It started on a strange May evening in the Sonoran Desert.
Strange, in this case, means rain. Something you don’t see often in the land of towering saguaros and relentless sun. With the rain came wind, lightning, and a short power outage.
The lights flickered, went out, then snapped back on. I thought nothing of it, settled in with some YouTube documentaries I’d seen a dozen times, and went to bed.
The next morning, I woke up to an RV that was technically functional but definitely not right.
The First Signs Something Was Wrong
It started with the awnings.
Bleary-eyed and pre-coffee, I hit the switch to extend them before the sun turned the RV into an oven. Nothing happened. The control panel flashed a useless blinking light at me, and Google confidently told me that moisture in the wind sensor was probably to blame.
Fine. Let it dry out. Whatever.
Then I noticed it was getting stuffy. The air conditioner, which should have kicked on by now, was silent. I checked the thermostat. 82 degrees. The A/C was set to 75, but it wasn’t doing anything.
Still half-asleep, I checked the power panel. Everything looked fine. I was plugged into shore power, the breakers weren’t tripped, and the control panel said there was power running to everything.
I flipped some switches, pressed some buttons, and then did what any reasonable person would do. I texted my significant other, who was 1,700 miles away, for advice.
When One Thing Fails, Everything Fails
While I was texting photos of my power panel and looking up RV gremlin exorcism techniques, more things started breaking.
- The refrigerator display flashed LO DC, warning me it wasn’t getting enough power.
- The bedroom lights refused to turn on.
- The control panel insisted everything had power, while the actual appliances disagreed.
After troubleshooting fuses, swearing at various manuals, and having zero luck fixing anything, we landed on the most likely culprit. Our inverter/charger had died.
What an Inverter Does and Why Ours Decided to Die
For anyone unfamiliar, an inverter/charger is the brain of your RV’s electrical system. It converts DC battery power into AC power for household appliances and keeps your batteries charged when you’re plugged into shore power.
Ours was 13 years old and had likely been limping along until that brief power outage pushed it over the edge. Instead of keeping our batteries topped off and running everything as usual, it decided to nuke itself in protest.
The good news? We’d figured out the problem. The bad news? I am not an electrician. Anything more complicated than checking fuses is where I exit the chat.
How We Kept the RV Running Until We Could Get Repairs
Since our inverter was dead and our refrigerator, A/C, and lights all needed 12V power to function, we had to find a temporary solution.
A mobile RV repair service couldn’t get to us immediately, but they gave us a lifesaving tip to keep the fridge running in the meantime.
We hooked up a basic car battery charger to the inverter inputs to keep our batteries from dropping below 10 volts. Without this, the fridge and A/C controls would stop working entirely.
It wasn’t perfect, but it worked well enough to keep our food from spoiling while we waited for help.
Calling in the RV Repair Experts
The next evening, our heroes arrived.
Ken and Rachel from Cameron’s Reliable RV Maintenance rolled up in a mobile repair shop that looked like it belonged on an episode of This Old House.
Within minutes, Ken confirmed our suspicion.
“Sweetheart, your inverter is fucked.”
He followed this declaration with an absolutely legendary rant about how terrible our inverter brand was and why the RV manufacturer had made some of the dumbest electrical engineering choices he’d ever seen.
I instantly trusted him.
The Cost and Process of Replacing the Inverter
Once we accepted our fate, we had to decide on a replacement inverter and whether we wanted to upgrade anything else.
What We Replaced
- Our dead modified sine wave inverter/charger
- Our aging lead-acid batteries (since they were on their last legs anyway)
We originally planned to upgrade to AGM batteries, but the cost of the inverter stretched our budget. Instead, we went with standard lead-acid batteries but added a semi-automatic water fill system to make maintenance easier.
Installation Process
Ken returned a week later with the new inverter and batteries. The installation took about two hours, during which he explained how much better the new system was while roasting the old wiring job.
Some highlights from the installation process:
- We found a melted wire nut inside the old inverter. That’s not supposed to happen.
- Ken described the new system’s wiring as “fucking sexy.”
- The new inverter was a pure sine wave model, meaning it runs electronics more efficiently and safely than the old one.
Once everything was installed, we powered it up, confirmed all systems were working, and said a final goodbye to our electrical disaster of a week.
How the New Inverter Changed Our Power Setup
Since switching to the new inverter, everything works better and more efficiently.
- Our fridge and A/C controls no longer freak out.
- The new system charges the batteries faster and more accurately.
- The control panel actually tells us what’s happening instead of blinking vague warning lights at us.
- No more guessing when it’s time to add water to the batteries.
It was an expensive, unexpected repair, but now we don’t have to stress about our power system failing randomly.
Lessons Learned From Our Inverter Failure
- If your fridge or A/C controls start acting up, check your inverter.
- A car battery charger can be a lifesaver if your inverter dies and you need to keep things running.
- Pure sine wave inverters are worth the upgrade.
- Mobile RV techs are gold. If you find a good one, keep their number saved.
- Budget for electrical failures. It’s not a fun expense, but it happens.
If you’re dealing with an inverter failure, I hope this gives you a better idea of what to expect. And if you just came here for the story, thanks for joining me on this deeply annoying electrical adventure.
Still Here? You Must Be the Human Equivalent of Well-Seasoned Cast Iron Pan.
Most people tap out early like tourists who underestimate Arizona heat. But not you. You’re built different. So why not pull up a camping chair with us on Substack?
