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Carb_Cleaner's avatar
Carb_Cleaner
Explorer
Aug 05, 2014

Inverter installed

I put a KISAE SW1210 Pure Sine Wave, 1000 watt inverter in our Wolf Creek 850 Truck camper.
It's mounted to a piece of 3/4 inch MDF that's over-layed with a piece of powder coated grey sheet metal (scrap from a standing-seam metal roof on a S&B). The instructions say to mount it to a non-flammable surface. I'm actually a little concerned by that requirement, but I guess it's a precaution. Two mounting bolts through-bolt the inverter, mounting board and the camper's plastic battery box. Two more screws go from inside the battery box into the back of the mounting board. I squirted a little hot glue behind the board before securing with the fasteners. The MDF's botton edge rests on the styrofoam support for the battery box.
The cables are #2 at 3' long with a 6" pigtail for the 100 Amp breaker The other ends poke through the back of the battery box (with grommets in the openings) and are secured to the two group 27 batteries. The chassis ground has a gold-plated lug with #8 and is barely visible in the last pic. Once I figured out where to mount the inverter, the rest fell in place pretty easy. The little square of plywood (the solar panel fuse is attached to it) in the pics was existing from the dealer and was mounted with screws/caulk, so I decide to work around it.
The only thing I've tried is a 25' drop light with a 60 watt bulb, which is plugged in for the pics. It worked. This is a cheap inverter, but I figured I'd take the gamble. We plan on running things like a 24" LED TV (it doesn't have a 12v wart), laptops, DVD/BlueRay player and/or a gaming console. A 110v LED droplight might be useful while setting up camp, too. It also has a 5 watt USB. I think our 900 watt microwave would be a bit much.
Inverter, cables and fancy-pants terminal covers from DonRowe.com.
Breaker from Solar-Electric.com
Questions, comments and criticisms/concerns are welcome.
View through the drawer holes:


Closer:


The 100 Amp breaker:

Connections and chassis ground:
  • TakingThe5th's avatar
    TakingThe5th
    Explorer
    Aug 05, 2014
    X2 on that nice job. I would be careful using hot glue tho around that project. That stuff can re-melt if too much heat is introduced. I think you are OK with what you have used but you may want to take another look. The way my luck runs, the darn thing would probably fall off just as the popcorn was ready to take out of that 900 watt microwave.
  • westend's avatar
    westend
    Explorer
    Aug 05, 2014
    Carb Cleaner wrote:
    Unless it was sarcasm, in which case it's hilarious
    No, brother, I was serious, compliment intended. Those terminal covers are a thing most folks would not even consider and are a step above, IMO. You also shrink wrapped other cable ends and that's also a good thing.

    About the inverter orientation: I've wondered about this myself and the only thing I can assume is that it has to do is with thermal considerations. Fans and heatsinks are located for maximum dispersion of heat and the engineers are free to CYA about the orientation. If you're not operating at 100% output, I wouldn't worry.
  • Carb_Cleaner's avatar
    Carb_Cleaner
    Explorer
    Aug 05, 2014
    "Termination skills", that's funny. All I did was bolt the cables to the components and slip the covers over the connections. The terminals were already crimped to the #2 welding cable. I appreciate the positive reinforcement and taking the time to comment, though. Unless it was sarcasm, in which case it's hilarious. I did attach the gold-plated terminal to the #8, years ago. It was re-purposed from an old car stereo install. I also threw on a fresh layer of shrink tube.
    I bought a transfer switch from DonRowe, too, but I haven't installed it, yet. The plan is to tie into the existing outlet circuit at the camper's breaker panel. For now, an extension cord will be used to power our devices. I'm sure I'll get tired of tripping over it in short order, but I have other priorities between now and our next departure. Our situation requires remote storage, so, sometimes it can be a hassle performing modifications.
    In a perfect World, with all the space that's available in a TC (LOL), I would/should have placed the breaker closer to the battery connection, but this spot makes it easily accessible from inside the coach, without being a contortionist. It's ignition protected, and I think I could have mounted it in the battery box, but I like the ability of being able to use the breaker as a disconnect to reduce parasitic draw without going outside. Speaking of space, the inverter is supposed to be mounted horizontally. I couldn't find a suitable place for that orientation. I'm not sure why it's spec'ed to mount horizontally for RV applications, but not other uses. Maybe, it'll shake itself apart. We'll see. I hope I didn't break too many rules on the install. Hmmmm. I wonder what I did with that fire extinguisher I bought 8 years ago?
  • time2roll's avatar
    time2roll
    Nomad
    Aug 05, 2014
    I think the breaker should be closer to the battery than the inverter.
    Did you wire it to the 120v panel or just operate from an extension cord?
    Looks like good work. I had no idea there was so much space in a TC.

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