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©
2009 Magnum Energy Inc
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Maintenance and Troubleshooting
4.3 Troubleshooting
The MS Series inverter/charger is a fairly simple device to troubleshoot. There are only two active
circuits (AC and DC) as well as a charging circuit. The following chart is designed to help you
quickly pinpoint the most common inverter failures.
Table 4-1, Basic Troubleshooting
Symptom
Possible Cause
Recommended Solution
N o o u t p u t Po w e r.
Inverter LED is OFF
Inverter is Switch OFF
Switch the inverter ON.
Battery voltage is too low. The battery
voltage level has dropped below the
Low Battery Cutout (LBCO) set-point
for more than one minute.
Check fuses/circuit-breakers and cable connections.
Check battery voltage at the inverter’s terminals. Your
batteries may need to be charged, this fault condition
will automatically clear when the battery voltage exceeds
the LBCI voltage.
The battery voltage is too high. The
inverter automatically resets and
resumes operation when the battery
voltage drops to the HBCI voltage or
lower.
This condition usually occurs only when an additional
charging source (alternator, solar panels or other external
charging sources) is used to charge the battery bank.
Reduce or turn off any other charger to the inverter
batteries to allow the voltage level to drop.
Over-temperature condition: The
internal temperature of the inverter has
risen above acceptable limits; caused
by loads too great for the inverter to
operate continuously, or by lack of
ventilation to the inverter. When the
unit has cooled, it will automatically
reset and resume operation.
Reduce the number of electrical loads that you are
operating, this will avoid a repeat Overtemp shutdown
if the cause was too many loads for the ambient
conditions.
Check ventilation around the inverter, ensure cool air is
available to pass-thru the inverter (refer to the ventilation
requirements in section 2.3).
AC Overload condition: The inverter
has turned off because the connected
loads are larger than the inverters
output capacity or the output wires
are shorted.
Reduce the AC loads connected to the inverter or remove
all AC output wiring and restart the inverter.
Internal fault: This fault occurs when
an internal fault is detected.
To clear this fault, an inverter reset is required. Remove
DC power to the inverter or press and hold down the
power switch on the inverter for 15 seconds (until the
green Status LED comes on). If this fault does not clear,
the unit will need to be serviced.
N o o u t p u t p o w e r.
Green LED is
fl
ashing.
Unit is in “Search Mode”, which means
load is too small for search mode
circuit detection.
Turn on load greater than 5 watts to bring inverter to full
output power or turn off search with remote.
Low output or surge
power. Green LED is
fl
ashing.
Loose or corroded battery cables.
Clean and tighten all cables.
Low batteries.
Recharge or replace batteries.
Loose AC output connections.
Tighten AC output connections.
Battery cables are the wrong length
or gauge.
Verify recommended cable lengths and gauges from the
manual. Replace cables as necessary.
Low charging rate
when connected to AC
power.
Charge rate set too low.
Adjust charge rate or SHORE settings on remote.
Low AC voltage (< 90 VAC).
Check AC input wiring.
Low charging rate when
using a generator.
Generator output is too low to power
both load and charger.
Reduce the load, increase the generator’s RPMs.
Check the SHORE settings (if remote connected).
C h a r g e r d o e s n ’ t
charge.
Loose or corroded battery cables.
Clean and tighten battery cables.
Defective batteries.
Replace batteries.
Wrong charger settings.
Adjust the charger settings, ensure the unit is not in
charger standby.
Wrong AC input voltage.
Verify proper AC input voltage and frequency.
While charging, the
DC charge voltage is
higher or lower than
expected.
If the Battery Temperature Sensor
(BTS) is installed, the DC voltage will
increase or decrease depending on the
temperature around the BTS.
This is normal; see section 3.3 (Battery Temperature
Sensor Operation) for more information.
