Inverter Question about my Palomini

[Heli911]

Somebody once told me there are no dumb questions, only dumb people. Without trying to sound totally ignorant/dumb, does my Palomini 177BH have a stock inverter?

I only ask this because I had a Go Power 160watt solar panel installed with two 6v batteries when I bought it new. The solar panel keeps the batteries topped off during the day. I did this so at least I can have light when I need it all the time, and maybe keep the forced air heater fan powered.

I bought my trailer end of October and have only camped in it 2 weeks, I had shore power the entire time. However, most of my camping will be in places I don't have access to power.

I guess my question is, if I plug something into the 120w outlet, will it work without shore power and battery power only? This maybe an easy question, but since my trailer is winterized and put away with the batteries removed. I have no way of testing this theory right now.

I noticed on the Go Power 1500w pure sine inverter (website), that the GFI is located on the inverter. So assuming I don't have an inverter, and would like to install one, can it be wired into the factory wiring so I can use my microwave and other outlets? My microwave is secured in its place in the cabinets. I'm not sure I can get to it's power cord. This really wasn't an issue until my wife was prescribed a CPAP machine this week. So i'm trying to figure out my options for power. It may be as easy as buying a 12v adapter for the CPAP, or buying an inverter, or both. I'm not sure.

If anybody has a clue and can shed some light on my question, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks,

D

[bikendan]

Your trailer doesn't come with an inverter. But it does have a converter. All RVs have CONverters but few come with INverters, usually some motorhomes and a few fifth wheels.
To run a microwave, you'll need a big inverter and 4 deep cycle batteries, which I doubt your Palomini has room for.

I wired a 400w inverter to my two deep cycle batteries, to run the tv/dvd and to charge electronic devices.

For a trailer your size, you should get an inverter generator if you want to run the microwave.

[Heli911]

Originally Posted by bikendan

Your trailer doesn't come with an inverter. But it does have a converter. All RVs have CONverters but few come with INverters, usually some motorhomes and a few fifth wheels.
To run a microwave, you'll need a big inverter and 4 deep cycle batteries, which I doubt your Palomini has room for.

I wired a 400w inverter to my two deep cycle batteries, to run the tv/dvd and to charge electronic devices.

For a trailer your size, you should get an inverter generator if you want to run the microwave.

Ok, thanks for the explanation.

You are correct, I only have room for 2 batteries.

Sounds like the best thing I can do is buy a 12v adapter for the wifes CPAP machine.

I will need to wire in 2 cigarette lighter adapters so I can use the CPAP and plug in a 12v TV (which I plan to buy also).

Maybe a honda or yamaha 2000w generator is on my list now also.

Thanks again,

D.

[keith_h]

That a 2000W generator is only going to give you 13-16 amps service so might not run some of the appliances or AC unit depending upon their current draw. You will also go through a tank of gas pretty fast at full load. You definitely will have trouble running more than one major appliance at a time. With this is mind you might want to look into a larger generator or the models that support parallel hookup.

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by keith_h

That a 2000W generator is only going to give you 13-16 amps service so might not run some of the appliances or AC unit depending upon their current draw. You will also go through a tank of gas pretty fast at full load. You definitely will have trouble running more than one major appliance at a time. With this is mind you might want to look into a larger generator or the models that support parallel hookup.

A good 2000w inverter generator will run at least 90% of RV microwaves.
Other than the a/c, all the other appliances will run on 12v DC.
Not like you'll use a lot of gas running the microwave for a few minutes.
The OP'S Palomini isn't a big power user, so a 2000w inverter generator should work for everything but the a/c. Unless it's smaller than a 13.5k a/c.

We've been using a Honda 2000i for nearly 10 years, with our HTT. still haven't needed a 2nd one yet.
Even can run our 13.5k a/c with it.
Even ran it at Yellowstone NP.

[Tom48]

We have 200 watts solar, with three group 24 batteries so about the same as the two 6v. We run a Samlex 2000 watt pure sine wave inverter with a short run to the batteries and 2 ga cables. It pulls my wifes hair drier or the micro wave but I think the convection oven would be too hard on the batteries so we don't use it. I have the 12v wire and plug for my cpap. I use a 12 v TV and a tiny little 200 w HF inverter for the direct TV. I keep the big inverter off when not in use since it has a no load draw of two amp or so, about like running two incandescent 12v bulbs.

[Ridenfun]

Just going through this same analysis right now for my wife's CPAP. It seems the electrical draw varies a fair bit amongst different models/brands so you need to review that as well. The ideal of using 12 vdc directly to power it overnight seems like a better approach than running an inverter all night as there is usually 5+% losses in that as well?

[Bluepill]

Originally Posted by Ridenfun

Just going through this same analysis right now for my wife's CPAP. It seems the electrical draw varies a fair bit amongst different models/brands so you need to review that as well. The ideal of using 12 vdc directly to power it overnight seems like a better approach than running an inverter all night as there is usually 5+% losses in that as well?

You are almost always better off running directly from 12 volts if you can. Inverter use is less efficient, and unless you use a PSW inverter, you will be feeding your electronics with dirty MSW power.

http://www.xantrex.com/documents/tec...-universal.pdf

[Tom48]

Originally Posted by Ridenfun

Just going through this same analysis right now for my wife's CPAP. It seems the electrical draw varies a fair bit amongst different models/brands so you need to review that as well. The ideal of using 12 vdc directly to power it overnight seems like a better approach than running an inverter all night as there is usually 5+% losses in that as well?

Actually, I have read or viewed on youtube, many evaluations of inverters and many pure sine wave inverters are only about 80% efficient so more like 25% waste to convert with a proper Sine Wave inverter.

The direct plug in is great and does not seem to even put a big dent in our batteries with the 3 Group 24s and 200 watts solar

[Ridenfun]

Thks Tom48. I'd not realized a PSW inverter was anywhere near that high of inefficiency. So I'll be going the direct 12 vdc route for sure for my wife's CPAP usage, as I'm much more limited on DC capacity so need to do as much as possible to avoid capacity problem.