Looking to add an inverter to my 195bh but don't know the first thing about them. Have a couple questions.
1. What size do I need?
2. Where do I put it in the trailer? My battery is on the tongue, so I'm thinking inside my front storage area close to battery?
3. Does it wire to trailer somewhere to make all outlets hot, or wire just to one? I'm confused because many of the inverters have outlets on them, so does it go inside the living area and I plug directly into it?
What are you looking to power with your Inverter?
What size battery bank do you have?
If you only have one battery your very limited to what you can run.
Do you have a generator to recharge battery?
How long do you plan to camp without power?
What are you looking to power with your Inverter?
What size battery bank do you have?
If you only have one battery your very limited to what you can run.
Do you have a generator to recharge battery?
How long do you plan to camp without power?
I've only had the TT for 6 months and only camped with hookups. So I'm looking to start getting ready for short boondocking.
I'm just thinking to power a TV, radio, keurig, various chargers (phone, laptop, etc).
Just have one 12v deep cycle battery now. At some point will add a second. Don't have a generator yet but shopping for a 2000 or 3000w.
I just thought an inverter would be the first step. Can I power anything with my current setup for one night? The tv and charger would ideal to start
You have a few options here - first is to decide if you want a pure sine wave or a modified sine wave inverter. Google that and you'll get lost of opinions one way or the other. I installed a modified sine wave in our camper without issue. There seem to be a few people who have had issues with some electronics not liking the modified sine. We had no trouble and there is a big price difference between the two.
Then you can go portable - the ones with the plug - or hard wired. With the portable you can wire it to your battery and then plug in whatever you want to run. If you just need small appliances, something like a 400-600 watt inverter is pretty reasonable and pretty simple. This is what I started with in our popup. Cost me about $50 and did the job.
In the new camper, I went for a hard wired, 1800 watt inverter. For a high wattage inverter, you need to be close to the batteries and use big cables. 1800 watts at 12V is a lot of amps. For this setup, the most common way to wire it is with a transfer switch and a sub-panel. This runs all the outlets on the inverter and can automatically switch between shore power and inverter power. I attached a drawing of a sub-panel wiring setup. Our camper has all the 120v outlets on one circuit, and the microwave and AC (on other circuits)are too much for the inverter, so to run just one circuit on the inverter using a inverter with a built in transfer switch isn't too bad. You follow the subpanel concept, but you don't actually need a subpanel - you can just spice the inverter wiring into the wire coming off the breaker for the circuit you want to power.
I use a 750 Watt inverter that has 2 120v plugs +a USB port. This will power my led tv plus DVD. Once we had 2 overnight guests each using CPAP machines and the inverter provided power all night long.
This is a small portable inverter w/ alligator clips to the battery. I have a spare deep cycle I bring into the camper (in a battery box) and hook-up to the inverter. Next day I pull the battery and recharge off my generator. This works for me cause the inverter gets only occasional use. There are large inverter setups that get wired into your system.
Watts are a measure of power and watts equal volts x amps. You are running 120 v so if your appliance is rated at 4 amps you need 480 watts. For my setup this means no toaster, microwave, etc. To run these I need my generator (2000 Honda) which I already need to recharge the depleted battery.
my inverter is a Cen-Tech 750 continuous, 1500 peak watts. 9" x 5" dimensions.
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2015 Shamrock 23IKSS, Oyster shell
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Looking on Amazon and found the two 1000w inverters below with a big price difference but can't figure out why. Can someone explain? Are either of these brands recomended? http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...=ATVPDKIKX0DER
Looking on Amazon and found the two 1000w inverters below with a big price difference but can't figure out why. Can someone explain? Are either of these brands recomended? http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...=ATVPDKIKX0DER
The Xantrex is a pure sine wave, which replicates the power you get from the power company. The Cobra appears to be modified sine wave, which is a little different (and much cheaper). You'll find strong opinions both ways on this. Certain electronics and variable speed motors seem to have problems with modified sine wave power. I have an 1800W Xantrex modified sine wave inverter that I have been pleased with for what I paid for it. Our TV and laptops run fine off it.
If you are just using it for a few days on few dry camping trips, you can probably get away with the modified sine and save the $$, but its not a 100% certainty that everything will run OK on that type of power.
You need a second or third battery added to the system if you are planning to use the inverter for any length of time. They [inverters] suck up a lot of 12vdc.
__________________ Aviator Wright Flyer #1919
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You need a second or third battery added to the system if you are planning to use the inverter for any length of time. They [inverters] suck up a lot of 12vdc.
I'm going to add a second battery soon, but doing one thing at a time to keep cost spread out. Define "length of time"? Could I use one 12v deep cyle with this for a one night stay? Only using the inverter for 2-3 hours total for small devices ?
Only using the inverter for 2-3 hours total for small devices ?
What devices are you powering? Consider whether it's available with a DC power source. It's more efficient to power the device directly off the 12V battery, especially if it has a power brick, because the power brick is just converting the AC back to DC. In that case you losing efficiency converting the DC to AC, then converting the AC back to DC. If it's DC but not 12V, a different power brick may be available to convert the 12V DC to ##V DC. That's still more efficient and costs a lot less than the inverter.
Did I get the wrong inverter? There doesn't seem to be a place to run wires out to connect to a socket or wiring system. It only has the two battery terminal rings, dual power outlet and USB plug. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BUAJM7G/..._Dieqvb1X7AYTN
Check the directions that came with it. They may have some suggestions. On my Xantrex, you remove the GFI receptacle and they supplied a cover plate with knockouts to cover the hole were the receptacle was. The wires supplying the GFCI outlet are probably the only 120VAC output.
Check the directions that came with it. They may have some suggestions. On my Xantrex, you remove the GFI receptacle and they supplied a cover plate with knockouts to cover the hole were the receptacle was. The wires supplying the GFCI outlet are probably the only 120VAC output.
I did it says nothing about it other then plug your devices into the outlet. Can't find a way to remove it either, short of taking opening the entire unit.
I'm just thinking to power a TV, radio, keurig, various chargers (phone, laptop, etc).
Just have one 12v deep cycle battery now. At some point will add a second. Don't have a generator yet but shopping for a 2000 or 3000w.
Well, a 1000 watt inverter and 2 batteries (one for now - ok with a small generator) will do everything except the coffee maker.
I have a 2 battery setup (150AH) and power everything except the air conditioner, microwave, coffee maker, or electric fry pan. Boondocking requires a "gas" solution for making coffee and cooking. I use a cowboy coffeepot, drip funnel, or french press (depending on mood) for coffee.
You do not want to know what you will need to run the coffee maker.
A 4 deep cycle bank of batteries and a 2500 watt inverter will work; anything less will not get you through the night. The problem is the power drain on the batteries powering that coffee maker.
The problem is the heater in the coffee maker. Most are 1500 watts; or 140 amps off the battery. 140 amps will suck the voltage of a single battery below 10 volts just powering it up. You would need to spread that demand over 4 batteries to keep the amp draw per battery around 25 amps each.
The reason is the Peukert Effect of amperage demand on battery capacity.
See article and graph attached.
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Lou & Freya the wonder dog
2008 GMC Sierra 3000HD Allison Duramax
2019 Flagstaff 8529FL
That is the right inverter; you just need to wire it directly to the battery using 4 gauge or larger battery wire located within 3 feet of your battery bank (it must also be fused at 75 amps and an on/off switch capable of 200 amps.)
Here is how I wired mine (not my battery photo, but a VERY clean install properly wired):
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Lou & Freya the wonder dog
2008 GMC Sierra 3000HD Allison Duramax
2019 Flagstaff 8529FL
That is the right inverter; you just need to wire it directly to the battery using 4 gauge or larger battery wire located within 3 feet of your battery bank (it must also be fused at 75 amps and an on/off switch capable of 200 amps.)
Here is how I wired mine (not my battery photo, but a VERY clean install properly wired):
Yea but I'm asking about an output on the inverter to wire it into an existing outlet, or to the breaker box for all outlets. There doesn't seem to be any place for those lines out?
Yea but I'm asking about an output on the inverter to wire it into an existing outlet, or to the breaker box for all outlets. There doesn't seem to be any place for those lines out?
No can do. You will need to run a separate "inverter only" circuit from the inverter or you can run a HD extension cord.
I ran 15 amp house romex to dedicated outlets I put at the entertainment center and used a power strip to switch from the camper outlets when in hookups to the inverter outlets when dry camping.
Trying to "dual purpose" your existing outlets will back feed your inverter and blow it up.
__________________
Lou & Freya the wonder dog
2008 GMC Sierra 3000HD Allison Duramax
2019 Flagstaff 8529FL
Aviator Wright Flyer #1919
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