Inverter / charger showing AC abnormal

[jjhwick119]

Anybody have this problem, or know possible remedies to fix it? Finally got all of my electrical wired up, but the inverter, which has power, will not turn on the inverter part of it to power my loads and I cant figure out why.

The only thing in the manual regarding this states ac abnormal means the ac input is not qualified.

I disconnected all outputs to see if it was shorting the unit, no change.
Dip switches seem to be set right, played with them just in case and still no change.

Sungoldpower 3000w inverter / charger (similar to aims
100a load center
Nissan leaf batteries wired to 24volts.

Any thoughts? My guess is that theres some sort of setting I'm just not aware of and cant find, or the inverter is broke, which aucks because I bought it well over a year ago and just not got it installed. Been sitting in my closet at home the whole time

Gfci outlet on the unit has a small flashing green light
On board circuit breakers are not tripped

[somewhereinusa]

Have you tried plugging into a different AC power source? Inverter generators will cause this the problem is neutral isn't bonded in that case. Maybe something similar?

[jjhwick119]

I'm not plugged into anything. It's hooked up to my batteries and nothing else with no other input. I thought it was supposed to pull from my batteries and convert it to AC output for 120v loads. Maybe i misunderstood that?

edit for clarification -
My solar panels are wired to charge controller, then to batteries. That all works fine.
Cables running from batteries to inverter/charger
output from inverter wired into load center

that's what is wired up right now. I had a shore plug wired into the input of the inverter/charger, but that is disconnected right now while i was troubleshooting and was never actually hooked up to power anyway. just prepping for the future as I intend to mostly boondock off solar

[jjhwick119]

Originally Posted by somewhereinusa

Inverter generators will cause this the problem is neutral isn't bonded in that case. Maybe something similar?

I did not do a neutral to ground bond in the load center because I read that that will be in the shore power plug at rv park and you dont want it bonded in 2 places. Also read that it shouldn't be done in an RV to avoid hot skin possibility.
Inveter chasis is grounded to the bus though (clear cable on the back below main 24v input)

[Drew Bru]

Might be a silly question, but did you test the gfci outlet to see if its got power? It looks a lot like an Aims inverter, which we had until it crapped out on us after less than a year in use. If nothing else, call tech support and see if they can help. There was a reset procedure for our inverter, but it didn't solve the problem we were having.
Edit: oh, also our power saver mode was broken right out of the box, so maybe you've got something like that going on?

[jjhwick119]

Originally Posted by Drew Bru

Might be a silly question, but did you test the gfci outlet to see if its got power? It looks a lot like an Aims inverter, which we had until it crapped out on us after less than a year in use. If nothing else, call tech support and see if they can help. There was a reset procedure for our inverter, but it didn't solve the problem we were having.

Yes i did. I disconnected the load center wiring so nothing was hooked up and tried plugging straight into the gfci and got nothing.

so basically only the batteries are hooked up to the inverter, inverter chasis ground lug is grounded to the bus, and the inverter still won't turn out to output AC

[BlackJohn]

Not sure I am following the pics here. Is the cable, 3wire from the inverter feeding the main distribution panel? It is coming off the output side of that termination block. Labeling is what confuses me,



Thinking that should be your AC power should be on the terminals just to the left of where you have them. To me that looks like where the AC power would exit the inverter even though it is marked input Could mean the input for/to your main panel.
Test that side for power with a meter for 120v.
If powered like the outlet then you are in business. Hard to say without a drawing or better pics showing all your setup and connections.
Your romex into the main panel leaves much to be desired, each one should be in a separate connector to secure each cable. Too many sharp edges just putting them through a knockout, fire hazard you do not need.


The power saver setting I would have off until you sort things out.



John

[Ninjakitty]

Did you try power saver off?

I only ask because it shows you have the unit turned onto shore power/battery charger.

[Drew Bru]

Originally Posted by BlackJohn

Labeling is what confuses me,

Thinking that should be your AC power should be on the terminals just to the left of where you have them. To me that looks like where the AC power would exit the inverter even though it is marked input Could mean the input for/to your main panel.

The power saver setting I would have off until you sort things out.



John

It looks like it's wired up the same as my Aims, with the right side wired to the breaker box. The input side is for the 30A service/charger side of it. I'd start with disconnecting the AC wiring, shut off the power-saver (which was not functioning on our Aims inverter) and try the GFCI outlet on the box. If that doesn't solve it, call Tech support.

[BlackJohn]

Originally Posted by Drew Bru

It looks like it's wired up the same as my Aims, with the right side wired to the breaker box. The input side is for the 30A service/charger side of it. I'd start with disconnecting the AC wiring, shut off the power-saver (which was not functioning on our Aims inverter) and try the GFCI outlet on the box. If that doesn't solve it, call Tech support.

This is helpful Drew thanks.


John

[jjhwick119]

Originally Posted by BlackJohn

Not sure I am following the pics here. Is the cable, 3wire from the inverter feeding the main distribution panel? It is coming off the output side of that termination block. Labeling is what confuses me,



Thinking that should be your AC power should be on the terminals just to the left of where you have them. To me that looks like where the AC power would exit the inverter even though it is marked input Could mean the input for/to your main panel.
Test that side for power with a meter for 120v.
If powered like the outlet then you are in business. Hard to say without a drawing or better pics showing all your setup and connections.
Your romex into the main panel leaves much to be desired, each one should be in a separate connector to secure each cable. Too many sharp edges just putting them through a knockout, fire hazard you do not need.


The power saver setting I would have off until you sort things out.



John

Yes, that is my wiring going to the load center, not AC power input. I'm trying to to get the inverter to pull power from the batteries to operate the 120v loads.
Right now I do not have any incoming AC power. Primary use will be boondocking and running everything off of my solar and batteries.
Even with all the AC wiring disconnected, with the inverter only hooked up to my battery bank, the GFCI on the unit still does not output any power. All I get is ac abnormal with no output on terminals or gfci outlet built in to unit.

I have flipped the switch in and out of power saving with no change.

Also, I fully intend to improve the wiring in the system. This was me trying to get everything hooked up and tested. I will be getting proper fittings put on where the wiring goes into the breaker box. My bus just sits in storage right now and did not have those parts on hand to install immediately. they will be protected before the bus is in use and i disconnect all electrical breakers before leaving the bus so no power is running through the wiring until it's done.
Did you mean don't run 2 cables through the same opening? only 1 cable through each knockout?

[jjhwick119]

Originally Posted by Ninjakitty

Did you try power saver off?

I only ask because it shows you have the unit turned onto shore power/battery charger.

The shore power / charging light by the switch is not lit up so I don't think it's in shore power mode. I changed the dip switch to battery priority as well since that's all I have to power it for now with no change. The unit powers up, but inverter does not turn on

[BlackJohn]

Did you mean don't run 2 cables through the same opening? Only 1 cable through each knockout? Yes, one knockout, one cable with connector.


Don't have many other thoughts right now, is the inverter getting 24v dc in trying this testing out?


John

[jjhwick119]

Originally Posted by BlackJohn

Did you mean don't run 2 cables through the same opening? Only 1 cable through each knockout? Yes, one knockout, one cable with connector.


Don't have many other thoughts right now, is the inverter getting 24v dc in trying this testing out?


John

Yes, the inverter is getting 24v. It's showing 24v on the display (alternates between 3 different screens, i only snapped pictures of 2), and I metered the wires at the terminals to confirm it is getting the right power. That's why I think the inverter might just have something wrong with it.

After the first test and nothing worked i disconnected all ac wiring to shore plug and load center so it was only connected to the batteries and tested the gfci, thinking something may have been shorting it out, but no luck. I've never used an inverter/charger before, but everything I know about regular inverters tells me that with the batteries hooked up to it and the chasis grounded to the bus that should be all it needs to work. That's why i don't understand what "ac input not qualified" means. I have no ac input because It's not currently being used as a charger or from shore power

[Ninjakitty]

Originally Posted by jjhwick119

The shore power / charging light by the switch is not lit up so I don't think it's in shore power mode. I changed the dip switch to battery priority as well since that's all I have to power it for now with no change. The unit powers up, but inverter does not turn on

I just mean, did you turn the power switch on the inverter so that o3t has the two lines down, in battery saver off mode?

I imagine you flipped the power switch every which way, but sometimes its easy to overlook something when things aren't working.

[john61ct]

Maybe it wants to see good input from AC as part of a first-time boot init sequence?

guessing

[Ninjakitty]

Like this. Im plugged in, but mostly run it with just inverter on, so it keeps my fridge going.
Attachment 41185

[jjhwick119]

Originally Posted by Ninjakitty

Like this. Im plugged in, but mostly run it with just inverter on, so it keeps my fridge going.
Attachment 41185

Showing invalid link when I click, but yes i did flip the switch down so it wasn't in power saver mode. I tried like 10 different things with switch in both positions.

Next time I'm out there with the unit I'll try and call up tech support to see if they have any input on it. My car broke down on the way home from the bus last night so I'm kinda stuck at the moment

[jjhwick119]

Originally Posted by john61ct

Maybe it wants to see good input from AC as part of a first-time boot init sequence?

guessing

I can try that too. I have a 30 amp cable i can plug into generator through shore power, just have to make a grounding rod for the generator.

[Ninjakitty]

Originally Posted by john61ct

Maybe it wants to see good input from AC as part of a first-time boot init sequence?

guessing

I think this may be the issue, only thinking this because of the manual. Here in pic 1, it shows it will read ac abnormal when ac input is not qualified.

Also, I would put switch 5 to position 1 (battery priority).

I would turn the power saver off and try again. If that doesn't work, Id grab a 30 amp inlet and try it off your genny and see what that does.