I think I’ve broken my inverter

Wellington

Wellington

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Carthago Compact 138
My lovely new-to-me Carthago has a little inverter in the garage. I thought I’d try it our before we head off to the continent tomorrow. It’s a Streetwize inverter, peak power 1600 watts, continuous power 800 watts. So I thought I’d be ok with a 600 watt microwave. It worked for a second and then went off. It now has no lights and appears dead! Electrics look normal, and the batteries have power (the lights work anyway. It’s been plugged in all week, and I just left it unplugged today to make sure the 12v/gas systems are all working properly)

Have I killed it?
What did I do wrong?
Can it be resurrected?
 
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DBK said:
Just go to campsites and use their electric supply. But it won't be cheap at this time of year. :(
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If we can even get into any! That would have been plan B, but the fiscal crisis (TM) has rather put paid to flagrant use of extra funds. I am packing eight million packets of crisps and prepackaged brioche. We will simply have to hope that I bought enough dried apricots. or that they sell movicol in France.

Oh, and five bottles of gin.

I was joking about the generator.

I think.
 
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Your inverter needs to be as close as physically possible to the batteries..... And the cables from battery to inverter as big as will fit.

The flex from the inverter to the appliance can be as long as you want..... Out the door, twice round the van and back in a window.... It doesn't matter.
 
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Looking at your photo something strange with your electrics. Sargent chargers are normally only fitted to UK vans. Carthago's normally have a CBE charger & distribution system.
 
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Lenny HB said:
Looking at your photo something strange with your electrics. Sargent chargers are normally only fitted to UK vans. Carthago's normally have a CBE charger & distribution system.
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That’s because she has an Autocruise stardreem.... keep up Lenny....???

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Just smiffy said:
That’s because she has an Autocruise stardreem.... keep up Lenny....???
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Wellington
My lovely new-to-me Carthago has a little inverter in the garage.

I think buying a cheap generator and simply plugging it into the van for five minutes every time the microwave is needed is a brilliant idea and the way to go!
 
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Jtf if you have one near do cheap generaters even Lidl and Aldi at times or machine mart , loads about, probably your best bet now at short notice just put petrol in ,connect to your hookup socket and away you go.
 
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Please don't put a larger fuse in and hope that will solve the problem. It will just make it more dangerous. Fuses blow for a reason, i.e. your safety. Put a larger one in and it will overload the totally inadequate wiring you have got for the loading you are putting on it. And, as others have said, that could start a fire.

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Just smiffy said:
That’s because she has an Autocruise stardreem.... keep up Lenny....???
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Are you sure Smiffy.

The OP started the first post saying this
"My lovely new-to-me Carthago has a little inverter in the garage. "

So, as Lenny says, what is a Sargent charger doing in a Carthago.
 
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Lenny HB said:
Looking at your photo something strange with your electrics. Sargent chargers are normally only fitted to UK vans. Carthago's normally have a CBE charger & distribution system.
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Well spotted Sir, from now on you are to be known as Leopard Lenny.

So different charger, bodged fuse, what looks like a very thin black wire to the right of the inverter.

Definitely needs an expert view on this......

AND....

"New to me Cathargo" so should ths not be warranty work ?
 
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Lenny HB said:
Been on the thread since the beginning not seen any mention of an Coming in half way through the thread syndrome maybe ? .
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No, not aimed at you, Just Smithy. Looks like the Autocruise Stardream bit was picked up from Wellington's MH section on the members side panel to the left on the page.
 
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Wellington - would a metal one cup measure work inside the milk pan? It's a 240ml measure so might do the trick. I'd put some water in the milk pan so it's a bit like a Bain Marie.

Denise

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If your intent on not using saucepans etc I’d go with the advice given on here.

Short term buy a small suitcase generator along with a 5lt petrol can.

As your only going to be running it for a short period I don’t think many people would complain.

This will remove all the stress and you can sell it once you have your inverter sorted.
Probably cheaper than booking into sites as well ?

Providing you can pick the genie up, I don’t know how strong you are ?, all should be good.

Good luck on your trip ?
 
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Silver-Fox said:
If your intent on not using saucepans etc I’d go with the advice given on here.

Short term buy a small suitcase generator along with a 5lt petrol can.

As your only going to be running it for a short period I don’t think many people would complain.

This will remove all the stress and you can sell it once you have your inverter sorted.
Probably cheaper than booking into sites as well ?

Providing you can pick the genie up, I don’t know how strong you are ?, all should be good.

Good luck on your trip ?
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But small suitcase generators will probably not give enough power for the input (not quoted output) watts needed to run the microwave.
 
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Wellington said:
the fiscal crisis (TM) has rather put paid to flagrant use of extra funds.
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TBH it doesn't sound like you are in a position to buy a decent inverter that actually works. They are immensely complex pieces of gear and switch huge currents very precisely and rapidly - the slightest defect in design or manufacture tends to turn them into useless dead bricks - as you've just found out.

If you buy a cheap £150 one it could last 6 seconds - that's £25 per second.

A decent brand will give you the cabling advice in the manual, you'll probably be needing 25mm cable under 1 metre for 1000W and obviously a Pure Sine Wave one as the others are useless.
You also need to consider standby power, cheaper ones will east your battery even when idle using 15W or so, bigger more expensive ones will tend to use 0.5 - 2W when not in use.

The bigger Victrons are nice, but compared to an EHU cable and more time to research are not necessarily the best option. I'd go with the cable this summer.
 
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Also no one has mentioned batteries I think you have one of the smaller Carthago's battery compartment will only take two batteries and if running a fairly large inverter daily you will need 4 so two will need fitting elsewhere, not that hard to do.
By the time you have bought a decent inverter and 3 additional (only 1 as standard) you are not going to get any change from £1000 and then you are to have pay a few hours labour for fitting.

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Wellington said:
If we can even get into any! That would have been plan B, but the fiscal crisis (TM) has rather put paid to flagrant use of extra funds.
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Consider the costs then, at least a couple of hundred for the inverter, £26 per metre for decent sized cables, then fuses, etc, and not forgetting the heavy duty crimp connectors which need a special crimp tool of one sort or another. Add to that the problem of safely routing the cables from the battery to the inverter.

Start thinking outside the box: https://www.wikihow.com/Reheat-Frozen-Baby-Food

How about one of these: Amazon product ASIN B003AM7MD8
Uses 350watts, much less than an inverter.

Or one of these, just £24 and no inverter needed. Amazon product ASIN B07L1NS3Z1
 
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Wellington said:
If we can even get into any! That would have been plan B, but the fiscal crisis (TM) has rather put paid to flagrant use of extra funds. I am packing eight million packets of crisps and prepackaged brioche. We will simply have to hope that I bought enough dried apricots. or that they sell movicol in France.

Oh, and five bottles of gin.

I was joking about the generator.

I think.
Click to expand...
I hope you haven't fell into the idea that having a motorhome is cheap holidays because it is far from it, if you check it out maybe Ryanair and a cheap b&b would suit you far better, that way your daughter could eat whatever is put out and you would have no cooking and washing up at all.
 
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