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Old 12-10-2013, 11:56 AM   #1
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Power inverter size and installation

Recently purchased 2014 jayco x213 jayfeather ultralite. It's equipped with a power
converter but no inverter. I'm hoping to avoid purchasing and installing a generator
(at least for awhile) but want to be able to watch tv, run the microwave and possibly
the heater from an inverter. Question is which one to purchase and what's the best way
to install it ?

Thank you for any info !
Todd
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Old 12-10-2013, 12:28 PM   #2
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TODDWK8 View Post
Recently purchased 2014 jayco x213 jayfeather ultralite. It's equipped with a power
converter but no inverter. I'm hoping to avoid purchasing and installing a generator
(at least for awhile) but want to be able to watch tv, run the microwave and possibly
the heater from an inverter. Question is which one to purchase and what's the best way
to install it ?

Thank you for any info !
Todd
Todd,
First question.. are you going to be dry camping a lot? If so, for how long?
If you are going to be dry camping:
Operating off of batteries:
- Watching TV, (LED/LCD) will be ok, but the power from a single battery will limit your viewing time.
- Microwave running off an inverter will need a lot of 12VDC power and is really not an option, unless you have a lot of batteries and something (solar or generator) to keep them charged.
(The only time I ran my microwave on the inverter was for 5 minutes and I watched the voltage dropping before my eyes)
- Using the TT Heater (assuming it will be running on LP, and not a plug in electric heater) will probably still drain a single battery close to or passed its recommended 80% point by morning. Electric motors and batteries do not get along well.
- Electric heaters plugged into an inverter will kill the battery in nothing flat.
- The regular TT interior lights will also drain your battery pretty fast, convert them to LED's.
My thoughts are, in your case, the generator is probably your best bet along with increasing your 12VDC output by adding a 2nd (DEEP CYCLE) battery.

Just remember that CC's have restrictions on when you can run your generator. Most of the ones we went to allowed them to be run between 9AM and 9-10PM, some only until 8PM.
Your going to need to do an electrical usage analysis to see how much power you will be using, and then see how much your battery(s) will produce for you. Get a large display DV voltage display and use that to monitor our usage.
I went with SOLAR, and happy I did.... but SOLAR is not for everyone.
Don
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Old 12-11-2013, 08:35 PM   #3
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Inverters come in two basic types pure sine wave and modified sine wave. Pure sine wave inverters are efficient and will run any type of equipment such as microwave ovens and motors provided that they are correctly sized for the application. They are however very expensive when compared to modified sine wave inverters. Modified sine wave inverters produce AC power by putting 120v positive on the hot side and then 120v on the neutral line which simulates the -120v expected on the hot line. There is no gradual rise and fall of the voltage it just switches from 120 to 120 on each leg. Some manufacturers try to add capacitors to help smooth out the rise and fall. They also include transformers to smooth it out more. To get an idea of how much current you will be using you can use the P=IE formula I.e. Watts = volt * amps (* power factor). If you have an appliance that draws 1 amp at 120v that equals 120 watts. 120 watts / 12v = 12 amps. 12 amps for 1 hour is 12 amp hours. This means if you have a 55ah battery you get less than 2 hours @ 12 amp load for a 50% depth of discharge.
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Old 12-13-2013, 12:52 AM   #4
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I should also point out that you will need to use very large wire to the battery(s) to carry the current. The longer the run the larger the cable needs to be for a given current. In my old sttup I had 4 1 ought wires for a 3 kw sine wave inverter. Technically I was undersized, but since the run was short it was ok.
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Old 12-13-2013, 11:24 AM   #5
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Here is a link to the brand I have been using for the last 5 years...
http://www.magnumenergy.com/Home/MobileProducts.htm
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