RESOLVED: Battery-residential fridge

[Dawnnira]

Need help-brand new 2015 bighorn 3685rl...first trip out this weekend. Turned both battery power knobs on and hit master switch inside pantry for fridge. Green light on pantry switch panel went green, but fridge didnt get power? I went into the front compartment, inverter was reading "13.2 on" made sense...i reset gfi outlet that is wire in between the inverter and electrical box. The fridge power display and lights went on...but then when the unit fired the compressor to fire-it tripped the gfi again. After two more tries we left our groceries in the cooler for the short 45 minute drive to the campground. At the park the fridge worked flawlessly, however when we left we went back to battery power and looked to work. Surprise, when we got home the fridge was off again...does anyone have a clue? Im assuming the gfi is working right.

 

[danemayer]

Re: Battery-residential fridge

Hi Dawnnira,

I'd take a close look at the transfer switch where the inverter output and wiring from the circuit breaker panel come together. The output goes to the refrigerator. Make sure nothing in the area is wet. GFIs trip when the current on the neutral wire doesn't match the current on the hot wire, indicating that some current is leaking to ground. A loose wire, or water leak, or bad contact in the transfer switch might all account for a GFI trip. Or the GFI outlet might be the problem.

If you don't find anything that looks problematic, you may have to get a tech with electrical experience to diagnose what needs to be done/which part to replace.

If you're not sure which component is which, take a look at our Residential Refrigerator Guide. At the back you'll find a component layout and a block diagram of the electrical.

 

[fredwrichardson]

Re: Battery-residential fridge

Need help-brand new 2015 bighorn 3685rl...first trip out this weekend. Turned both battery power knobs on and hit master switch inside pantry for fridge. Green light on pantry switch panel went green, but fridge didnt get power? I went into the front compartment, inverter was reading "13.2 on" made sense...i reset gfi outlet that is wire in between the inverter and electrical box. The fridge power display and lights went on...but then when the unit fired the compressor to fire-it tripped the gfi again. After two more tries we left our groceries in the cooler for the short 45 minute drive to the campground. At the park the fridge worked flawlessly, however when we left we went back to battery power and looked to work. Surprise, when we got home the fridge was off again...does anyone have a clue? Im assuming the gfi is working right.

Looks like the GFI works fine when you are on shore power but trips when you are on the inverter. I assume the only thing that is on the inverter is the refrigerator? I would try unplugging the refrigerator from the GFI outlet and try plugging in something else that draws some current. If it trips the GFI then your issues is with the inverter or how the inverter was wired into the circuit.

 

[fredwrichardson]

Re: Battery-residential fridge

What model refrigerator do you have? There was an issue with the Samsung (the one I have) and the size inverter that was being used by Heartland. Samsung changed their compressor motor and the new motor was drawing to much power for the inverter. Because of this Heartland stop using the Samsung refrigerators. Not sure if this relates to your problem but it is another data point to look at.

 

[fredwrichardson]

Re: Battery-residential fridge

Disregard my last post. The Samsung problem was fixed a year ago and had nothing to do with GFI tripping.

 

[fredwrichardson]

Re: Battery-residential fridge

I came across a similar problem on another forum. It looks like you need to make sure that the DC ground and AC ground are connected or it can trip the GFI breaker. Again not sure if this is your issue but that would be a very easy thing to check.

 

[rpotter]

Re: Battery-residential fridge

Had the same problem with my 2015 3570rs with the Samsung residential fridge. Heartland service said it was an issue where Samsung had increased the compressor size in the latest fridges causing the GFI to trip on the inverter every time the fridge started up on battery. Heartland sent me an identical inverter but said it was re-programmed to allow for the new higher momentary draw during the fridge startup. After installing the replacement inverter the fridge came up on battery ok and the new inverter GFI didn't trip. Problem solved.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[danemayer]

Re: Battery-residential fridge

As I recall, in the cases where the refrigerator compressors had been changed by their manufacturers, the inverters would shut off with an error code. A firmware change on the inverter fixed the problem. I don't recall any of those compressor/inverter issues causing a GFI to trip.

 

[rpotter]

Re: Battery-residential fridge

As I recall, in the cases where the refrigerator compressors had been changed by their manufacturers, the inverters would shut off with an error code. A firmware change on the inverter fixed the problem. I don't recall any of those compressor/inverter issues causing a GFI to trip.

There is a GFI in the bottom of the inverter itself which is what would trip on mine due to the current surge during fridge startup. I would reset that GFI and it would happen every time i tried to switch the fridge over to battery. Once they replaced the inverter with the identical model with some sort of mod the problem was solved. I didn't notice an error code but then again i was really looking for one at the time.

 

[Bones]

Re: Battery-residential fridge

Have you tried measuring your refrigerator load when it starts? Amp draw and compare it to the specs on the inside of the fridge. I traced my problem to a bad compressor. My inverter would overload with E6 code but ran on AC. Further investigation revealed that the refrigerator was not cooling down and would short cycle. It wouldn't even freeze ice. Turned out the compressor was bad. Everything is fixed now and running well.

 

[Dawnnira]

Re: Battery-residential fridge

Maybe ill give service a call after i check it out furthur this weekend

 

[Dawnnira]

Re: Battery-residential fridge

If it wasnt connected good wouldt it effect operation while running on ac power?

 

[fredwrichardson]

Re: Battery-residential fridge

If it wasnt connected good wouldt it effect operation while running on ac power?

The refrigerator runs fine on shore power and the GFI outlet works fine on shore power. I am pretty sure the issue is either with the inverter, converter or batteries.

 

[Possum51]

Re: Battery-residential fridge

We have a 2015 Heartland Landmark and had the same problem. We called Heartland and gave them our vin# and they said during the time some bad invertors were installed. They sent another one to our dealer so they could install it. Problem was solved!

 

[justafordguy]

Re: Battery-residential fridge

Had the same inverter problem on our Gateway. Called Heartland and they sent me a new inverter and it works great now.

 

[Dawnnira]

Re: Battery-residential fridge

Good news! Called heartland, they checked my vin and sent out a new inverter. After the five minute change out we went camping...new unit worked great. Thank you for everyone's feedback, much appreciated.