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Saturday, November 28, 2009

Trace Inverter & Battery Problem Solved

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In yesterdays blog I mentioned I might be having problems with the inverter not maintaining the house batteries. As the evening progressed my battery voltage went from 12.7 volts to 11.0 volts right before going to bed. We were up at our usual time 6:15 am and after breakfast I opened up the battery compartment to get the numbers off the house batteries as we were preparing ourselves to buy four new ones. As I looked down the cable from the inverter fuse block to the positive post on the first house battery was just dangling. The connector was still on the post.
So, that's my problem a loose connection that was made worse when I pulled out the battery tray. This short connector cable of all things is slightly bigger than 3/0 cable and it is stranded not solid. I do not understand why something like this had to be so big. In  looking at the connector still on the battery positive post you could see right a way the original crimping job was not adequate. Now the next job would be where in the world am I going to find a connector that would handle this large cable. The two auto part stores in Canton did not have one that big. Even if they had one I did not have a tool that would even begin to crimp the new connector.

So, we started looking at the Yellow Pages on Sandy’s Iphone which listed a Car Quest Auto Parts house on Hwy 64. We drove over to it and they happen to have a connector that just would fit the 3/0 cable. I did have to cut off some of the strands. Now would I be able to crimp the connector on. Nope nothing in my tool box would do the trick. So, I proceeded to remove the cable from the fuse link and we went back to Car Quest. They did not have a tool neither but the counter guy let me borrow his vise where I was able to get the crimping job done. I believe this temporary fix will hold up until I can purchase the proper cable with good factory crimps. We have house batteries now and they are back up to 13.4 volts. Hey… Mark I sure missed having you around for the other eye. Mark is with RVing with Poppa and when he was around I always depended upon him for things like this. Had a few problems but thanks to Sandy I was able to get-r-done.

image Sandy has started putting out a few Christmas decorations. This is her steering wheel table. The plant is a Christmas Cactus and its blossoms have started popping. A pretty little plant. The picture happens to be her brother James and her when they were little people.

It looks like this might be a typical December Canton as we do not have as many RVers in the RV spaces at this time of the week. Usually if you are going to have a good crowd this is our first indicator. But, you never know about Canton.

Until next time….MtnAire Travlers.

!cid_F4078076AA3D4676B1D7BC741CA84ABB@carol9lphphxo7 I just can't imagine what this little fellow is thinking.
(Click all photos to enlarge)

3 comments:

  1. I'm glad it was just a simple thing like a cable connection, Weldon, even though you had a lot of running around to do to get it fixed. Good idea to plan on getting a new cable too, because things like that, if not eliminated, will more than likely come back to haunt you - at least, they always do for me!!

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  2. We have a Trace inverter as well, 2solar panels, & 4 house batteries but that's about all I know about it. I find it all too complicated to understand. So far everything is working great. Had our system installed 2 years ago by Solar Mike in Slab City, California.

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  3. Gosh, we feel left out! No solar panels, no Trace Inverter, no 3/0 cable. Just plug into the pedestal and hope everything works. Good for you for solving your problem, if only for the time being!

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