Uh oh smell electrical burn

Jdkh2001 · 07-15-2018, 12:01 PM

Hey I need advice, I was in my SMB with my phone plugged into to a power outlet and I heard a small pop and smelled electrical burn smell and so I shut it down and looked but saw no melted wires. Now when I switch RV inverter auto invert I hear a scary buzzing sound. Please respond if you have had a similar issue or advice.

Update: the only item not not currently working are the 3 prong house standard outlet plugs. I have checked all fuses. I just tried shore power only and it made the pop sound

MountainBikeRoamer · 07-15-2018, 12:24 PM

Popping sound and burning smell --- hopefully that's just a heavy-duty replaceable fuse burning out....

....Can you post any photos of the main electrical wiring looms/fuse panels/etc that are adjacent to your inverter? I'm guessing it's under one of your SMB's couches? Also the model number of your inverter will surely help some of the electrical wizards here make some tracks sorting out your issue.

Next question of course will be to figure out "why" something burned out....

Some basic questions:
1) was your van plugged in to shore power at the time? Or was the inverter running off of the van's camping (house) battery bank?
2) what else was running off of the inverter?

By the way:
If you were **just charging your phone**, you really didn't need to be running the inverter to do that, as you may or may not already know. The inverter consumes a lot of power to create 110V AC power from the van's 12V DC battery bank.....and then if you plug in a 110V-style charge cord for your phone, that's converting that 110V back into a DC current all over again for your phone to charge with.

Best way to charge a phone is to just use the standard cigarette-lighter-socket-style phone charger like you would in any car. (Apologies if you already knew that.)

Again, sorry if you already know this stuff, but I'll state it just for the general knowledge share of these posts:

Inverter best-practice use:
Inverters are (ideally) usually used only very briefly in most of our vans --- they're great for a short-term-use 110V item (like heating something up in a microwave oven for instance.) But if it's not being used, the inverter should be powered down. It consumes a significant/measurable amount of your battery bank's juice **just being turned on**, even with no load on it.

If you are plugged into shore power, or have a considerable solar panel bank and battery bank, an inverter can be left on in an "idle" mode indefinitely however.

Jdkh2001 · 07-15-2018, 12:33 PM

Hey you are so awesome for wanting to help me thank you . So my fan today self destructed so I removed it and taped off the wires then stuffed them back behind upholstery. I had the inverter turned on and was not hooked up to shore power. I had my 12w phone charger plugged. I just discovered a tripped breaker and now
My house standard 120v plug outlets are working. The electrical burn smell has me concerned. So now I guess I don’t have an issue. I did not know about leaving the inverter off unless I really need it. I have updated pics.

86Scotty · 07-15-2018, 06:42 PM

Have you checked on those taped off wires? That’s not the best practice for terminating them. I would worry.

arctictraveller · 07-15-2018, 08:22 PM

[QUOTE=Jdkh2001;230992] I just discovered a tripped breaker and now
My house standard 120v plug outlets are working. The electrical burn smell has me concerned. So now I guess I don’t have an issue. QUOTE]

Not quite so fast. Something got very hot, hot enough burn something. It might be working now, but what ever got hot is surely compromised, so try to narrow down what it might have been. Try giving the inverter the sniff test. Get your nose right down to the vent holes and see if you can smell anything. If not, sniff around anywhere there is likely to be a connection or piece of equipment. Quite often a buzzing inverter can be due to a short somewhere in the 110V side. What tripped the circuit breaker (whats on that circuit)?

**daveb** · 07-15-2018, 08:40 PM

I agree with AT...something happened and made the breaker trip. You need to find out why that happened!

Jdkh2001 · 07-15-2018, 09:15 PM

Well I agree and I want to get to the bottom of it. I learned today not to have the inverter on and running
a phone charger out of a 110 volt 3 prong house outlet. I smelled it and heard it in the back drivers side of the van. My SMB is a 2008 with only 30k miles never camped in. Today my comfort fan (the little 6 inch one) literally self destructed from vibration and I took it out completely taped off the wires and stuck back in behind the upolstery. Other than that I haven’t dont anything to cause that issue. Thank you very much for caring enough to try and help.

86Scotty · 07-15-2018, 10:05 PM

I'm still curious about the taped off wires. That could easily lead to a dead short.

Just FYI, I would get a simple 12v (power point/cigarette lighter) charger for your cell phone and actually any other electronics that need charging. Save your inverter for microwave or big loads like kitchen appliances.

ctb · 07-15-2018, 11:57 PM

On our main voyage on the last 1/2 on the Dalton probably b/c of Canadian logging roads this terminal wire to the inverter worked its way loose and whenever we turned on inverter (wattage) we smelled it, but finally the water heater turned on and enough of a draw, and it started to arc enough to melt the plastic cover and made it very easy to find...

Jdkh2001 · 07-16-2018, 07:42 AM

I think you might have solved the mystery I’m going out to check it when I get home that is exactly where I thought it was coming from. I’ll let you know and am super grateful for you sharing.