Sequence Balmer SOC is 0

[mcookson]

I have a 2022 Sequence with the 100 ah Lithium battery system. I am having trouble I've taken it out a couple of times. At first, I was able to charge the coach with by plugging the 30amp plug into an adapter for a regular wall outlet. Now however, if the batteries are low, plugging it in does not charge anything. In order for the SOC to increase, I have to start the engine. Also, I'm not getting anything more than the 12V power. The lights, fridge and USB outlets work, but not the power. Do I have a bad inverter? And why won't my batteries charge (at least slowly) when plugged into a wall outlet with my wall outlet adapter?
Also, in the user manual, the mastervolt display says "Inverting" mine says Charging / Absorption. All it says is that you can turn it on and off. I thought it was supposed to be able to invert and charge at the same time. What gives?

[eric1514]

Have you tried plugging into different outlets or always the same one? Maybe you tripped the breaker on the particular outlet you used.

[mcookson]

Originally Posted by eric1514

Have you tried plugging into different outlets or always the same one? Maybe you tripped the breaker on the particular outlet you used.

Yeah, I did trip a breaker when I first plugged it in and then tried a different one. The outlet it's plugged into now has not tripped and I can tell because the sequence has a blue light that lights up when it's getting power and that's illuminated. Also, I know my batteries aren't bad because I can charge the batteries by starting the engine (in mine there's no generator, but there's an extra alternator so starting the chassis engine charges the coach batteries.) When I did that, I got my SoC back up to 22%, but still the microwave doesn't get power (meaning no inverter happening)
So, the problem seems to be with the mastervolt combination charger/inverter. It neither charges nor inverts. It has a "Press here to reset" button. I tried holding it down for 30 seconds but that didn't help. Any ideas?

[RossDinan6]

Tough to say with the limited information provided. I'm not familiar with your set up, so in general:

The alternator can charge the batteries because it is unrelated to the inverter/charger.

The Inverter/charger is primarily a piece of DC equipment. This means if its DC side has a problem most likely the AC side wont work. It needs DC for the transfer relay to work.

Without changing the shore inlet current from 30 amps (assumed) to 15 tripping a typical receptacle is not surprising.

If my phone rang and the voice stated your symptoms I would confirm good battery voltage at the unit. Confirm AC input voltage to the unit and do an all power off reset (AC and DC) just to be sure.

I suspect the inverter.

Ross

[codatory]

I have a Tellaro (same thing) with the new small Lithium system, and I found the whole system to be pretty woefully designed. And on my installation they didn't even finish installing the 2nd alternator!

Sounds like you just have the current limit set really low on the master volt though. On the panel there are three buttons, the left most (by the door) turns on/off the inverter (but if your panel turns off when the shore power is disconnected you need to turn the switch on the master volt inverter itself on, it's under the rearmost part of the driver's side bed). The right two turn up and down the current limit which shows on the screen. If you use more AC power than is set, it won't charge and it will only charge up to the limit you set. Remember to set it for no more than 80% of the rating of whatever you're plugging into (so 12A for a 15A plug, 16A for a 20A plug, 25A for a 30A plug) to prevent tripping it out. If your inverter is working correctly it will go into "boost" mode to cover surge loads like the AC starting, and slow down the charging as needed.

A few more things to note about the system:
- If the batteries get cold (below freezing) and something tries to charge them they will disconnect and you will lose 12v entirely. No furnace, no tank heaters, no lights, nothing.
- If the solar charger is active (there's sun out), it will always charge. If the batteries then disconnect, it will put 5v (or thereabout) on the 12v line preventing any of the other chargers from activating or the batteries re-connecting themselves. Officially you need to climb on the roof to pull the solar disconnect, but if it's that cold outside I'd just disconnect the solar panel from the charge controller.
- The default charge configuration on the MasterVolt (set with the DIP switches) will charge it to about 96% SOC and then let the batteries sit and drain down to about 20% before it charges them up again
- The battery gauge seems laughably inaccurate (I've run the AC with it at 0% SOC for 40 minutes)