Tales Of A Mercenary Mechanic

[The Chicken]

It blew one big ass fuse...I think I'm actually a bit more worried the other didn't pop. I need to figure out if they both work or not, and to what extent. This think was made for campground type, snowbird stuff. I think it may require both inverters to be working for the giant fridge...that is not a dual, a massive 110/120 home unit.

It has 2 Xantrex 458's in it. Oddly, I have one here I'd squirreled away for a future service truck. I didn't realize they are 1400$ each now. If he needs one, I'd sell him mine cheap, because I know I didn't pay much for it. If he needs two though, may have to see what's on the market as an upgrade/modern option.

IIRC, those Xantrex inverters are simple, robust and durable. They still make them and the design remains relatively unchanged for something like 20 years.
And being simple, they don't have a lot of features, and I don't think you can "stack" or parallel them.
Which means you probably have an inverter each feeding a dedicated 120VAC sub panel. Which is kinda screwy and can get you into trouble if you aren't careful with the branch circuits and neutrals.

 

[monkeyswrench]

IIRC, those Xantrex inverters are simple, robust and durable. They still make them and the design remains relatively unchanged for something like 20 years.
And being simple, they don't have a lot of features, and I don't think you can "stack" or parallel them.
Which means you probably have an inverter each feeding a dedicated 120VAC sub panel. Which is kinda screwy and can get you into trouble if you aren't careful with the branch circuits and neutrals.

I think that may be Friday's fuckery. I think before lighting off the inverters, I'm going to trace the circuits and see what is running where and how. That way if some stuff works, and others don't, I'll have an idea of where to start. I'm worried that one inverter was already bad, the one that didn't pop the fuse. There is a piece of painter's tape on one of the controllers marked "off". Should be an adventure.

Picked up some "new to me" skins for the project service truck. 80%+ tread, but 4 years old. Not the greatest, but will allow me to road the thing for shakedowns. This guy replaced the six rears on a coach, but kept one as a spare. So, I now have 5 of 6 tires for my truck.

No, did not take the Prius, borrowed wife's Avalanche. Turns out, it can only carry 5 of these tires anyway It's a start!

 

[OLDRAAT]

 

[monkeyswrench]

View attachment 1467470

What's so fucky about a redneck borrowing his wife's truck to go get some tires?
Or are you referring to the inverter weirdness in the motorhome?

 

[callbob]

Yes

 

[OLDRAAT]

What's so fucky about a redneck borrowing his wife's truck to go get some tires?
Or are you referring to the inverter weirdness in the motorhome?

The moho, quite the project. I continue to be impressed with your mechanical knowledge on a daily basis.

 

[monkeyswrench]

The moho, quite the project. I continue to be impressed with your mechanical knowledge on a daily basis.

Thank you. To me it's flattering when people say things like that, quite the compliment. Truth is, there are probably a ton of people here that can do this type of stuff. Most of them have other jobs that they spend 40-70 hours a week at, so they have no time to do this stuff. Well, this is my "job". When I moved out here, the goal was to flip cars and build hot rods. Got the shop up, and did some stuff. Life had other plans that didn't quite coincide with mine

Most of that hit the brakes hard two or so years ago. (Just recently started doing some in the shop again...be some updates soon I hope) The more mundane stuff, like wiring repairs and service, pays the bills. It's not glamorous, heck, the last LS I worked on was to patch the wife's ride. It's never boring though. Through the last few years, both from RDP and random word of mouth, I've met some really great people.

Life's different than I'd planned, but it's working out ok I think.