Posted: Sun Dec 05, 2010 8:51pm

I have a new (4 months old) Vetus Combi IV3012,(3KW) 230V 50Hz Sine wave inverter. I had no problems until I connected to shore power, it works well keeping the 6x2 Volt 480 Amp Hr battery bank charged but I found it drained the engine starter motor battery AS 12 045R (Spiral cell) down to 0.45 volts! Powercell managed to recover the battery. I read 0.75 Amp charge from the inverter to the engine battery but I am loath to reconnect in case the same happens again. In the meantime I am keeping it charged by runnning the engine and using the alternator which defeats the purpose. Any hionts will be useful, Thanks John

Posted: Mon Dec 06, 2010 8:32am

Posted: Mon Dec 06, 2010 8:54am

The best hint I can give you is to invoke consumer legislation and get the person who installed it back to make the installation fit for purpose. Based on what you tell use something is wrong but exactly what is anybodies guess. It could be a faulty unit, it could be faulty installation or it could even be that you are expecting it to do something it can not. If you installed it you need to get independent confirmation that it is installed correctly and that the unit is faulty and then throw it back at the retailer. I hope the expense of Vetus equipment means they have good customer services. If forced to give an opinion based on just what you say and my knowledge of Vetus kit I would suspect an installation fault at this time. Vetus do not seem to list an IV3012 but do lits an IV300012 and the wiring diagram for that suggests it only has a charging output for one battery. This means that unless you have installed additional split charging equipment compatible with the unit one battery (conventionally the engine battery) will not be charged. From that leads the question as to why a battery that should normally be very well charged and subject to no loads go flat all on nits own. This implies that either the battery is faulty or it does have a load applied. This could be a faulty alternator etc, a load like a bilge pump, or a host of other things. You need to get the system checked and then get to understand it so you can specify how you want it modified if required. Tony Brooks