Qustions on new battery bank and Xantrex inverted

[stephenallan]

Have added Xantrex 2.5 inverter/converter and 900AH battery bank. Will worry about solar next year or the year after or when finances recover
Setup with utility, generator power to Xantrex. It happily charges new battery bank while also sending AC power back to RV AC panel. upgrade is working well.

Question is - what to do with factory RV batteries and factory converter.

Need your help here - should I:
1) Keep new battery bank seperate as it is now or wire to DC input on RV power panel?

2) Do I need the converter still if I wire the new battery bank to the RV DC panel?

3) I want to leave the factory batteries and wiring 'as is' due to no desire to start fishing in that active wiring bundle. If I wired the Xantex and new battery bank to the RV power panel, I would probably have the old batteries and converter in a 'seperate group' apart from the RV power panel.Your comments appreciated here due to adding a lot of weight versus removing the old batteries and converter and then having to rewire to to engine isolator to have the same functions as before.
4) Remove or keep the factory converter WFCO 55A, as is, where it powers the RV DC side of the panel along with the factory batteries.

What I am asking about:
1) I added 600 pounds here so should try and remove some weight.
2) I think I have enough backup power but can't decide on losing the 'redundancy' of the original batteries and converter (overkill????)
3) the biggy is wiring the new battery bank to the RV DC power panel or keeping it 'behind' the Xantrex.

I don't have the RV experience to know which way to go on this and value your help.
regards,
Stephen

[cfsoistman]

Not sure which model Inverter / Converter you have. I can only assume it has a 3 stage battery charger. I have the RS3000 and I eliminated my converter by just unplugging it. All of the 12 volt requirements run through the Inverter. I left the converter in place as a back-up in case I have any issues with the Inverter.

[Boyd]

I added a total of 560 Amp hours (4 batteries) wired into the existing battery lines, hooked the inverter and solar directly into the batteries and left all original wiring (converter/charger) in place. I'm using this set-up now and all is working fine with shore power and dry camping. Make sure you wire your batteries so they are charged as one large battery.

[Fire Instructor]

Rather than rewire everything, I just ran Romex from my Xantrex to an outlet that I installed righ next to the TT 120v power feed for the TT. I then made-up a 2' long pigtail with the 3-prong female 30a twist-lock on one end, and a standard 120v plug on the other. I use this to plug the TT "into itself" I then turn off the 12ov breaker that runs the 120v to 12v inverter. My 12v (from the batter bank) passes through the inverter, my 120v feeds the inverter, and distributes it to the variious circuits, but I don't invert 120v into 12v at the inverter, as ALL of my 12v needs come from the battery bank, recharged by the solar.

900 Ah!!! Wow! I'm impressed. How many batteries of what type?

[stephenallan]

Originally Posted by cfsoistman

Not sure which model Inverter / Converter you have. I can only assume it has a 3 stage battery charger. I have the RS3000 and I eliminated my converter by just unplugging it. All of the 12 volt requirements run through the Inverter. I left the converter in place as a back-up in case I have any issues with the Inverter.

First, thanks so much for taking the time and sharing your knowledge. I thank each of you for responding. (I'm using the Post Quick Reply so not sure what it will look like............)

I bought a Xantrex Prosine 2.5 inverter/converter which has 3 battery charging stages. It allow for utility or gen power (via Xfer box) to be fed into the AC side of the Xantrex and feeds back utility or gen or inverter 110v which I've wired to the main AC breaker in the power panel. The Xantrex will auto switch to inverter provided 110V if the utility and gen power are not available. The Batteries are 4 - 8D Interstates at 1400 crank or 235AH each. I went overboard on this to support a medical grade sleep/air pump mask - CPAP - needs pure sine wave power. Well that's my execuse and I'm sticking to it. Nothing to do with my gaming computer (Quad CPU; 8GigRam; 2X8800GTX video cards pulling 900 watts at 100% usage) or the computer I use for computer business analysis work on the road.
Also doing small maintenance jobs on this used unit I purchased. Such as replacing floppy end on 30A cable; adding Surge Guard to utility power cable; 'provisioning' sheets and utensils and plates and, and, and all the little stuff.

So I really appreciate your coming to my help and will keep reading it and think through how to use it. The main two being, so far, unplug converter but keep connected as backup and hardwire my new batteries to DC side of power panel.

Thanks,
Stephenallan
Calgary, Alberta


I'm thinking through what you have shared with me and for me your idea of keeping the original converter insitu is great. I think that will mean wiring the new 8D battery bank to the DC side of the power panel (WFCO 8930/50 distribution panel) keep the original 2 batteries connected to the power panel second DC input to keep those circuits running (so far I've identified the propane detector and the storage lights are controlled with the original main battery ON/OFF).

Let me re-read your help and think a while. I used equal length 2/0 cables with poured brass lugs for the battery cabling; wired the "AC out" side of the Xantrex to the power panel using 8/3 cable and upgraded from the WFCO Xfer box to the Xantrex "AC in" using 8/3.

[Boyd]

Originally Posted by stephenallan

First, thanks so much for taking the time and sharing your knowledge. I thank each of you for responding. (I'm using the Post Quick Reply so not sure what it will look like............)

I bought a Xantrex Prosine 2.5 inverter/converter which has 3 battery charging stages. It allow for utility or gen power (via Xfer box) to be fed into the AC side of the Xantrex and feeds back utility or gen or inverter 110v which I've wired to the main AC breaker in the power panel. The Xantrex will auto switch to inverter provided 110V if the utility and gen power are not available. The Batteries are 4 - 8D Interstates at 1400 crank or 235AH each. I went overboard on this to support a medical grade sleep/air pump mask - CPAP - needs pure sine wave power. Well that's my execuse and I'm sticking to it. Nothing to do with my gaming computer (Quad CPU; 8GigRam; 2X8800GTX video cards pulling 900 watts at 100% usage) or the computer I use for computer business analysis work on the road.
Also doing small maintenance jobs on this used unit I purchased. Such as replacing floppy end on 30A cable; adding Surge Guard to utility power cable; 'provisioning' sheets and utensils and plates and, and, and all the little stuff.

So I really appreciate your coming to my help and will keep reading it and think through how to use it. The main two being, so far, unplug converter but keep connected as backup and hardwire my new batteries to DC side of power panel.

Thanks,
Stephenallan
Calgary, Alberta


I'm thinking through what you have shared with me and for me your idea of keeping the original converter insitu is great. I think that will mean wiring the new 8D battery bank to the DC side of the power panel (WFCO 8930/50 distribution panel) keep the original 2 batteries connected to the power panel second DC input to keep those circuits running (so far I've identified the propane detector and the storage lights are controlled with the original main battery ON/OFF).

Let me re-read your help and think a while. I used equal length 2/0 cables with poured brass lugs for the battery cabling; wired the "AC out" side of the Xantrex to the power panel using 8/3 cable and upgraded from the WFCO Xfer box to the Xantrex "AC in" using 8/3.

My old man used to say, "If you're going to do it you might as well do it right"...and you've gone and done it! I'm impressed, poured brass lugs and all.

[crashbot]

Originally Posted by stephenallan

.... The Batteries are 4 - 8D Interstates at 1400 crank or 235AH each. I went overboard on this to support a medical grade sleep/air pump mask - CPAP - needs pure sine wave power. Well that's my execuse and I'm sticking to it. ......

Wow... And to think I cheaped out and ordered the $25 DC power cable for my CPAP.. I coulda used the excuse to upgrade to 900aH??