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Just received an email from my salesman. He said his service dept is quoting “an arm and a leg” for the inverter install and asked if I can do that part myself. I said yes of course but I’m no electrical engineer. I’ve worked in both boat building and home construction (years ago!) so I’m familiar with 12v AND residential wiring but never together. I watched Ray’s videos but I’m the type that has to actually DO something before I learn it lol. Should I just have the dealer install the panels and charge controller and do the rest myself? Should I get help from a pro?
Depends, I would say on what you want to Inverter to power. If like me you just need one dedicated outlet or maybe two or three, isolated from the rest of the rigs AC wiring then it’s a pretty easy install. Battery hookup instructions will be included with the inverter then the AC output is just a glorified extension cord really. For more outlets use a junction box.
But, if you want all the rigs existing outlets to work then there are two more complicated ways to go. Easier way of the two is to plug the rig’s power cord with an adapter into the inverter making sure to turn off the breaker for the converter charger.
or
Install an automatic transfer switch and hard wire the inverter in, which gets more complicated and you may want an electrician to do it.
Either way, with these two options you will need to remember not to be running any items of higher wattage then the inverter puts out. For example, I wouldn’t want my fridge set to Auto mode and kick over from propane to electric eating up 375 watts or the 1200 watt HW electric to be on. Both could drain the batteries rather quickly.
At least with the dedicated outlets I’m very aware of what’s plugged in.
If your rig is 50 amp it adds another layer of complexity as well. 😉
Yep – 50 amp. But not going to be using most high power items when boondocking. No AC, microwave, etc but would like to power the TV/satellite and my computer/monitors. Fridge I would keep on propane unless on shore power.
I like the idea of plugging in the shore power cord to the inverter or just wiring up a few outlets dedicated to the inverter. Maybe eventually we can meet up with someone like Eddie for a real upgrade 🙂
With just that kind of requirements, I would wire in a few AC outlets to a junction box and then plug it into the inverter. Only hard part is figuring out where to fish the wires.
For the 12-volt side keep the inverter very close to the battery bank with short heavy gauge wire and a properly sized breaker with a built in switch to make circuit disconnection easy if needed. You would be good to go. 🙂
Ok so next question: What inverter should I get? Something like this?
Hi CaptnRob, That Kisae 2000-watt is the same as our Nature Power 2000-watt pure sine just a different color. ( Ours is Black with green trim on the ends) Same manufacture, different name brand.
We have been using ours for 3-1/2 years now with no troubles.
Happy Trails!!!
Captain , the video of Ray’s on You Tube of our install(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARKwl7lxHWo&list=PLp14lzXh07umKPYbp9R6Di7xEhu-WySmD) does show our inverter being the Nature Power. We changed it out to an Magnum. Its twice as much as the Nature Power. Love it though.
I choose to use a professional to install our system, Eddie from Mobile Homesteading who probably as you know on here as Eddie and Aileen. The video on Love your RV tells his work. We were tee totally satisfied after all was done. It was well worth the headache and pains of doing it our selves. He know his stuff.
Could I have done it and saved yes, but an ole pro like Eddie has been there and done it a lot more than I.
Thanks 🙂
Maybe eventually I can meet up with Eddie at some point but I want to have at least the minimum before hitting the road.
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