Washing machine wont power on

rdcahalane

Converting over to off grid, bringing on new sections of my home progressively, and found my Samsung washer wont power on (no led lights, nothing) when on inverter power, but as soon as i switch back to grid works fine. The same outlet has a samsung dryer that works either way. tried running off different outlet to rule out wiring, no luck. Tried putting a parallel incandescent & electric heater (saw some forum recommend), no luck. voltage/current/freq look fine from inverter (Growatt SPF 12000T DVM-MPV so pure sine wave). At a complete loss and really dont want to buy new washer when old one works! All other appliances, computers, etc work fine. Any recommendations appreciated!

706jim

My first thought was that you had a modified sine inverter. Various things won't run off of them. But if your inverter is pure sine I can't help. FWIW I searched here for the longest time wondering if my refrigerator would run off of my old Trace modified sine. (It works great!)

rdcahalane

thanks for the thought... it says "pure sine" but i dont own a scope so cant really check! Sounds like a good reason to buy a new toy  

BB.

Sometimes appliances can be very particular about the standard north American outlet wiring.

I have seen a natural gas stove (with auto spark ignition) not run correctly if the Hot and Neutral connections were reversed.

And I have seen a UPS that would not start unless the Safety Ground (green wire) and Neutral (white wire) where tied together (typically done at the main breaker panel in a N.A. home). If you had "floating" AC power, the APC industrial UPS would not start.

You can use a simple volt meter to check between the "ground" pin and Neutral slot (narrow slot) for near zero volts. And between Ground and Hot (narrow slot) for 120 VAC. And, of course, Neutral to Hot 120 VAC.

It sounds like you already have confirmed that the inverter is running 120 VAC (not in "search mode" or "standby mode" where the inverter is "off" until is "sees" an AC load > 8-12 watts minimum--Then turns on full time). Some electronic based appliances will not draw enough power to take an inverter out of "search mode"--But you already ran some sort of heater/load in parallel with the washer outlet so you had 120 VAC present).

You can also get various outlet testers with lights to show the H/N/G connections. An example of a simple outlet tester:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Klein-Tools-Receptacle-Tester-RT110/206517828

-Bill

rdcahalane

Appreciate it Bill! will check grounds/neutrals this weekend... 

JRHill

Off grid and laundry guy here. I'm not sure what Samsung washer you have but we have had a DC front loader for years. Best clothes machine I've ever used and laundry is my job. It's rare that I have to use any fancy high amp steaming heating cycles even when I have to do really nasty clothes. We are off grid with Outback stuff but even on generator is works fine because that's what has to happen in the winter.

So you get nothing from the display like it doesn't acknowledge the outlet? Does the same happen of generator or do you have that option? You could really use a Kill-A-Watt to see what happens when you fire it up. Your drier... what does it use to make heat? Certainly it is not running at the same time? Anything else act up when that happens?

Graham Parkinson

I suspect that your Samsung washer has an inrush surge on motor startup beyond the inverter's capacity.   

The cheap induction motor in our dishwasher has this issue, we have to run on the Honda 3000 Eu inverter generator with the "eco" mode turned off in order to start it.  On our dishwasher the digital start controls shut down the motor current since there is no rpm indication within the programmed startup time (leading the controls to suspect "locked rotor" and to shut down to protect from fire).

On the other hand our LG Inverter Washer has almost no inrush current as the permanent magnet motor ramps up gradually to only about a maximum 800 W under fill spin load. We can easily run this on a 2200 W inverter.   We got the washer used at Habitat for $150 - an excellent deal!

JRHill

The inrush on the Samsung DC is virtually nothing as it ramps slowly. This is why I asked which model. Now the 1950's wringer washer on the back porch is a different story (rugs and dog bedding). Maybe rdcahalane will come back. There are lots of issues with appliances on start up. So I am curious. I don't have anything that isn't Energy Star compliant but that is a broad sweep. Some are much better than others. This is NOT about A/C and well pumps but smaller appliances.

That is great that you salvaged a good machine from that source.

NANOcontrol

I have a LG washer I run off an old Harbor Freight MSW inverter with no battery directly form Array DC voltage. So, my voltage swings all over the place. Never had a problem except when a cloud passes over. Then it shuts down, but remembers where it was. Just restart it. I'm out in the garage usually when doing laundry.  Since it has its own 40 gallon tank heated by PV, all cycles are done with hot water going into the cold inlet.  Cloths come out steaming.  Don't care what they say on TV, hot water cleans better.  Another bonus. Detergent dispenser is spotless and no f forms in the fill tube. I have to clean mold out of the fill tube with the same machine at home about every 2 years.

rdcahalane

Found the issue... embarrassingly simple. I had changed the presets on my Growatt 12000t DVM from 50 Hz to 60 Hz but never restarted. Apparently, it doesnt take the change till a full reset. So I've been running on 50 Hz even though my inverter said 60 Hz when i looked, and I never checked the freq at the load to confirm. For some reason everything else works fine even at 50 Hz (which baffles me we didnt see anywhere else). Really appreciate everyone's help... I learned a lot from your feedback!