Inverter Install

[whatimmadoboutmylegs]

Hi All,

I'm looking for a little advice regarding the upcoming inverter install in my 195RB.

In looking at the factory wire/propane routing, it runs from the front to the rear of the trailer, then up through the floor and looks like it's sealed with foam. Due to voltage drop concerns, I don't want to make my run of 4ga from the battery to the inverter that long.

Instead, my plan is to run 12v from the factory battery location to the front (under-bed) storage area, and mount the inverter there.

The underbelly insulation appears to have the exterior trim rolled over it and stapled. I'm hesitant to start pulling that apart. The obvious fix would be to cut a slit in the insulation, hole-saw through the floor, and spray-foam around the wires once installed. That plan makes me nervous about introducing a path for moisture.

If anyone has input, it would be appreciated. Most of the searching I've done turns up information about wiring from the basement of a 5er.

 

[Rustysocket]

Lets say your running 20 amps using 4 guage wire. Your voltage drop is going to be insignificant even if you ran the wire to the other end of the trailer. .2 volts at the most over lets say 20 feet. So lets say you can shorten that to 10 feet by making your wiring path more difficult... so you save .1volt...


I'd wire it however it is easiest and cleanest. If you've not punctured you underbelly, I'd leave it alone.


Now granted, I'm not sitting there looking at your install. I'm just doing some basic math and trying to envision your concerns.

 

[sebring96hbg]

What size inverter are you installing? Usually, it is best to keep the run from the inverter to the battery less than 10 feet. Also, there are charts, online, that provide the recommended wire gauge based on the inverter capacity.

 

[Mustang65]

As asked in a previous post, what size inverter are you going to purchase? If you are only going to have one battery, it should be a small one.

After looking at a picture of your TT, I would mount the inverter inside you front pass through, and that will be close to your battery. You can then run a 110VAC cable to where ever you need it.

Running your battery cable through the under side plastic sheeting is not an issue. I drilled a hole in the floor of the front pass through, went under the TT and made a small hole in the plastic. I took a coat hanger and pushed it through the insulation and up through the floor. I pulled the battery cables through and mounted them on the front wall. I then foamed the hole in the plastic sheeting.

Some members have ran an extension cable from the inverter into the living area an plugged in their Tv and other electrical things. Some have purchased an automatic transfer switch and wired both their shore-power and inverter into it and were able to use all their TT's outlets. DW was not going to have extension cords in the TT, so I ran my 110VAC cable to the back of the TT to where my shore-power cable is connected. I then connected my shore power to one 30 amp RV outlet and the inverters output to another RV 30 amp outlet. So I have an RV outlet for either source of power. I then connected the cable from the TT's power controller to a 30Amp RV male plug, and when we have shore power I plug the TT into the shore power outlet, if we are dry camping I plug the TT into the Inverter outlet. I also had to put the 12VDC battery charge controller on its own AC 110 breaker so that it is not working when on inverter power.

Keep the battery run to the inverter as SHORT as possible (5' or less) for best results.

Pick up a Digital Voltage Meter to monitor your battery, so you can shut everything down when the battery hits 12.0 Volts.

Don

 

[Flapper]

While I can't advise on the specific routing, I will chime in on the wiring - using heavy gauge wire and keeping it as short as possible, from the battery to the inverter is preferred. The other side is that routing/pulling very heavy wire over longer distances is a royal pain! Even if you pay the big $$ for the most flexible you can find. But, from the inverter to where ever you want it, running 12ga. for the 120v is so much easier and vastly cheaper. Make sure whatever inverter you buy has a remote on/off switch available as an option. Usually it uses light "phone" wire to route back to the inverter. Then you can mount the inverter in an inconvenient location, but near the batteries, out of the way. Inverters pull power all the time, even when not in use, so having to go outside at night or in the rain, to turn it off quickly gets to be a pain. Most switches have reminder lights on them, so easy to see when turning everything off before going to bed.
In my case, I found a 12ga. outdoor rated extension cord was the best solution for the 120v wiring run. Cheap and much easier to pull than romex. Just plug it into the outlet on the inverter on one end, and have it come out in the small cabinet under my TV on the other. Suitably sleeved to avoid chafing on edges of pass through holes, of course. Stays coiled up when not in use, but can be used for any number of things. And the remote switch is in the cabinet where the cord is stored.

 

[whatimmadoboutmylegs]

Thanks for the input so far. To answer a couple of the questions, it is a 1000w pure sine inverter with remote on/off. The installation of the switch and interior 120v socket(s) isn't the concern, as I'm not dealing with outdoor conditions.

Also, I do appreciate the concern about running my battery down with such a large inverter. I have no intention of loading it anywhere near capacity, at least not until I upgrade my batteries. For the time being, we're probably talking about a 22" LED monitor and Raspberry Pi (1.2A combined input at 120v per their AC/DC converters), and/or some recharging of small electronics.

 

[RoyBraddy]

Like others here are saying I would go for getting it as close as possible to the battery bank. The 1000WATT Power Inverter is capable of drawing around 125AMPS DC Current if fully loaded. You don't want to be doing this some 12-15 feet away from the battery bank.

Of course the Power Inverter has to be installed in a dry location. The beauty of the Power Inverter is that you can run the two 120VAC Lines from it for a very long distances with no ill effects...

What I did with my 600WATT PSW POwer Inverter was installed it some 6 -feet away from my main battery switch location using large DC Cable. Then I ran two HD Extension cords with mulit heads sockets and ON/OFF switch from the two Power Inverter 120VAC sockets into the trailer with one going to the the home entertainment area and the other one going back to the back of the night table close to the master bed.

The 600 Watts PSW is more than enough to run the home entertainment items and WX radio etc and lots of small wattage items. Back by the master bed is a great place for us to have our charger xfmrs for the cell phone-tablets-computer items. Having the Pure Sine Wave model we never have to worry about what is plugged into the emergency power drops. We actually run about 250-300 Watts of the available 600 Watts PSW being developed by the Power Inverter. This is sort of our RV Trailer UPS setup haha...

The multi-tap Extension cord is on the back side of the cabinet or table and out of site...

We actually leave this on all the time even when camping at shore power power sites. Everything stays on-line and don't have to worry about an occasional shore power outage.

works for us...

Roy Ken

 

[Bassdogs]

Like others here are saying I would go for getting it as close as possible to the battery bank. The 1000WATT Power Inverter is capable of drawing around 125AMPS DC Current if fully loaded. You don't want to be doing this some 12-15 feet away from the battery bank.

Of course the Power Inverter has to be installed in a dry location. The beauty of the Power Inverter is that you can run the two 120VAC Lines from it for a very long distances with no ill effects...

What I did with my 600WATT PSW POwer Inverter was installed it some 6 -feet away from my main battery switch location using large DC Cable. Then I ran two HD Extension cords with mulit heads sockets and ON/OFF switch from the two Power Inverter 120VAC sockets into the trailer with one going to the the home entertainment area and the other one going back to the back of the night table close to the master bed.

The 600 Watts PSW is more than enough to run the home entertainment items and WX radio etc and lots of small wattage items. Back by the master bed is a great place for us to have our charger xfmrs for the cell phone-tablets-computer items. Having the Pure Sine Wave model we never have to worry about what is plugged into the emergency power drops. We actually run about 250-300 Watts of the available 600 Watts PSW being developed by the Power Inverter. This is sort of our RV Trailer UPS setup haha...

The multi-tap Extension cord is on the back side of the cabinet or table and out of site...

We actually leave this on all the time even when camping at shore power power sites. Everything stays on-line and don't have to worry about an occasional shore power outage.

works for us...

Roy Ken

Pretty much did the same thing in our white hawk. 600 psw is more than enough to power the entertainment center and a few other low draw items. No remote shut off on my set up so have to make a trip outside when its lights out. Gives me a chance to do a final site check [truck locked, electric stuff out of the weather and trash up so no animals.

 

[octane]

when I relocated my battery to the back storage on my 154bh (AGM sealed battery) I just drilled a hole in the floor with one of those long drill bits, making sure I didn't hit a metal floor beam, then sealed the hole in the plywood and in the fabric under belly cover with a bit of silicone caulk to keep the bugs out.

on those TT the floor is just a plywood, with an inch of fiberglass insulation, and the "tarp like" under belly cover, no plumbing, no tanks, no wiring.

 

[sebring96hbg]

I have a 600W inverter for entertainment and charging, connected to a 225 AH battery bank. I see this as being balanced.

For a 1000W inverter, this is what is recommended:

<3' run: 4 AWG
3'-6' run: 2 AWG
6'-10' run: 1/0 AWG

The fuse should be no more than 7" from the positive post. Blue Sea makes a terminal fuse block that I use.