Inverter Survey

I have been inspired by MudDog to rig up my TM with solar and a decent sized inverter. (I will likely end up copying much of his install as a matter of fact)

I think I have my solar configuration nailed down but I am still evaluating different approaches for the inverter. I am curious what folks who have inverters are doing on their TMs. Are you hiding the inverters in a nook or cranny somewhere and then heating up specific outlets? Did you install a remote switch to enable/disable the inverter as needed so you do not have to access said nook or cranny? Are you just leaving the inverter more or less out in the open?

My initial thinking is to mount the inverter under the seat on the forward bulkhead so it is close to the tongue-mounted batteries. I was thinking of rewiring the microwave outlet (and perhaps one by the fridge) to be inverter-powered and leave all of the other AC outlets as shore power only. I may replace the cover plate(s) with one in a different color to differentiate.

Anyway, this post is just intended to solicit lessons learned and recommendations for inverter placement. I am aiming for as much of a hidden yet wife-friendly installation as is practical.

[Wavery]

Originally Posted by M&M Hokie

I have been inspired by MudDog to rig up my TM with solar and a decent sized inverter. (I will likely end up copying much of his install as a matter of fact)

I think I have my solar configuration nailed down but I am still evaluating different approaches for the inverter. I am curious what folks who have inverters are doing on their TMs. Are you hiding the inverters in a nook or cranny somewhere and then heating up specific outlets? Did you install a remote switch to enable/disable the inverter as needed so you do not have to access said nook or cranny? Are you just leaving the inverter more or less out in the open?

My initial thinking is to mount the inverter under the seat on the forward bulkhead so it is close to the tongue-mounted batteries. I was thinking of rewiring the microwave outlet (and perhaps one by the fridge) to be inverter-powered and leave all of the other AC outlets as shore power only. I may replace the cover plate(s) with one in a different color to differentiate.

Anyway, this post is just intended to solicit lessons learned and recommendations for inverter placement. I am aiming for as much of a hidden yet wife-friendly installation as is practical.

I mounted my inverter right out on the front, outside wall of the camper, protected by the bunk while open and the upper shell while closed. It's close to the batteries and has plenty of cooling which makes it more efficient. I also have my solar controller out there.

You can see an access port next to it for running an extension cord inside. I see no real need for hard wiring it. If I had kids, I may have hard wired it though. It's quite easy to do.

At some point, I my make a nice, white, sheet aluminum panel to cover it (just for appearance sake). I plan to drill holes top & bottom for air flow and leave both ends open.

[MudDog]

Mark,

I installed my inverter in the storage area under the dinette seat. I drilled a couple of holes thru the floor to route the 1/0 guage wires to the battery box (which is just on the other side of the wall...so the run was less than 3'). I used some plastic pipe and fittings as a large grommet and sealed with expanding foam.

The same compartment has the box/wiring for the outside power receptacle. I ended up wiring into that box and installing another box near the inverter inside the storage area with a female twist-lock connector.

I bought a heavy-duty pigtail connector and installed the male twist-lock on one end. I also bought a spare female twist lock plug end.

I have a remote switch on the inverter that I can reach without having to open the dinette seat. The pig-tail is plugged into one of the receptacles on the inverter and the other end is normally plugged into the spare female twist lock plug end (it covers all of the the terminals and prevents any shorts should the inverter be turned on accidentally).

When dry camping I turn off the breaker for the plugs on the TM, remove the spare female twist lock plug end and instead plug the pig tail into the twist lock receptacle plug that is wired to the external TM receptacle (and therefore ALL of the plugs in the TM) and then turn on the inverter with the remote switch. The inverter has a built-in GFCI breaker - so ALL of the plugs in the TM are energized and are still protected.

The inverter is only on when needed and when packing up/taking the TM down, the inverter is turned off, the pig-tail is disconnected from the wiring of the TM, the blank plug-end goes back on the pigtail and the breaker by the converter goes back on.

Not quite as elegant as an automatic transfer switch, and you have to have a checklist that you always follow to make sure the inverter and shore power are never enegerized at the same time, but it has worked well for us and it's been nice to have power available on ALL of the plugs when we need it...and the wiring was realy simple I had access to the external plug right there in the same compartment.



--jim

[Wavery]

The 2500W inverter on my trailer is way over-kill. Over-kill on inverter isn't necessarily a good thing.

It's bet to match your inverter pretty close to the maximum draw appliance that you might be using. I our situation, our max draw item is a 1200W electric coffee maker. For us, the better inverter may have been a 1500W.

The inverter that I have was from a different project and was free for the TM....

It's important to use an appropriate size fuse, right at the battery. In the pic below, you can see my 175A fuse attached directly to the positive battery post and the red battery cable going out to the battery cut-off switch.

The more I think about it, I am leaning towards a Xantrex SW2000 Inverter which I will mount underneath a settee on the forward wall. If there is room on the water tank side, I would do it there but I am not optimistic about that. I expect to install it on the curb side. I really like Xantrex's remote switch option. I would mount that underneath the sink and then connect its ignition interlock wire to the bathroom wall switch. That would disable the inverter whenever the TM is folded up which is a nice parasitic load preventer.

I am chewing between a few options on the AC outlets. I prefer to reduce human-in-the-loop to the extent possible when it comes to heating up specific outlets. I expect to either select specific duplex outlets to be solely inverter driven, OR, split certain outlets so that the bottom outlet is shore-power driven and the top half is inverter-driven. I would just develop some form of marking/tagging that make it plain which jacks are supplied via the inverter. (I think my P-touch is going to get some use here)

This approach will give us basically half of the jacks hot while drydocking and all jacks hot when shore power is present (using the inverter for both cases). It seems like the best of both worlds. The only chore is to press the convenient power button under the sink and use the tagged plugs when dry docking. Otherwise, it has all of the convenience of the house.

Thoughts?

[Wavery]

Originally Posted by M&M Hokie

The more I think about it, I am leaning towards a Xantrex SW2000 Inverter which I will mount underneath a settee on the forward wall. If there is room on the water tank side, I would do it there but I am not optimistic about that. I expect to install it on the curb side. I really like Xantrex's remote switch option. I would mount that underneath the sink and then connect its ignition interlock wire to the bathroom wall switch. That would disable the inverter whenever the TM is folded up which is a nice parasitic load preventer.

I am chewing between a few options on the AC outlets. I prefer to reduce human-in-the-loop to the extent possible when it comes to heating up specific outlets. I expect to either select specific duplex outlets to be solely inverter driven, OR, split certain outlets so that the bottom outlet is shore-power driven and the top half is inverter-driven. I would just develop some form of marking/tagging that make it plain which jacks are supplied via the inverter. (I think my P-touch is going to get some use here)

This approach will give us basically half of the jacks hot while drydocking and all jacks hot when shore power is present (using the inverter for both cases). It seems like the best of both worlds. The only chore is to press the convenient power button under the sink and use the tagged plugs when dry docking. Otherwise, it has all of the convenience of the house.

Thoughts?

Sounds like a good plan but I'm thinking you may end up putting more time in the installation than you will have in total use over the inverter for a long time.....

We don't even use ours at all on some camp-outs. The biggest use that it gets is for popping popcorn anymore. I have a small 100W inverter in the bathroom for my wife's curling iron and recharging laptops, cell phones etc. You sure won't want to use a 2000W inverter for that.

Just curious what you think you may be running on a 2000W inverter. I hope that you don't plan on running 1500W for more than a minute or two.

Originally Posted by harveyrv

Sounds like a good plan but I'm thinking you may end up putting more time in the installation than you will have in total use over the inverter for a long time..... Just curious what you think you may be running on a 2000W inverter. I hope that you don't plan on running 1500W for more than a minute or two.

Are you kidding me? One of my greatest joys is working on my TM....

That said, we have been all but exclusively boondocking and the lack of AC power has not yet proved to be an issue. I have a little 90W inverter that we used to run a laptop back when we used to watch DVDs at night. We have more recently stopped bringing such entertainment because movies and TV are crap and the only thing out there worth watching is Breaking Bad (but I digress...)

What do I plan to run on a 2KW inverter? I do not have a very full list yet. I expect a small microwave at some point and while that is less than 1KW, why unduly limit yourself when the incremental cost is so small?

In any event, the reason for starting the thread was to get ideas and wisdom from the masses. Since I was investigating the solar install, I thought I would also investigate the more robust inverter install at the same time.

[Wavery]

Originally Posted by M&M Hokie

Are you kidding me? One of my greatest joys is working on my TM....

That said, we have been all but exclusively boondocking and the lack of AC power has not yet proved to be an issue. I have a little 90W inverter that we used to run a laptop back when we used to watch DVDs at night. We have more recently stopped bringing such entertainment because movies and TV are crap and the only thing out there worth watching is Breaking Bad (but I digress...)

What do I plan to run on a 2KW inverter? I do not have a very full list yet. I expect a small microwave at some point and while that is less than 1KW, why unduly limit yourself when the incremental cost is so small?

In any event, the reason for starting the thread was to get ideas and wisdom from the masses. Since I was investigating the solar install, I thought I would also investigate the more robust inverter install at the same time.

You asked the magic question........."why unduly limit yourself when the incremental cost is so small?"..........The larger the inverter, the less efficient it is on smaller loads. It has nothing to do with the cost of the inverter, it's all about efficiency. A lot of the inverter's drain on the battery is at idle. The fan is bigger on the bigger units, everything is bigger causing less efficiency. Sorta like, why put dual axles on a TM2619 when installing 15" tires is quite efficient.

Like I said, I have a 2500W inverter on mine and I just limit the amount of time that it is on idle. It's not a terribly efficient inverter anyway. I am actually considering getting rid of it and putting in a better quality 1500W inverter. My choice of 1500W has nothing to do with cost. There is no upside to going bigger, only down-side.

LOL, I presume that the emphasized snippet is in need of further explanation?

The Xantrex SW1000 runs $240, the SW2000 runs $332. Factor in another 100 bucks or so for the remote switch and all of the other wire/fuse miscellany (which are basically the same for either model), and it looks like 30% difference in up front cost would yield a 100% increase in capacity.

[Wavery]

Originally Posted by M&M Hokie

LOL, I presume that the emphasized snippet is in need of further explanation?

The Xantrex SW1000 runs $240, the SW2000 runs $332. Factor in another 100 bucks or so for the remote switch and all of the other wire/fuse miscellany (which are basically the same for either model), and it looks like 30% difference in up front cost would yield a 100% increase in capacity.

You may have missed my previous post.....anyway....the fuse is another issue. If you buy the fuse from one of these solar suppliers etc....they sell you this huge fuse in a mounting box for about $75......now that part is about cost

A fuse is a fuse is a fuse. My 175A fuse was $6 at Autozone. Ilike it better than the remote mounted fuse because it goes right on the battery bolt and the inverter cable bolts to the other side. There is no better protection than that and it is the picture of efficient simplicity........I shoulda been a poet....