How to find outlets not running thru the inverter

I guess I'm still missing something here. If you have shore power, why turn the inverter on? In eight years of owning our coach, I have used the inverter maybe four times when I did not have shore power or I didn't want to run the generator. Other than that, or maybe to test that it is working properly, the inverter has never been turned on.

Overheating your inverter and switching the inverter from internal to shorepower can cause early failures of inverter internal components.

This is very interesting, I've never given any thought to this.. Some of our outlets are marked from the factory that say inverter(little sticker).. But that being said, I don't think any of the outlets are dead when we are not plugged into shore power or on the gen.. What would be the purpose of the inverter if it didn't energize all of the outlets?? We have used two electric heaters when needed, on low, to help keep things warm and yes DW has popped one of the breakers on the inverter when she ran the hair dryer with both heaters on.. This is while being plugged into shore(50 amp)power..You can still overload the system even on 50 amp.. Mike Mathews..

brao wrote:
Hi all,
I would like to run a portable electric heater while up in the mountains this fall. Have heard that it is a fire hazard drawing 750-1500 watts thru circuits that run thru the inverter. How do you find which outlets run directly off shore power without going thru the inverter.

Finding the outlet is just one of your problems, but is easily solved. Plug in the heater without shore power and if it works, great. The big problem is not which outlet will work, but will your batteries supply power long enough to be effective.
If you have a typical 2000 watt inverter, and you plug in a 1500 watt electric heater, I would guess that you would have less than 2 hours of service before the batteries are discharged too low. No fire hazard from using the heater, but a 1500 watt load means a huge draw on your house batteries and is not too practical for boondocking. For heat without shore power, your propane powered heater makes the most sense.

brao wrote:
Hi all,
I would like to run a portable electric heater while up in the mountains this fall. Have heard that it is a fire hazard drawing 750-1500 watts thru circuits that run thru the inverter. How do you find which outlets run directly off shore power without going thru the inverter.

Read your manual -- Read pagea 46-52 -Electrical To read what RV'er think about electricity is just plain FUNNY -- while the advice given may be correct or incorrect - I have always found that when it comes to electricity read the facts as they apply to you.

It would appear to me that a correct answer to the question "How do you find which outlets run directly off shore power" would be to plug into the desired outlet prior to plugging the Coach in, if it does not work, then it is not connected to the inverter, if it does work, it is connected to the inverter, Pretty simple.

JMHO,

enblethen wrote:
I would be cautious about running a heavy load like a space heater through an inverter even when connected to shore power.
The internal relays may not be of sufficient quality to handle that type of loads.
Sure running a microwave, toaster or other appliance through the inverter is OK because it isn't a long duration cycle.

If I'm baking in my microwave/convection oven, I'm drawing through the inverter for 90 to 120 minutes a full load - much more than what a small heater on low draws.

Barb

Pastor, you may have a whole house inverter but my RV came with a 100 Watt inverter and I have added an 80 Watt inverter. The inverters I have are for AV equipment and nothing else. I am going to say that, "most Class A's on the road today do not have full house inverters, and they have 30 AMP services". Got to agree with dougrainer.

It is a good idea in my opinion to know which outlets are inverter powered and which are shore power connected. I would test all 120 VAC outlets and mark them in some way so that you never have to guess.

PastorCharlie wrote:

dougrainer wrote:

PastorCharlie wrote:
Turn off inverter and plug into shore power....check all outlets.

Unplug from shore power turn on inverter....check all outlets.

A good inverter properly installed should power all outlets.

The inverter and shore power should use the same circuits. Mine do.

I would not use an electric heater on an inverter...too much current draw. The problem is not with the circuits but the ability of the inverter and battery system to supply needed current for time needed to heat room.

Not true as to your statement----" A good inverter properly installed should power all outlets".
A Inverter will only be connected to outlets that may require Inverter power. Connecting ALL outlets to the Inverter will mean that IF you have an appliance connected to ALL your available outlets in an RV would cause the Inverter supply breaker to trip. The MAX current thru most RV Inverters is 30 amps. Most RV systems could have up to 60 amps of current thru all the 120 receptacles. Doug

Not correct unless one overloads their electrical system. My inverter is connected through the electrical panel and powers all outlets. What purpose does it serve to have some dead outlets? Who would load every outlet at once in a RV? My MH is factory equipped with 20 outlets and if I should plug a 1500 watt appliance into each one it would require 30,000 watts or 250 amps of shore power. Any system will overload if one uses no discretion. Of course I have never done a scientific survey to determine that MOST RV inverters are 30 amps so I will have to take your opinion on that.

Inverters have a "pass thru" current, when hooked up to shore power, that is equal to the rating of the inverter. In other words, if you have a 2000 watt inverter, the TOTAL amount of power that you can use, with all of the inverter outlets is 2000 watts, when hooked up to shore power. Try to use more, and it will trip an INVERTER circuit breaker, NOT one of the 20 amp house circuit breakers. On one coach we had, the microwave was not run through the inverter. On our current coach, the microwave is hooked up through the inverter.
So basically, even tho we have a 50 amp coach, with 100 total amps available, whether the AC units are running or not, we are still limited by a total of 2000 watts that we can use with all of our 120 volt interior/exterior outlets. In our coach, ALL of the 120 AC outlets use the inverter, for inverter power, or "pass thru" power, including the microwave. If the AC units are running, we still have the same 2000 watts MAXIMUM available for our outlets.

PastorCharlie wrote:

dougrainer wrote:

PastorCharlie wrote:
Turn off inverter and plug into shore power....check all outlets.

Unplug from shore power turn on inverter....check all outlets.

A good inverter properly installed should power all outlets.

The inverter and shore power should use the same circuits. Mine do.

I would not use an electric heater on an inverter...too much current draw. The problem is not with the circuits but the ability of the inverter and battery system to supply needed current for time needed to heat room.

Not true as to your statement----" A good inverter properly installed should power all outlets".
A Inverter will only be connected to outlets that may require Inverter power. Connecting ALL outlets to the Inverter will mean that IF you have an appliance connected to ALL your available outlets in an RV would cause the Inverter supply breaker to trip. The MAX current thru most RV Inverters is 30 amps. Most RV systems could have up to 60 amps of current thru all the 120 receptacles. Doug

Not correct unless one overloads their electrical system. My inverter is connected through the electrical panel and powers all outlets. What purpose does it serve to have some dead outlets? Who would load every outlet at once in a RV? My MH is factory equipped with 20 outlets and if I should plug a 1500 watt appliance into each one it would require 30,000 watts or 250 amps of shore power. Any system will overload if one uses no discretion. Of course I have never done a scientific survey to determine that MOST RV inverters are 30 amps so I will have to take your opinion on that.

MOST RVer's overload their systems all the time. I have 34 years as a RV tech and have seen almost every type set up and configuration on Motorhomes. You do not have to overload. I will give you a specific example. A LOT of fulltimers like to use the 1200 to 1500 watt ceramic heaters when in cold climates because their electricity is paid for at the CG. Running just 2 of those heaters IF ALL your outlets are powered thru the Inverter will cause the Inverter to overload its main power breaker. It is NOT wise to power all the breakers, but like you said, as long as you monitor the loads, you will be OK. From my experience, NOBODY, knows how or cares to monitor their 120 loads. Well, you do:B I have installed probably 30 2500/3000 watt inverter/chargers and NEVER wired all the outlets. I do just like the OEM's, I wire the Entertaiment plugs, the M/W plug and certain bath and kitchen plugs, and the refer if the customer wants that also. Very few OEM's wire ALL the 120 receptacles thru the Inverter/Charger. Doug

dougrainer wrote:

PastorCharlie wrote:
Turn off inverter and plug into shore power....check all outlets.

Unplug from shore power turn on inverter....check all outlets.

A good inverter properly installed should power all outlets.

The inverter and shore power should use the same circuits. Mine do.

I would not use an electric heater on an inverter...too much current draw. The problem is not with the circuits but the ability of the inverter and battery system to supply needed current for time needed to heat room.

Not true as to your statement----" A good inverter properly installed should power all outlets".
A Inverter will only be connected to outlets that may require Inverter power. Connecting ALL outlets to the Inverter will mean that IF you have an appliance connected to ALL your available outlets in an RV would cause the Inverter supply breaker to trip. The MAX current thru most RV Inverters is 30 amps. Most RV systems could have up to 60 amps of current thru all the 120 receptacles. Doug

Not correct unless one overloads their electrical system. My inverter is connected through the electrical panel and powers all outlets. What purpose does it serve to have some dead outlets? Who would load every outlet at once in a RV? My MH is factory equipped with 20 outlets and if I should plug a 1500 watt appliance into each one it would require 30,000 watts or 250 amps of shore power. Any system will overload if one uses no discretion. Of course I have never done a scientific survey to determine that MOST RV inverters are 30 amps so I will have to take your opinion on that.