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View Full Version : Add a invertor


BobW
05-22-2006, 11:32 AM
I would like to add a invertor to my rig. I have two deep cell batterys, plan to add two more. The invertor will be a 3k Xantrax. Just how do you connected it to the electrical system? I think you would run the line you want to invert from the fuse box and from the invertor to the line you used. Would it be that simple?

wannabe
05-24-2006, 05:00 PM
I do not have the answer, but whoever you get to install needs to really know how to do it. I know someone who thought they knew how to do it and ended up blowing out the whole electrical system in the trailer....not good! He thought he would save a few bucks only to have it cost thousands to fix. FWIW!

MDTdriver
05-24-2006, 07:07 PM
Hi I have a Xantrax Freedom 2000 watt. Inverter Here is how mine to connected.
Inverter should not be in same compartment as batteries.
Inverter charge circuit to batteries.
AC power to inverter from 30amp breaker in trailer breaker pannel.
AC output power to three 15amp breakers in trailer breaker pannel. (these will be the only appliances to work of inverter) no air conditioning/frig. or thing drawing more than 20amp.
Run netural wires from inverter to netural block in trailer breaker pannel.
This is a general overview of what to do. You should have a wiring diagram with our inveter if new. If not find one you will understand this better.
Hope this is of some help.

Larry & Kathy

CampingCaptain
05-25-2006, 08:38 AM
Larry,
Why do you say that the inverter should not be in the same compartment as the batteries? I'm also curious why you say no refrigerator to be run off of inverter. When we were in the RGV in Feb/Mar we met someone with a Mobile Suite who had a small upright freezer in their basement connected to an inverter with a dedicated battery for when they are on the road. it would run off of shore power when they are stopped. It seemed like a great idea and as far as I know they had no problems with their setup.

MDTdriver
05-25-2006, 09:38 AM
Hi CampingCaptain
My thoughts on batteries and inverters, gasses and electric spark do not mix.
Battery power, in my case only had 4 of them and my delear put the frig. in the circuit and it pulled my batteries down fast. Not sure about a freezer.
And I am talking about parking my 5er for a night or to with out truck not running and charging batteries.
I do also have 200 watts of solar. Which gives us on a sunny day more than 6 hrs. after sunset watching tv and my wife on the internet with Hughes.net.

What you talk about does sound like a good setup for on the road and in a camp site.

Hope this helps.

Larry & Kathy

BobW
05-25-2006, 11:06 AM
Thanks for the info. So far I've been looking at a new Freedom 2000. I only have two small deep cells that came with the rig. I plan to add two more. All I need 120 for is the intertainment center. I can get to the breaker to tap into that only.
Also for the question about using the inverter to run the frig, I think it would require too much power to do that. Why would you need to if you have gas?

CampingCaptain
05-25-2006, 01:30 PM
BobW,
What I was talking about was a small upright freezer and not a fridge, although the principles of operation are the same. The people that I referred to did not want to go with the double wide refrigerator as it would have cost them pantry space. So, they opted to put a small upright freezer in their basement to give them a little extra freezer space. I didn't get into details with them. They just told us that they ran the freezer off of an inverter when they were on the road and that they had a separate dedicated battery for the inverter and freezer. Something else that they did was since they opted not to have the double refrigerator/freezer, that meant they did not have an icemaker, so they opted to have the Splendide combination washer/dryer instead of the stacked, separate units. They built a shelf above the Splendide and put a small icemaker on that shelf. There was already a ready water supply in the closet. It seemed like a nice way to go. I think we'll do the same.

BobW
06-04-2006, 01:07 PM
MDTdriver, I understand the inverter needs 120 from the breaker box, that's OK, but, the 120 output from the inverter, needs to go back to the breaker box to supply power to the selected circuit. Just how do I divide the beaker so that it's isolated from the other 6 breakers in the box? There all tied together and I would be electrifying all of them. Can I just connect the wire from the inverter directly to the wire I want to electrify, or do I need to add another box and hook the wire I intend to use to that new box? I plan on only electrifying one circuit, the one that supplies the power to the entertainment center.

MDTdriver
06-04-2006, 04:12 PM
If your inverter has 2 breaker as mine does, then you find the breaker for the tv or computer ect. in the trailer breaker box you want to use. Remove the wire from trailer breaker and attach it to the wire from the invert breaker which then will replace the breaker in the trailer which will now not be used.
In my case with 2 inverter breakers, 1 replaced two in trailer box the other one replaced 1 breaker in the trailer box, that means 3 breakers in trailer box will not be used and replaced by the breakers in the inverter.
If you have any more questions. I will send you a PM with more info.

Larry & Kahty plus our new traveler Meeko Siberian Husky

BobW
06-05-2006, 01:08 AM
Thanks for replying. What I'm going to do is change the breaker, in the main box, to a 30 amp breaker, send that line to the inverter. The 120 out from the inverter will goo to a new box with a 20 amp breaker. That line will go to the entertainment center. this should work.

MDTdriver
06-05-2006, 10:14 AM
If you do not have breakers in your inverter then your idea will work fine.
What model inverter do you have.

Larry

BobW
06-05-2006, 11:02 AM
i got the Freedom 458 2k with a Link 1000 remote. Now I need to get a box and wire it up. I looked in the manuel and found out the wireing they show on option 2. That's just what I want. After that, I need a couple more batteries to power this baby up.
thanks :P

MDTdriver
06-05-2006, 11:19 AM
Bob I think that is the same inverter I have if so it has 2 15amp breakers in the front of it, which is what I have use to power in intertainment center and bedroom tv and the plug for computer.

Larry

BobW
06-05-2006, 02:29 PM
Doing a little test, I found that all the outlets for the entertainment system is on one 15 amp circuit. that's nice. None of the other item, like microwave are on that circuit. So I only need one beaker. WHAT FUN.

MDTdriver
06-05-2006, 04:55 PM
I have gone though all my breakers in my 5er and make labels for each one with plugs in each room that are on it. Very helpfull sometines.
I glad you are on the right track for your project.

Larr & Kahty

BobW
06-12-2006, 11:43 AM
Just for those who are interested in adding an inverter, I'll describe what I had to do. Our rig didn't come with an inverter, it was not even an option. So, I bought a Xantrax 2000 watt Freedom from a guy on Ebay for about $650 plus $30 shipping. I bought it as a Buy it Now item. It arrived the very next day! Believe that? So I made a box to hold it and placed it under the roof of the basement. All I wanted to use the inverter for was the entertainment center. I found the circuit breaker that goes to that. Everything was on one breaker. I disconnected the Converter from it's breaker and put a cap on it. We wont be needing this. Bought a sub box with two breakers in it. Ran a 10 gage 3 wire from the house breaker box to the inverter. From the inverter i ran a 12 gage wire to the sub box. From the sub box, a 12 gage to the wire that went to the entertainment center. The inverter was hooked to the old converter breaker, but changed to 30 amps. With no 12v power to the inverter, I plugged in the RV to the shore power and all went well. I had power to all the outlets in the entrainment center. One thing, the vacuum didn't work. I found out that the vac was plugged into the converter outlet box in the basement. So I unplugged the converter and reattached it's wire to the unused breaker in the house box. So, now the 120v is routed through the Xantrax. Attached the remote to the inverter. Now I added 2 gage wires to the house batteries. Turned the charger on with the remote and it started charging. Now for the test. I went outside and unplugged the RV, turned on the inverter and everything worked great. No noise in the TV and the batteries are charging great. By the way, the Xantrax has a much better charger than what came with the RV. It uses a 3 stage charging system. Now my next job is to add two more house batteries. called Xantrax and they said I could add all the batteries I want, to some degree.

hitchup
06-12-2006, 12:21 PM
Just for those who are interested in adding an inverter, I'll describe what I had to do. Our rig didn't come with an inverter, it was not even an option. So, I bought a Xantrax 2000 watt Freedom from a guy on Ebay.
The inverter was hooked to the old converter breaker, but changed to 30 amps. With no 12v power to the inverter, I plugged in the RV to the shore power and all went well. I had power to all the outlets in the entrainment center. By the way, the Xantrax has a much better charger than what came with the RV. It uses a 3 stage charging system. Now my next job is to add two more house batteries. called Xantrax and they said I could add all the batteries I want, to some degree.

I just read through all the posts. Excuse me, I'm just a girl & still learning. But I thought that a converter was for charging from shore power & an inverter was needed only if you had solar power. From your description (we have same ES model), we could also upgrade ours with an Inverter?!? Now am trying to figure out the advantage. Is it just to run TV during power outages??

By the way on DT's website, Spec page says that a Xantrex 3000w Inverter with 4-6v batteries & 2nd compartment is an option. Why did you only go with 2000w?

BobW
06-12-2006, 02:42 PM
Just a girl? That's allot. An converter is simply a transformer that takes 120 volts, from shore power, and converts it to 12 volts DC to charge your batteries and run your 12 volt house items. A inverter takes 12 volts from the battery and changes it to 120 volts AC. The problem is it takes allot of juice from your batteries to run the inverter. So, you"ll need extra batteries. The inverter also has a second job of also charging the batteries when plugged into shore power.

Hobo
06-12-2006, 04:26 PM
Just a girl? That's allot. An converter is simply a transformer that takes 120 volts, from shore power, and converts it to 12 volts DC to charge your batteries and run your 12 volt house items. A inverter takes 12 volts from the battery and changes it to 120 volts AC. The problem is it takes allot of juice from your batteries to run the inverter. So, you"ll need extra batteries. The inverter also has a second job of also charging the batteries when plugged into shore power.

The inverter only has one job 12V to 120V but you have a converter built in to the Xantrax and also a relay that switches between the two in the model inverter you have. I purchesed just the inverter for my rig as the converter that comes with the MS is a good one so why not use it. Also saves $$
Rick

BobW
06-13-2006, 01:27 PM
I purchesed just the inverter for my rig as the converter that comes with the MS is a good one so why not use it. Also saves $$
Rick

How do you know how good the converter is that came with your MH? The Xantrax is a 3 stage converter. Also, the switch? What switch? If your MH didn't come equiped with a inverter, you more than likly don't have a switch, just a transformer. (converter that charges the batteries only.)

Hobo
06-13-2006, 07:40 PM
How do you know how good the converter is that came with your MH? The Xantrax is a 3 stage converter. Also, the switch? What switch? If your MH didn't come equiped with a inverter, you more than likly don't have a switch, just a transformer. (converter that charges the batteries only.)

The switch is the transfer switch that automatically transfers between inverter power and incoming AC power. I installed my own along with the 3 solar panels I have I rarely have my converter even plugged in. That saves a lot when your paying for your own electricity. The specs on the MS converter should be in your warranty papers. I have read it all but it was a long time ago so I won't quote anything. You can also get add on to control the charge to your batteries if you don't trust the converter to have the needed tecknowlighy built in.

BobW
06-14-2006, 10:33 PM
One more thing. If you add a converter to your system, the inverter power can't be wired to the converter. This would cause the 120 from the inverter to power the converter that would supply power back to the inverter. Did I say that right? I had to make sure my converter was disconnected from the circuit breaker. of corse I have a Xantrax, so I don't need the converter. Think about it, if I have the IV powering 120 to the CV it sends 12v to the IV that sends 120 to the CV, etc, etc, on an endless cycle. This could damage the inverter big time because the converter is not filtered very well and depends on the batteries to act as a large capacitor to do the filtering. Just a thought. Interesting huh?