuts itself off because it was pushing too many volts.

My only 120 draw was for the fridge and TV monitor. Nothing else was running at the time.

Have you used the Kill A Watt to measure the fridge's consumption over, say, 24 hours in summer?

quote:

Originally posted by bill h:
Have you used the Kill A Watt to measure the fridge's consumption over, say, 24 hours in summer?

You know what... I'll go out and do it right now for 48'ish hours and report what my usage is. It's supposed to be really hot this weekend and I'm sure it'll get a good workout.

I plugged in the Kill-A-Watt at 2:25 after reading the instructions.

If I lose power, it'll reset the reading and starts to accumulate the KWH's all over again.

Hopefully I won't loose power while running my "Refrigerator Kilowatt Hour Consumption Test" as I have the refrigerator plugged into shore power now.

Any pointers/suggestions Bill? I am using a "P4400 Kill A Watt"

quote:

Originally posted by Bill N.Y.:


Any pointers/suggestions Bill? I am using a "P4400 Kill A Watt"

That looks like the same one we have. I haven't used it for a while, other than for instantaneous current sampling, but, as I recall, things go pretty much like the instructions.

The 120V fridge I am considering is 9.7 cubic feet for $360 (10% less for vets) at Lowe's.

Best Buy has it for $400.

It is also sold as a GE, but it is really made by the Shanghai Fridge and Possum Trap Factory (Ltd), with different labels applied for different orders.

My only question is its total power consumption over the day, which will tell me how many more solar panels to add to my solar farm upstairs or how long I need to run the generator and aggravate the neighbors.

Bill, did you copy the yellow energy usage tag on the fridge when it was new? It gives annual usage in kwh.

This, figure, I would guess, includes the automatic defrost. When I had a perm fiver with two 120V fridges, they were used just for weekends or just a week at a time. With that usage in mind, I disabled the automatic defrost feature to save electricity. At that time, I did not take any measurements but I have an idea that the saving was considerable, and would affect our usage (on inverters) in RVs considerably.

Well, those of us with smaller battery banks, anyway.

Does the circuit diagram for your fridge tell you anything about the defroster circuit? As I remember, (30 years ago) it was a motor timer back then, and I just disconnected the timer motor.

I think that would be worth looking into. For our usage, I think I would eliminate the timer and have a manual switch so it would defrost as needed, and when the generator was running to power the microwave or whatever.

Maybe I'll hitch up the team and go to Lowe's tomorrow.

Here you go Bill, I found it. Slightly different part number than the tag, but this IS THE ONE that I own.
It's a GE# GMS10AAM

Complete Set Of Specs At This Link

GE 9.7 Cu. Ft. Manual Defrost Refrigerator

I am having trouble here. Yours is rated at 338 kwh per year and draws 1.65 amps, according to the tag inside.

The Lowes Whirlpool energy tag says 386 kwh per year, and the tag inside says 6.5 amps. I double-checked it. 6.5 amps.

Big difference.

I also noticed that the warranty has gone down to just 1 yr parts and labor. I wonder if that reflects that it is made in a different country than the one on the site you posted.

Lowe's also lists a GE fridge similar to yours for $569 that uses 386 kwh per year. My closest Lowe's didn't have that one for me to stick my head in and read the tag, so I have no idea what the (stated) amp draw is.

It also has just a simple one year parts and labor warranty.

quote:

Originally posted by bill h:
I am having trouble here. Yours is rated at 338 kwh per year and draws 1.65 amps, according to the tag inside.

Yep, that's is my tag.



That same tag states that it's manufactured in Mexico.

Unless you contact an appliance repair guy, or maybe GE themselves, I haven't a clue what the differences are. I just don't know why it says what it says.

I'll give you my KWH readings as this is actual usage for me. If anyone else might know why there seems to be a conflict, or might have a theory, I'd love to hear it.

quote:

Originally posted by Bill N.Y.:

quote:

Originally posted by bill h:
I am having trouble here. Yours is rated at 338 kwh per year and draws 1.65 amps, according to the tag inside.

That same tag states that it's manufactured in Mexico.

Perhaps the Chinese compressors are less efficient. Even so, that is really high.

quote:

Unless you contact an appliance repair guy,

I think the later ones are throwaways. No parts support.

quote:

or maybe GE themselves,

Scant hope there. GE doesn't make them. Just a GE label on a subbed-out product.

quote:

I haven't a clue what the differences are. I just don't know why it says what it says.

If anyone else might know why there seems to be a conflict, or might have a theory, I'd love to hear it.

My beer with dinner theory is that the high figure is compressor lockup amp draw and your figure is operating amp draw.

It looks like I gotta buy the darn thing and take my own measurements to really know.

6.5 amps for 24 hours 365 days a year reduced by .33 for duty cycle is still way higher than the stated kwh per year.

Using the Lowe's Whirlpool energy tag figure of 386 kwh per year: Divided by 365, that is 1.06 kwh per day, or 1060 watt hours per day. That works out to a daily replenishment of 2.6 hours of full output from a 405 watt solar array, neglecting efficiency losses.

quote:

Originally posted by Bill N.Y.:
To update this thread.

I purchased and installed a XANTREX PROWATT SW2000 <> 2000W Pure Sine wave Inverter Model 806-1220 for 359.25 on Ebay.

It seems to work well and because it is a pure sinewave inverter, the microwave works better too.

That will surely result in longer life of the microwave.

I just figured this out... The model of the fridge is a GMS10AAM

Here are the three models that pop up under this grouping...
> Model GMS10AAMRWW is a Right swing door.
> Model GMS10AAMLWW is a Left swing door.
> Model GMS10AAMBRWW is in my coach and it swings to the right.

The last 2 letters (WW) stand for White on White. I have no idea what the B stands for on mine? From what I can tell, it doesn't look like they made a GMS10AAMBLWW

All three of these models show up as having the same consumption and sizes. You might have better luck searching for these other model numbers Bill.