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Old 09-18-2021, 10:46 AM   #1
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Question Where is the inverter?

I cannot find the inverter on my 2006 Lexington 283GST. Nothing under either the driver's or passenger's seat. Breaker panel is attached to the bed support. Big black iron looking thing, square in shape with perhaps a fan on top is under one dinette bench. Sorry for no pic. I see no labels or wires attached to it. Trying to track down why 120v outlets not working without shore power or gen power. Resetting GFI with shore power on doesn't make them work after shore power is off. Using the forum search function, but cannot find previous threads. Thank you.
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Old 09-18-2021, 11:04 AM   #2
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I cannot find the inverter on my 2006 Lexington 283GST. Nothing under either the driver's or passenger's seat. Breaker panel is attached to the bed support. Big black iron looking thing, square in shape with perhaps a fan on top is under one dinette bench. Sorry for no pic. I see no labels or wires attached to it. Trying to track down why 120v outlets not working without shore power or gen power. Resetting GFI with shore power on doesn't make them work after shore power is off. Using the forum search function, but cannot find previous threads. Thank you.
I wouldn’t have guessed a 2006 Lexington had an inverter. Are you sure it does?
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Old 09-18-2021, 11:07 AM   #3
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Question

I looked at the specs for that year and for the GTS model (nothing found for GST), and don't see an inverter listed as standard equipment; are you sure your rig has one? If so, it could be almost anywhere. Ideally, it should be located not far from the house battery/batteries.
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Old 09-18-2021, 11:10 AM   #4
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Duplicate threads merged
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Old 09-18-2021, 11:22 AM   #5
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thanks for being so responsive, Mr. Dan and Pop. You got me thinking whether I was imagining they used to work off of 12v or not. I looked in the trusty 'binder' and have the original brochure and the GTS options, which the rig has all others optional equipment, stated a 450 Watt Inverter. I will look in the battery storage area. Thanks again.
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Old 09-18-2021, 11:26 AM   #6
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thanks for being so responsive, Mr. Dan and Pop. You got me thinking whether I was imagining they used to work off of 12v or not. I looked in the trusty 'binder' and have the original brochure and the GTS options, which the rig has all others optional equipment, stated a 450 Watt Inverter. I will look in the battery storage area. Thanks again.
I would think a 450 watt inverter would only have 1 outlet powered from it, not a whole series of outlets. 450 watts isn't much. Very general rule of thumb for 12v to 120v inverters is 1 amp DC for every 10 watts AC. So you would be looking for a 45 amp input to a 450 watt inverter. Meaning, your looking for some hefty wiring going to the converter.
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Old 09-18-2021, 11:32 AM   #7
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Thanks Navy. I figured 450 wasn't a whole lot, but I was hoping to at least plug in the my CPAP machine since I don't have the DC battery or converter for it.
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Old 09-18-2021, 12:31 PM   #8
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Thanks Navy. I figured 450 wasn't a whole lot, but I was hoping to at least plug in the my CPAP machine since I don't have the DC battery or converter for it.
We run two cpaps, wife and I. Mine has a 12 volt supply for it. My trailer bedroom is right over my pass through storage. There is a solar power connection that goes into my pass through storage space and it has a heavy wire going directly to the battery. So, I was able to easily splice into that wire and run 4 gauge wire up through one hole into the bedroom. That feeds a 400 watt pure sine wave inverter. The wife's cpap runs off that.

Then I ran a 12v dc wire from the input of the inverter and tapped into an existing DC circuit that fed a USB charging wall plate. The USB charger was connected to the bedroom light circuit so I disconnected it from the light circuit and connected it to the same DC supply as the inverter. I replaced the USB charging wall plate with a combo cigarette lighter outlet and USB charger. So my cpap plugs into that as well as phones for charging.

Running both our CPAPS and one vent fan on low, with minimum furnace use at night, I pull about 40 amps out of the battery overnight. Refrigerator is propane.

That being said, running a cpap from a 12 volt power supply will be much more efficient than running it from an inverter.
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Old 09-18-2021, 01:12 PM   #9
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That does look like a nice design. I'll put that into the mix :-)
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Old 09-18-2021, 06:58 PM   #10
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2006 would be a converter maybe
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Old 09-18-2021, 07:07 PM   #11
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2006 would be a converter maybe
All RVs come with factory CONverters, few come with factory INverters.
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Old 09-18-2021, 08:30 PM   #12
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Thanks Navy. I figured 450 wasn't a whole lot, but I was hoping to at least plug in the my CPAP machine since I don't have the DC battery or converter for it.
sas7001, I suggest you change your focus from "where's my inverter" to "how can I run my CPAP without shore power". Many people in the RV community do just that and there's lots to read about it on this forum. Just search for CPAP.

Personally, DW and I have 12V CPAPs for travel. I added 12V accessory outlets (appropriately wired and fused) at the headboard and we have 12V DC adapters from the CPAP manufacturer. We have 24V CPAPs at home and can get 12V DC adapters for those, too, if we wanted to.

The other part of the equation is what kind of batteries you have and how you recharge them. If you're staying out for more than a couple nights you'll need either a generator or a solar panel system. As with using CPAP on 12V DC, there's lots of information here about batteries and charging systems.

I won't expound on the topic but do come back with more questions once you read some more threads on the topic. There's a lot to absorb.

Edit: I suggest using a shunt-type battery monitor. Some are expensive, others aren't, but have fewer features. Either will provide you with reliable information about the status of your batteries that you can't get with a volt meter or the idiot lights on your trailer control panel.
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Old 09-18-2021, 08:47 PM   #13
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Thanks Chris. I will indeed do a search on CPAP. I have 2 house batteries and a 4000 Onan generator. I was hoping to be able to plug in the laptop into the 120 sockets, as well as, using the CPAP. I was thinking of phone chargers, but I guess adding more cigarette lighter plugs (only have one in the living area) or 12v usb plugs would also work. I thought the CPAP 12v adapters were pricy, last time I checked. But might be the easiest solution.
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Old 09-19-2021, 12:05 AM   #14
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Thanks Chris. I will indeed do a search on CPAP. I have 2 house batteries and a 4000 Onan generator. I was hoping to be able to plug in the laptop into the 120 sockets, as well as, using the CPAP. I was thinking of phone chargers, but I guess adding more cigarette lighter plugs (only have one in the living area) or 12v usb plugs would also work. I thought the CPAP 12v adapters were pricy, last time I checked. But might be the easiest solution.
IMO, adding 12VDC accessory ports is better than adding USB charge points. They're more versatile and you can up with USB charge technology changes more easily. Just buy a newer 12V plug-in USB charger.

Using an inverter to power or charge a DC device is inefficient and not necessarily easier. For phones, use USB chargers. You can buy high-wattage QC & PD compatible 12V USB charge adapters for <$15 on Amazon. Be sure the charge cable you're using supports that capability or it's wasted money.

I have a 90W 12V USB-C PD-compatible power supply for my Dell laptop and my son can use it for his Macbook. Since it's USB C, I can use it to charge my Android phones and use it with the laptops in my truck.
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Old 09-22-2021, 11:41 PM   #15
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Not sure if this will help but we have a 2008 283GTS and it does have a factory-installed inverter. The inverter lives under the passenger seat and is rated at about 400 watts. The only outlets powered by the inverter live in the entertainment center above the cab. Power for the inverter is supplied by the coach batteries via the controller/fuse center located next to the coach battery tray on the outside of the coach. There is a warning label next to the power outlets in the entertainment cabinet warning the inverter is not attached to the battery cut-off switch and leaving the inverter power switch in the on position will discharge the coach batteries.
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Old 09-23-2021, 10:25 AM   #16
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That does help indeed. Thanks, David, for the tip.
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