Hi, 

I'm running a Motomaster 1000w pure sin wave inverter on a solar system, and it's working great..

I decided to install a shower system using a flojet 03526144 pump (7.8a @ 12v under 30psi) and when I turn it on, it "trips" the inverter (shuts off, I can turn it off and on and it works again). Is my inverter just not robust enough to handle the pump?

 

Thank you.

41 minutes ago, Buckworth said:

when I turn it on, it "trips" the inverter

I assume the inverter is a 12V inverter, and the pump is also 12V. Would I be right to assume you're running the pump directly from the battery? If yes, then it is not a case of the inverter being overloaded, so it must be a case of low battery voltage, at least when it starts. That means you need to look at the battery capacity, cabling, things like that that cause voltage drops.

1 hour ago, plonkster said:

I assume the inverter is a 12V inverter, and the pump is also 12V. Would I be right to assume you're running the pump directly from the battery? If yes, then it is not a case of the inverter being overloaded, so it must be a case of low battery voltage, at least when it starts. That means you need to look at the battery capacity, cabling, things like that that cause voltage drops.

 

Thank you for your reply,

Yes the inverter is 12v. No, the pump is plugged directly into an outlet on the inverter.

Buckworth,

flojet 03526144  is 12V DC device (https://www.rvupgradestore.com/FloJet-Triplex-Water-Pump-p/86-8320.htm)

Therefore, the pump should be connected to the battery circitut directly and not via inverter.

If you connect 12V pump to the 230V outlet of the inverter, then it's obvious that something is gonna trip (breaker or a protection circuit). Not to mention that pump might explode...or burn at least.

Can you doublecheck that wiring, please?

Edited July 21, 20186 yr by Youda

2 hours ago, Youda said:

Buckworth,

flojet 03526144  is 12V DC device (https://www.rvupgradestore.com/FloJet-Triplex-Water-Pump-p/86-8320.htm)

Therefore, the pump should be connected to the battery circitut directly and not via inverter.

If you connect 12V pump to the 230V outlet of the inverter, then it's obvious that something is gonna trip (breaker or a protection circuit). Not to mention that pump might explode...or burn at least.

Can you doublecheck that wiring, please?

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer.

Wow...thank you for that info...I get so in the weeds I mix up DC and AC. Not good. So I should have the pump wired directly to a deep cycle battery in the battery bank?

 

Thanks again.

Fist of all, go and check the sticker on your pump.

If it says "12 Volts DC", like the sticker on the enclosed picture, then the pump does not need an inverter at all. In that case, try to power it directly from 12V battery.

9 hours ago, plonkster said:

I assume the inverter is a 12V inverter,

Dodgy assumption!

4 hours ago, Buckworth said:

So I should have the pump wired directly to a deep cycle battery in the battery bank

Hold on before doing that!

If your inverter DC input is 12V as assumed by @plonkster then yes, but I dont recall you stating the DC input voltage of your inverter. If it is 24V then the answewr is NO! Please let us know your inverter DC input voltage for a correct answer.

Edited July 21, 20186 yr by pilotfish

6 minutes ago, pilotfish said:

Dodgy assumption!

I did google for that model, it brought up only 12V results :-) Truth be told, it's Chinese, and the Chinese models tend to be... well... optimistically rated. This one is rated 1000VA, so 12V is a reasonable assumption, as long as you state that this is your assumption.

But you're right. Better read the labels on everything. Ask TTT :-)

10 hours ago, Buckworth said:

I get so in the weeds I mix up DC and AC.

Jip, have done that too. And 12v DC with 24v DC ... not good idea. Labels, gmpf, that assumes you can read, there are for the informed. 

@Buckworth are you trying to unseat me on top of the "Do not do that" list on how to blow electrical things up? 

21 hours ago, The Terrible Triplett said:

 

@Buckworth are you trying to unseat me on top of the "Do not do that" list on how to blow electrical things up? 

 TTT you're a treat

Smoke not always bad TTT

On 2018/07/22 at 12:51 PM, Chris Hobson said:

 TTT you're a treat

I am to please.

Have done some seriously stupid things, have to get SOME mileage out of that.

So no more regrets, nor feeling embarrassed, just a lot of laughs ... does wonders AND teaches some of the finer, less obvious points, to boot.  

21 hours ago, Chris Louw said:

Smoke not always bad TTT

That was well played! 

BIG BIG secret , Most of us have made smoke only the very brave admit

1 hour ago, Chris Louw said:

BIG BIG secret , Most of us have made smoke only the very brave admit

SHARE!!! 

TTT seems we are alone in this . A 10Amp 12 volt charge controler wiring gone wrong can fill a room with best white smoke ever seen . I scarred for life , I now always check the polarity  does not matter what the color of the wire is . Please keep the crown .

1 hour ago, Chris Louw said:

TTT seems we are alone in this .

Jip, we are.

 

1 hour ago, Chris Louw said:

... fill a room with best white smoke ever seen ...

Most recent. 12v Victron inverter on a 24v battery bank ... awesome smoke! Got an idea, jumped up and promptly did it ... till the smoke stopped my idea cold, or is that hot?

24v and 2 wire electrical cord (volt sensor power). Had to wait for it to finish burning.   
Hands where quite painfully burnt trying to jerk them lose ... scissors scarred for life, wife still asking about her scissors. Truth be told, smoke was even better than the Victron episode. 

Then there are a panel and some controllers and quite a UPS'es, all gone.

I have done a couple of silly things but it seems that despite the perception that the other inverter is not up to scratch I have not managed to emit smoke. The closest I have come was not my fault at all. During a thunderstorm there was a bright flash from the bottom of the inverter and a spider web of flashes and arcing between the inverter and the DB board. The inverter immediately went into fault mode with a high pitched alarm. After recovering my senses I gingerly switched the inverter off and on and it still works.

3 hours ago, The Terrible Triplett said:

Jip, we are.

I only let the smoke out of a little 35V buck converter recently. That might have been my fault, though it was supposed to have current limiting on it, so it wasn't supposed to do that. I also let the smoke out of a Microcare MPPT, but that too happened in such a weird place that I'm sure it wasn't something I did. I haven't fried anything blue yet.

2 hours ago, Chris Hobson said:

I have not managed to emit smoke.

Try harder. 

3 minutes ago, plonkster said:

That might have been my fault, ... I'm sure it wasn't something I did.

Then you are disqualified on the spot, it is or it is not. :-) 

3 minutes ago, plonkster said:

I haven't fried anything blue yet.

I call CHICKEN! 

1 minute ago, The Terrible Triplett said:

I call CHICKEN! 

It's not entirely from lack of trying. I had a 100/15 charge controller on hugely oversized array, ran that thing so hot you could smell it. It's still here.

The one thing I pop regularly is the 15A fuse on my car's cigarette lighter. Whenever I inflate wheels with the electric 12V inflator. I carry spares but getting into the foot well of the car is such a pain that I plan on retrofitting clamps onto the cables.

9 minutes ago, plonkster said:

It's not entirely from lack of trying. I had a 100/15 charge controller on hugely oversized array, ran that thing so hot you could smell it. It's still here.

The one thing I pop regularly is the 15A fuse on my car's cigarette lighter. Whenever I inflate wheels with the electric 12V inflator. I carry spares but getting into the foot well of the car is such a pain that I plan on retrofitting clamps onto the cables.

Still calling CHICKEN! Try harder. :-) 

2 hours ago, Chris Hobson said:

... a bright flash from the bottom of the inverter and a spider web of flashes and arcing between the inverter and the DB board. ...  and it still works.

This is how I envisage a lightning strike on my solar system ... and my Phoenix inverter afterwards ... still working, obviously.

Edited July 23, 20186 yr by Guest

I started work in a TV repair shop back when I still had hair. Oh did I make smoke , oh did I make smoke. Nothing cures a hangover quite like removing the HT lollypop without discharging the CRT or fitting the mains cap back to front. How I miss those days. Not really, the big old Sony's and Philips sets were heavy brutes to move around .

The amount of times I did work without adding a proper fuse...

A few months ago, I revisted such an "install" on the farm. We had a 12V battery in a box for powering the two-way radio. On the opposite side of the room, we had a small radio and amplifier that had to be powered from 9V or something. So we rigged up a little LM317 chip to drop the voltage a bit, and threw some flex across the ceiling from the 12V battery to this little device. Worked fine for years... but on this day, as we decommissioned this setup (the two-way radio was long gone), I realised we never had a fuse on that wire. A short would have meant a couple hundred amps on a wire rated for maybe 10... across the ceiling. In my defence, I was young. I cannot even remember when we did that... must have been high school, cause I knew about the LM317.

On my father in law's farm there is this tractor. Found that it has two fuses in the fuse box, one appears entirely unconnected and the lights always work regardless of what fuse you pull. Seems somewhere in the past, someone fixed the lights by just putting in a new wire directly to the switch. The oil-indicator lamp was on permanently and for reasons I still don't get the cable going to it was on entirely the wrong side of the engine. I had nothing to do with this one, but it is another example of smoke-ready things standing in sheds on farms all over the place... and not going off.

I am more thankful for smoke I did not release. Way way more thankful.

TTT you're still an amateur.