Inverter to Panel Wiring

3000W pure sinewave inverter. WOW! Very nice. I have a 2000W pure sinewave inverter charger.

I dumped the junky converter charger but left the transfer switch. Guess I could have taken that out too.

Anyway I through wired from the transfer switch to the inverter charger to the 110 panel. My battery bank is only a single 4D AGM so that is only 215AH.

The procedure for setting up for dry camping is to turn the 110VAC circuit breakers OFF for the fridge & waterheater & operate the inverter manually as needed via the remote control panel.

I did the following with a 3000w MSW. I added a new sub panel and a second transfer switch. I put a 30 amp circuit breaker in the existing breaker box and ran a 10 g wire from it to the new transfer switch. I ran 10g Romex from the inverter to the transfer switch. I ran 10g Romex from the transfer switch to power the new sub panel. I moved those circuits I wanted to use on the new inverter to the new subpanel.

Keep your fire and liability insurance payed up.

The transfer switch had two inputs. One from the main panel and one from the inverter.

Single output goes to the subpanel.

MrWizard wrote:
The most technical but fool proof way is with a sub panel
Circuits you want to power get moved to the sub panel
A transfer switch goes between the sub panel and the main panel and the inverter
The transfer switch , changes between main panel or inverter
When using Shore lower or generator
Power flows main panel -ts -sub panel

When there is no external power shore or genset
Power flows inverter -ts -sub panel

This costs the most
But is totally automatic
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A manual switch inside is no different than using the shore cord plugged into the inverter
You have to remember to turn off certain items, run then on l.p.
Etc..

I like the idea of a sub panel. One question, when you say, "A transfer switch goes between the sub panel and the main panel and the inverter"... I'm not sure where you mean. Three things are listed and "between" suggests a location between 2 things. Ya, I know I'm being anal about detail. I'd really like to find a diagram of this.

The most technical but fool proof way is with a sub panel
Circuits you want to power get moved to the sub panel
A transfer switch goes between the sub panel and the main panel and the inverter
The transfer switch , changes between main panel or inverter
When using Shore lower or generator
Power flows main panel -ts -sub panel

When there is no external power shore or genset
Power flows inverter -ts -sub panel

This costs the most
But is totally automatic
________________________________________________


A manual switch inside is no different than using the shore cord plugged into the inverter
You have to remember to turn off certain items, run then on l.p.
Etc..

With a 50 amp panel you can move non-inverter loads to one side and inverter loads to the other. Just power one side of the 50 amp transfer switch with the inverter.

Map both sides and post if you want to verify options.

My inverter is a Go Power! GP-SW3000-12 3000-Watt Pure Sine Wave Inverter. Theres a lot to chew on here. My desire was to wire the inverter into the main somehow and simply turn off the breakers to the items I didn't want to power. However, I saw somewhere that it was simpler to put in a second panel fed by the inverter which was then connected to select circuits in the main panel. Oh... one question. Is one side of my 50 amp Montana power ONLY supplying the AC? Also read that someplace.

At least three ways to do it.

1) just plug the main cord into the inverter.

2) Use a 30 or 50 amp transfer switch to power the main panel. You will need to turn off items that should not be run on inverter such as the converter.

3) use a small transfer switch for each branch circuit you want power on. Such as microwave and two convenience outlet circuits. Rest like A/C and converter remain unpowered.

What are you inclined to do?

I wanted the freedom of not having to change anything when I plugged into 120. I found the ckt that feeds the gfi breaker plugs, that included the tv, kitchen, bathroom and the outlet under the storage and spliced the inverter/charger in to that wire where it exits the breaker panel. I also unplugged the 12 volt converter.
When plugged in to 120 volts, the inverter switches across the line passing the 120v and supplying charge voltage to the batteries, when disconnected from the 120 the inverter switches to inverter using the battery to supply 120 to all the plugs connected to the GFI ckt.

I run the fridge and the water heater on gas. with this setup I can't use the microwave, it's on a different breaker in the panel.