RV Solar System Question

[RVRoadramblers]

Hello,

I am searching for information that might help me to figure out what might be going on with the solar system that we had installed on our RV. Without much knowledge, it has been difficult to diagnose, if there is even a problem to be diagnosing in the first place. After speaking with AIMS Power, who supplied the Inverter that I have been suspecting as of recently, they claim that there is nothing wrong with their inverter, but that a larger inverter would rectify everything. Thing is, that when we are in need of the inverted power, we rarely if ever need more than the 2000w that the inverter is rated for.

The issue: Our Rig is outfitted for 50A power. After we had the Solar system installed, we noticed that our Rig no longer functions with 50A power, but instead is limited to the 2000w through the inverter. If we turn on enough loads to exceed that 2000w threshold, we inadvertently pop the output circuit protect located on the Inverter. The Inverter is equipped with an internal Automatic Transfer Switch, which is what is confusing me somewhat as I had thought that the switch when sensing the 50A power supply from shore power, that it would pass that through to the main power panel and when that power is absent, that the switch would divert the circuit to draw power from the battery bank, which would then be limited to the 2000w rating of the Inverter.

My question is: Is it wrong to believe that our rig could be set up in a way that would allow for us to be hooked up to shore power and have the 50A available to us in those cases and yet be able to utilize the 2000w from the inverter when we are unplugged? If this is possible, which I have to believe it is, could someone offer a suggestion as to how to go about it without incurring a great deal of additional cost to do so?

Thanks in advance for your input.

Inverter: AIMS PICOGLF20W12V120VR Inverter/Charger

[Mike90250]

Sadly for you, AIMS just wants to sell dangerous inverters. Your ATS belongs outside of your inverter, so that shore power bypasses the inverter to get to all your rig wiring. If the shore power fails, the ATS should disengage and your inverter take over, at whatever power level it can support.
2Kw is about 180A @ 12VDC from your battery. I'd not go any larger than that.

[littleharbor]

Aren't there two hot legs in a 50 amp shore power cord? Are both legs getting combined in your 120 volt inverter? If not where is the second leg going? I may be completely off here. It's been a while since I was doing the RV thing.

[RVRoadramblers]

Aren't there two hot legs in a 50 amp shore power cord? Are both legs getting combined in your 120 volt inverter? If not where is the second leg going? I may be completely off here. It's been a while since I was doing the RV thing.

As for the two hot legs, yes that is correct. And you pose a good question that I will look into. But, to make a preliminary guess at it, when the system was installed, there were several circuits removed from the main panel and placed into a second smaller panel that was added for them. These were the circuits that we definitely wanted to be connected to run on our batteries when we were unplugged from shore power. The remaining circuits were appliances that we knew we would never want to run from our batteries when we were boondocking, like both AC's, the Washer/Dryer and Central Vac. So, I suspect that maybe he ran one leg to feed those circuits??? This is just a big guess on my part. But, I will look into that and try to post what I find when I do. I am wishing now, that I had kept a closer eye on what and how things were done at the time of install!!