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Topic: Anyone here with the new Invertrix? (Read 3169 times) previous topic - next topic
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Anyone here with the new Invertrix?

Yahoo Message Number: 97
We're new CC Intrigue owners and would like more info on the Invertrix system we have. The manual is pretty cryptic for those of us who have never dealt with this type of stuff before.

Glad to finally find a CC forum!

Thanks...Jan in Charlotte, NC

Re: Anyone here with the new Invertrix?

Reply #1 –
Yahoo Message Number: 98
Hi Jan,

No one has posted for awhile. Right now I'm guessing everyone is at the CC rally, then they will go to the big FMCA Rally.

Linda

Re: Anyone here with the new Invertrix?

Reply #2 –
Yahoo Message Number: 100
Hi Jan, we have just acquired our 2001 Intrigue (36' slide) with an Invertrix System and have been dogged with problems since day 1. (We had a Country Coach Allure prior to this)
Country Coach (CC) says that the inverter should be on all the time but we do a lot of dry camping with our coach and find that it will drain your batteries very quickly. We just completed a six week trip that included about three weeks of dry camping and found that the inverter should be shut down when dry camping unless you are in need of 120 volts from your batteries. We would use the TV and the Microwave at night and have the inverter on. When we went to bed we would turn it off and then put the generator on in the morning to get the batteries up to charge.
I don't know what kind of problems you are having but I would be interested in hearing. I have had my coach in the repair shop three times for extreme battery discharge problems and I only picked it up January 9th. Just this week, I had the coach plugged in while in my driveway. It was on shore power for ten days and when I plugged it out and put it on the street to open the slide I found that the batteries were dead. It was plugged in all the time. Perhaps there is a problem with the Invertrix.

janmcneill@... wrote:

Re: Anyone here with the new Invertrix?

Reply #3 –
Yahoo Message Number: 103
I have had a Affinity 40' with slide since August 1999 (its a 2000.5 model).
Basically, I've met with Country Coach at various rallys to discuss this battery drain problem , and it seems there is a constant 0.4amp drain even with everything turned off. They blame it on the eletronic transmission and CAT engine controls. Even turning off the inverter, all subsystems, and the chassis power drains my batterys within 28 days.
They say there's nothing you can do. I see only 2 alternatives... disconnect all batterys when I store the coach, or modify my disconnect around a knife switch approach (essentially still disconnecting the battery). This seems a hassle, but doable. I haven't found a body shop to put the knife switch in (I should add that I've also added the also start feature to the generator to recharge the batterys as they discharge, so its less of an issue!
I'd welcome other comments or solutions. (ps. I don't think I've got an Invertix, but I cannot remember the brand installed right now)

Roger

Re: Anyone here with the new Invertrix?

Reply #4 –
Yahoo Message Number: 104
Hello Jan and John,

On the Invertrix inverter it needs to be on in order to charge your batteries. In other words if you were plugged in to shore power or had your gen on and left your inverter off it will not charge, the inverter needs to be "on" when plugged in or running your gen in order to charge your batteries. Hope this helps,
Damon

Re: Anyone here with the new Invertrix?

Reply #5 –
Yahoo Message Number: 112
Thanks, John...I'll let you know what Plemmons RV finds. They don't think they can get to it this week, so we may not hear from them until next week...we told them we don't want the RV back UNTIL IT"S FIXED! My husband was ready to give it back to them right away this weekend!

I'm sure it's the Invertrix too...sounds like your problems were similar.

We store our coach during the week at a U-store It place so our habit is to drive there, (inverter shows batteries 100%), then take about 30 minutes to "close it up" and then switch both battery banks off at the bay switch. We noticed when we would arrive to get the coach that we would turn the inverter on as soon as we entered the coach and would see it about 98% or so...then, just before getting under way about 45 minutes later it would be in the 60% range! We thought we were doing something wrong (we've NEVER done this before.) We checked with folks about what we were doing and everyone seemed to think we were doing things right. So we started really paying attention to it. Last weekend we were on 50amp shore power and noticed that the batteries (inverter was on all the time) seemed to be low. We didn't experience any problems though.
This weekend, the batteries went from 99% to 52% within 30 minutes of having the inverter turned on while we were waiting for our toad brake (that's ANOTHER STORY) to be checked...different vendor.
We were concerned so called Plemmons and our tech told us to turn the inverter off then and to just enjoy the weekend since we told him we'd be on 50 amp shore power.

Well, by Sunday night, we got an alarm on the hydronic heat (about 10 pm...really convenient time to find help) and we couldn't find anything wrong going by the trouble shooting manual. When I saw it was a DC starting switch, I checked the inverter and saw we were down to 11.7 volts...so I assumed we had too low voltage for the heater...so we went without heat that night.

Anyway...I think we are right to all keep in touch..if nothing else we might find one of our service people might find the answer for us all. Good luck! Jan

Re: Anyone here with the new Invertrix?

Reply #6 –
Yahoo Message Number: 113
Damon, glad to hear from you...unfortunately, your advice is nothing new...it's just what we were all told and did. We put our inverter on "just as we were told" as soon as we entered the coach and never turned it off until we were putting it in storage for the rest of the week. It was "On" when we were driving, it was "On" when we were plugged into 50 amp service. It was "On" when we ran the generator.
Made no difference...the batteries would become useless.
Finally , our service tech told us to shut it down and just enjoy the weekend on 50 amp power and not really use it....batteries lost so much juice we couldn't run the fans, the hydronic heat, etc...
There is DEFINITELY a problem with this system..either the Invertrix or the wiring that is going on..we're all having the same symptoms!..and different batteries don't seem to make a difference either..we've got standard issue ones.

We'll give them one try, then have them put in the old Heart inverter...Jan

Re: Anyone here with the new Invertrix?

Reply #7 –
Yahoo Message Number: 114
Hey, 28 days is GREAT! We can hardly go 28 minutes without useless batteries! That's what we're all talking about here...we switch our batteries totally off during the week, so they can't discharge, but when we switch them on, we watch the drain (with NOTHING on other than the inverter and whatever 'phantom loads are on") go from 98% to 50-60% in literally less than an hour. THAT'S the problem we've all got with the new Intrigues it sounds like.

Re: Anyone here with the new Invertrix?

Reply #8 –
Yahoo Message Number: 117
With that kind of discharge it should be easy for them to isolate the problem quickly so don't give up hope. It may be a short that's draining the batteries out. I think I would be happy if I had that kind of discharge, it's something you can see. My problem happens when it wants to which is harder to isolate. . We're getting solar panels installed this repair trip and I am having them put in a disconnect switch so that I can make sure that the discharge problem is resolved. The solar panels would not do the job with what's going on.

Re: Anyone here with the new Invertrix?

Reply #9 –
Yahoo Message Number: 118
Jan, I just remembered an incident we had with the Allure when we picked it up. At the back of the panel in the bedroom where all the circuit breakers are, there was a loose wire that caused the batteries to discharge immediately and all the alarms went off. We had just finished moving everything in from our other coach, it was eleven at night and we had to move all the food back to the lemon because the batteries were dead and there was no shore power coming into the coach because of this wire.

Re: Anyone here with the new Invertrix?

Reply #10 –
Yahoo Message Number: 119
I have a 99 Magna, and while I have things under control right now, I have to say that I had lots of electrical related problems when I took delivery of the unit new from Lazydays. It seems to me that CC has some real quality control problems in that department. People at Lazydays confided that they are really rushing (or at least were at that time) coaches out the door because of demand and relying on dealers to fix problems on warranty. Its too bad. CC makes quality components but they really are hurting themselves with repeat business with these issues. I hope they get their act together.
In the meantime, if you're in the Tampa area, for non-warranty work, I would recommend Conley RV. Some pretty good folks there. If you're on the East coast of Fl..or dont mind the drive, Eagles Pride in Titusville really knows electrical stuff on coaches and I believe CC will allow them to do warranty work. I have lost all confidence in Lazydays. Their only concern is how many coaches they sell. Not service and customer satisfaction. I think they'll pay dearly for this in the future.

Jim Boldebook , Venice Fl