help with general electrical question/inverter

[bigb]

Originally Posted by Morich

What type of insulation makes a difference also but those careful calculations are what I felt was not what the OP was wanting to get into as they do involve lots more questions!

Yes I agree but as you probably know these kind of threads end up this way as everyone pitches in a little here and there and the resulting questions and corrections follow.

[Pianotuna]

Originally Posted by Airvet

My stove works also, just wanted to see if I could get the others working with an inverter.

Buy and inverter with enough capacity. 2000 watts is a sweet spot. Install it, then plug in the shore power cord. Set the fridge to propane. Turn off the converter.


Turn on the inverter and enjoy the RV appearing to run on shore power anywhere.

[Bobn1957]

To power a 120 volt 1200 watt appliance you the inverter will need about 150 amps at 12 volts DC so the DC wiring and house batteries would need to be sized for that.

[Jrampey]

Be sure to select a pure sine wave inverter if you want to power a microwave or most modern electronic devices

[creativepart]

Well, all of this discussion is fine but why has everyone ignored the fact that the OP is asking about his 18’ Travel Trailer that likely has one group 27 12v dual purpose battery with maybe 65ah of storage… approx 35ah of which is useable.

This TT is not going to run a 1500w - 2000w inverter for any length of time regardless of the wire gauge used. Nor will it so much as start his microwave.

The OPs question is a good one, but the answer is: that TT, setup as it came from the factory, is not really capable - without a number of changes to the battery bank and electrical system - to power heavy duty 110v appliances such as a microwave without being plugged into shore power or a generator.

While his TT COULD be modified to do this the cost would be a couple of thousand dollars. For far less a small portable generator would provide the power he needs and provide the ability to charge his one house battery as needed, too.

[creativepart]

Originally Posted by Pianotuna

Buy and inverter with enough capacity. 2000 watts is a sweet spot. Install it, then plug in the shore power cord. Set the fridge to propane. Turn off the converter.
Turn on the inverter and enjoy the RV appearing to run on shore power anywhere.

For 3.2 seconds before the Low Voltage alarm beeps and the inverter shuts down.

Yeah, that’ll work.

[BobC]

Creative part is right on the mark in his last two posts. Even though I hate hearing generators running for long periods of time, running one for a few minutes to power a microwave is OK by me.

I have an inexpensive 1000W inverter and I doubt I've used it more than four or five times over the last ten years. We have used a smaller inverter that we've used so my wife can power her sewing machine. We're just not tied to the need for 120V AC when there's no shore power.

[Trout One]

Reviving this thread - to ask, regarding Creative Part's comments (with which I agree) - what would it take to upgrade a smaller TT, assuming the owner is interested in investing in the upgrade (along with a backup Honda 2200)? As we travel counter to the heat, running AC is not too much of an issue. The size of this little trailer allows us to go places a lot of folks can't and I'd like to maximize our ability to do just that.

Realistically, the heavy duty needs are to power a CPAP at night, brew some coffee in an electric percolator, and nuke a few sausage balls in the morning. I don't expect to heat food and brew coffee at the same time - and the bulk of our cooking is done on the range or on our Blackstone. Refrigerator is dual fuel. Pretty much anything else would be lighting and possibly TV during the rain - if we're even able to get signals.

I'm considering a 12V 100Ah LiFePO4 and am wondering if a 1000 watt inverter would be large enough or would I need a 1500 watt unit. Let's assume I'm willing to make the required electrical mods to make this happen, so what would those need to be?

Is a 100Ah LiFePO4 enough? Or are two needed to do this? 1000, 1500, or 2000 watt inverter? I'm assuming a transfer switch and large cables will be needed. Am I missing anything with regards to connections?

Finally, we do have a good 100 watt solar suitcase that's doing a good job of charging the current group 24 Interstate battery, so I would hope we wouldn't be running the Honda except in very cloudy situations.

Thoughts? Thanks in advance!

[Marine359]

Originally Posted by Trout One

Realistically, the heavy duty needs are to power a CPAP at night, brew some coffee in an electric percolator, and nuke a few sausage balls in the morning. I don't expect to heat food and brew coffee at the same time - and the bulk of our cooking is done on the range or on our Blackstone. Refrigerator is dual fuel. Pretty much anything else would be lighting and possibly TV during the rain - if we're even able to get signals.

Finally, we do have a good 100 watt solar suitcase that's doing a good job of charging the current group 24 Interstate battery, so I would hope we wouldn't be running the Honda except in very cloudy situations.

Just an idea here that has worked for me. If you’re not ready to spring for an expensive battery/charger/inverter setup, you may want to consider spending a couple hundred bucks for a cheap Chinese power station for about $200. Mine is 300Wh and has a built in mppt which can connect directly to my folding portable solar. Then I bought a dc/dc adapter for my cpap for about $19. That way, i don’t need to run my inverter at all when boondocking. Just plug the cpap into the 12v car adapter outlet on the power station. I have been able to run my cpap with humidifier on level 3 for 3 nights before needing to recharge the power station. But usually, I throw the station in the back seat when we go on excursions and recharge it from the 12v outlet in the truck. Although I have LiFePo4, this thing has saved house battery amp hrs and given me additional boondock days without the use of generator. Heck, it’s paid for itself by keeping cell phones an iPad charged during power outages at home.

Can’t vouch for the long-term quality of the power station because it’s very inexpensive compared to other power stations. But if craps out in a couple of years I’ll have gotten my money’s worth. Only disappointment is that the 12v outlet is regulated, but limited to 10amps. Cannot run my tire inflator with it.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08F7XNWW4...ing=UTF8&psc=1

[Pianotuna]

Consider SiO2 batteries instead. Li require many hoops.



The battery management systems are often a limiting factor. A 1000 watt inverter may draw 125 amps running flat out--so the bms may shut off the power.

[pbarrow]

I just went super simple and bought a Ecoflow River Mini. Enough power to run small things for a few hours, recharges quickly by generator, cig lighter or solar. Very happy with the purchase so far.

[Trout One]

Originally Posted by Marine359

Just an idea here that has worked for me. If you’re not ready to spring for an expensive battery/charger/inverter setup, you may want to consider spending a couple hundred bucks for a cheap Chinese power station for about $200... Only disappointment is that the 12v outlet is regulated, but limited to 10amps. Cannot run my tire inflator with it.

That's what I'm currently doing and probably will for a while longer - I've had a Goal Zero 400 power station for some years now after a tornado took out power for a week at our other house. It basically acts as a battery backup/surge protector for the CPAP at home and if we ever lose power again for more than a day, the solar suitcase does a nice job of charging it.

It just weighs a bunch - it's the older model with the car battery in it.