wiring diagram

[berghild]

Does anyone have a wiring diagram for a 36TK3...ours is a 2007. We have blown 400 amp fuses....we have a short or some kind of wiring problem. We are concerned about fire! DT is on the phone now and doesn't want to give us the diagram! I want to be a samrt ass and tell em we'll call them when the fire starts!

[Motor31]

IIRC they don't have a wiring diagram since they have so many options.

Do you have any idea what circuit is the problem area? Is it a 12 volt or 120 volt circuit?

I take it that going to a service center of some type is out of the question.

[berghild]

it is 120 volt

[Motor31]

If the converter / inverter is out of the system do you still have the short?

[rdunk]

Have you checked the current draw on each 120v power leg? One leg could be overloaded - like maybe both A/C's on the same leg. Our MS was wired with both A/C's on the same leg. Didn't blow any fuses, just melted the 50 amp cable connector, and melted our surge proterctor.

[berghild]

will check on both of those. i don't know what you mean about the inverter. when the fuse blows sometimes we have the inverter enabled I really don't know if it has blown with inverter disabled. I should keep a log.

[RodeWorthy]

Cyndy,
I believe you meant to say the problem is in the low voltage 12VDC -not 120V. That big fuse is in the +12V line between the battery and the inverter.

[berghild]

the problems seems to be on the 12 volt side...not the 120 from the post.
i am more convinced that you guys iknow more thatn the service tech....he wanted to go through the wire and rewire some stuff and the gave us bum advice about the inverter....and one guy opened up the door and said "Wow, I've never seen one of these before...that visit cost about $160.00.

[shergry]

Have been looking to see if anyone else thought of this problem. Do you have 1 or at least 2 gauge wire between the battery connection and your inverter? And the length of the wire needs to be no more than 4 to 6 feet. If you are over length of 6 feet that can also cause blowing from under gauge wire.
You have to go from the battery with the positive side being fused to the inverter.
Under gauge wire or over length wire can cause of the inverter fuse, if the load is too much.
Just asking...are you trying to run your whole rig off the battery/inverter? If this be the case...only thought was solar power.

[berghild]

no we are running on shore power. will check and see about wire.

[RodeWorthy]

Have been looking to see if anyone else thought of this problem. Do you have 1 or at least 2 gauge wire between the battery connection and your inverter? And the length of the wire needs to be no more than 4 to 6 feet. If you are over length of 6 feet that can also cause blowing from under gauge wire.
You have to go from the battery with the positive side being fused to the inverter.
Under gauge wire or over length wire can cause of the inverter fuse, if the load is too much.
Just asking...are you trying to run your whole rig off the battery/inverter? If this be the case...only thought was solar power.

For clarification:

The wire used between battery bank and the inverter is the minimum recommended 4/0 cable size. Length is less than 4 feet in Cyndy's installation. I have modified mine to run the negative 4/0 cable from the inverter to the opposite battery bank to get better battery charging. This has added a few feet to the cable length but it is still within spec.

The specification is maximum of 10 feet (3m) one way or a total of 20 ft (6m).

The main fuse is in the positive cable and is closer to the inverter than the battery but still within specification. Both of us have changed out the fuse that Doubletree installed. We are now using the recommended (by Xantrex) Class T holder with 400A fuse. I have never blown a fuse. Howard and Cyndy have lost several and at different campgrounds.

Doubletree should not have stated the system can only be used on 50A. That is not true. The xantrex specification is 5 to 50A and can be programmed in 5A increments to match the breaker setting on the AC input. This configures the Power Share which optimizes the amount of power used for charging batteries and supplying house current. When connected to a 30A outlet this setting should be set to 30A.

The RS3000 has a 50A pass through rating but this is not a practical value for running the house given the size of the battery bank available and of course the limit of the DC fuse. 50A at 120VAC translates to 500A at 12VDC.

My practice is to run the inverter in disabled mode. If a power failure should occur and I need AC power, I turn off all unnecessary AC loads including all air conditioning and only then enable the inverter. I am not sure what happens if a power failure occurs under heavy AC load with the inverter enabled. I have to believe there are safeguards against this scenario too but I don't know.

There seems to be a serious flaw in the system installed in Howard and Cyndy's trailer that is causing catastrophic failures of a fuse that should never blow. All normal loads are protected by fused circuits that would blow. I suspect a short circuit in the DC wiring somewhere or a defect in the inverter itself. It may even be possible for a defective (shorted?) AC circuit to cause full current flow through the inverter which, as shown above, would blow the main DC fuse.

[bstark]

Good informative stuff!

Careful there Don; your propensity to research things thoroughly is going to make you a GURU on all things with electrons flowing through them, haaaaar!

[BobW]

If you are over length of 6 feet that can also cause blowing from under gauge wire.
Under gauge wire or over length wire can cause of the inverter fuse, if the load is too much.
.

I'm not so sure about that. A wire under rated should not blow a fuse, it will burn the wire, not blow the fuse. A blown fuse is caused from excess amperage. If, let's say, the wire is smaller than the fuse, the wire will fail first causing melting of the insulation and burning. Think of what a fuse is. It's a link that is smaller that the circuit it occupies. Also the longer the wire is changes it's resistance. This will also heat up the wire and not blow a fuse. This is a big problem in homes, where a person adds a larger breaker to the fuse panel. Of corse the breaker won't go off. But the wiring will be heated up and acts as the weak link.

[shergry]

The lower the guage number the higher electrical current it can handle.
Yes, there is a serious problem. Hope you get it fixed by a trained electrician.
When the inverter is on and the shore power is on is there is a safety feature that disconnects the inverter so that shore power does not feed to the output of the inverter? Example: just as a generator has a tranfer switch. Again, just asking berghild.

[berghild]

i have no idea about the safety feature that you mentioned.

but i am not ging to leave it enabled.anyway....i think that is when we have problems.....

[RodeWorthy]

Cyndy,
You can tell Gary the xantrex RS3000 has a built in transfer switch. Switch time from utility to invert function is 20 ms. Transfer voltage is 90VAC on the low side and 135 VAC on the high. But I am not answering him. You tell him :) :)

[shergry]

Funny.
I can read...thanks, Cyndy.
:) :)

[berghild]

okay that went right over my head....I don't even WANT to understand all this stuff. Blows my mind how yur people can retain all this technical jargon!