Inverter question

[Cfrieders]

Purchased a pure sine wave, 3000 watt inverter for our Jayco Jayflight trailer. Question is: After I hard wire inverter to the batteries, what will happen if I plug in the shoreline cord from the trailer to the inverter- will there be a problem with the “auto trickle charger” in the control panel that always comes on when I plug into shore power?

[RetiredOne]

First, make sure you put in a good inline fuse or circuit breaker in the cable feeding the inverter.

Second, why would you plug the shore cable into the inverter? That would be like a snake eating its tail.

[Shokyle1]

Yes you will have a draw with the inverter using battery and the converter/ charger charging it. I think I read on here some people just disable the converter when doing this. maybe someone that had done this will know for sure.

[Cfrieders]

Maybe I misspoke. I want to plug the trailer cord that plugs into shorepower into the inverter so I can either run the microwave or her hairdryer for short periods of time so I don’t have to run the generator. This would also allow me to use any of the 110 outlets in the trailer rather than run an extension cord to the hairdryer from the inverter.

[JimD]

How many batteries do you have to power the inverter? Powering a microwave or hair dryer from an inverter will quickly drain a battery. Much more efficient to just run the generator for the short period of time that these items would need to be run.

In the simplest of terms, disregarding all losses involved with the conversion of 12 volts to 120 volts, to power a 1200 watt hair dryer or microwave would require 1200 watts of input power. 1200 watts at 12 volts equates to 100 amps of battery draw. That is asking a lot from a battery.

Recharging the batteries would take a lot longer generator run time than it would to simply use the generator to run the microwave or hairdryer.

In my opinion, inverters should only be used for low power items such as a TV and used sparingly. An inverter is not a magical power generating device. Many people expect miracles from them.

I use my inverter to power my TV/sound bar/Direct TV receiver sometimes. I have 200 watts of solar feeding two 12 volt batteries. I have a voltage monitor that I constantly watch so I know when I need to recharge the batteries. I watch the battery level go lower and lower even though the solar is putting out. And I am not even trying to power a big draw item!

When my batteries get down to 12.2 or so I know it is time to fire up the generator. Rather than running my 4k generator I simply plug the shore power cord into a small 2200 watt inverter generator and let that run the TV and recharge the batteries. That little generator can run all day on a gallon of gas. I love it.

Anyway, that is my opinion on inverters. They are good for some things but may not do what you are wanting.

[Cfrieders]

Thank you for the response. I love to run my generator, but when we park the Jayco in a “campground” we usually get a “Karen” type person that reminds me “No generators from 8:00 pm until 8:00 am” and an ample look of disgust. I would just run the inverter so I can heat up my oatmeal in the microwave until I can start up my “under 50 decibel” noise pollution generator to charge back the batts.

[LI-Camper]

I had an older Greyhawk (2004) with an inverter and two golf cart batteries. I plugged the shore cord into the inverter also. You need to turn off the breaker to the converter and also make sure the frig is operating on propane only. If you have the frig on auto setting it will run on 120v and your batteries will discharge quickly.

[Cfrieders]

LI-Camper,
Thank you, that answered my question completely!!

[Cavie]

Originally Posted by Cfrieders

Maybe I misspoke. I want to plug the trailer cord that plugs into shorepower into the inverter so I can either run the microwave or her hairdryer for short periods of time so I don’t have to run the generator. This would also allow me to use any of the 110 outlets in the trailer rather than run an extension cord to the hairdryer from the inverter.

No the inverter is designed to be hard wired. Not plugged in.

[Newtosolar]

I have solar panels wired to the 2 12V batteries and a charge controller. I also have a 3000W inverter that I want to use while dry camping. What is the easiest way to wire the inverter in to the converter and not cause problems between the batteries and inverter and converter? We just like to watch TV for a little while at night and charge phones.