tiltrider1
Guru
- Joined
- Aug 2, 2017
- Messages
- 4,344
- Location
- Pacific North West
- Vessel Name
- AZZURRA
- Vessel Make
- Ocean Alexander 54
Wednesday I stepped on the boat and no power. My ELCI breaker had tripped and my inverter had a fault code. Reset the inverter and all seemed to work fine. Reset the ELCI and 5 seconds later it tripped. Turned every circuit breaker off and then reset the ELCI, 5 seconds and it tripped. I have a switch that bypasses the inverter, bypassed the inverter and reset the ELCI. ELCI held, until I threw the first breaker and then it tripped. Reset, tried different breakers same result, ELCI tripped. Desperation, disconnected every neutral on the neutral bus, reset the ELCI. I then jumped each neutral, one at a time. Got to the refrigerator and the ELIC tripped. Unplugged the refrigerator, reset the ELCI, turned on all the breakers and all was well. Examined the fridge, the compressor had a catastrophic neutral/ground failure which is why the ELIC was upset. Then i turned off the inverter bypass switch, this tripped the ELIC.
Today I tested every ac wire for continuity. There is no continuity between the neutral and ground wires. I did find some continuity between positive and ground (extremely high resistance). I traced this down to some corrosion on an outdoor outlet. Now I have no continuity between positive/ground or neutral/ground. A new refrigerator has been installed and the ELCI is happy until I try to add the inverter. The inverter is working fine except it trips the ECLI. The inverter and ELCI have worked together for 3 years until now.
So, did the inverter kill the fridge, did the fridge kill the inverter, did something else kill them both? Do I buy a new inverter or is there a test i’ve Missed. The inverter is showing some resistance between ground and neutral but since I can only test it disconnect from shore power I don’t know if that’s normal.
Today I tested every ac wire for continuity. There is no continuity between the neutral and ground wires. I did find some continuity between positive and ground (extremely high resistance). I traced this down to some corrosion on an outdoor outlet. Now I have no continuity between positive/ground or neutral/ground. A new refrigerator has been installed and the ELCI is happy until I try to add the inverter. The inverter is working fine except it trips the ECLI. The inverter and ELCI have worked together for 3 years until now.
So, did the inverter kill the fridge, did the fridge kill the inverter, did something else kill them both? Do I buy a new inverter or is there a test i’ve Missed. The inverter is showing some resistance between ground and neutral but since I can only test it disconnect from shore power I don’t know if that’s normal.