Inverter Questions

wa8yxm wrote:
Inverters are often "options" in all but the most expensive motor homes.

What this means is if you have a Prevost.. you likely have one, but on a Bounder. You MAY (or may not) have one. The one thing they are most likely to put on the inverter, if you have one, is the MAIN TV.

If that don't work without shore power. You don't have one.

are you still looking for an engine?

Inverters are often "options" in all but the most expensive motor homes.

What this means is if you have a Prevost.. you likely have one, but on a Bounder. You MAY (or may not) have one. The one thing they are most likely to put on the inverter, if you have one, is the MAIN TV.

If that don't work without shore power. You don't have one.

I haven't read all your posts! I own a Winnebago and my inverter is under the Range. Most inverters units will be mounted close to your batteries.

KeninAZ wrote:
You could be correct in that it may not have had one, even as an option. I see no labels or even a reference to it in the factory manual that came with the unit.
I can add one if required. I am fully aware that they chew up batteries and may decide not to use one. They are not very efficient anyway.
And I know they are all different, or so it seems, but my battery compartment is on the opposite side of my entrance.

RGR on the batteries. I always worry about draining the house batteries overnight, but since the chassis battery starts my generator, I guess I should not worry too much.

Going down the road with the inverter on is no problem, since the house batteries are being charged by the alternator thru my battery control center.

Actually, most new inverters tend to be quite efficient (90+ percent). There are some very small inverters that you can put in the cabinet with your TV so you can watch TV while not on shore power. They draw very little power and work very well. Generally, they will also power a satellite TV receiver as well if you like the good things in life!
If you want to power more than that then you are going to need more batteries and a bigger inverter with a good battery charger to get the batteries powered back up after a night of partying!

You could be correct in that it may not have had one, even as an option. I see no labels or even a reference to it in the factory manual that came with the unit.
I can add one if required. I am fully aware that they chew up batteries and may decide not to use one. They are not very efficient anyway.
And I know they are all different, or so it seems, but my battery compartment is on the opposite side of my entrance.

I do not believe that year Bounder came with an Inverter. I have a 2005 Bounder and an Inverter was not even offered as an option.

I have installed an Inverter, since DW likes to use her laptop going down the road, and I hate running the generator just for that. We also use CPAPs, so the Inverter provides the 120v power when we boondock at the races and can't use the generator after quite hours.

Your chassis batteries should be located in the step box. I got a couple lugs and connected a 750W inverter, and then built a small box for it to sit in just inside the main door. A couple extension cords and I can reach anywhere in the motorhome I need power at.

some RVs have the inverter control near the entrance door

others have it in the kitchen area

it will usually be marked 'Inverter' on/off

the battery switches have to be on, then press the inverter button

then again the seller might have confused converter with inverter
we get a lot of that confusion on here

KeninAZ wrote:
Just got back from the storage yard.
What I thought was the converter was a charger unit.
I turned on both main and aux power switches when I went into the coach and checked each outlet throughout the unit and no power.
I will have to keep looking.

What is commonly called a "CONverter" is basically a battery charger; it takes 120V power and makes 12V power to charge the battery and also run the 12V devices in the motorhome when plugged into shore power or running the generator.

An INverter is exactly the opposite, of course. Some inverters are combination units ("inverter/charger") that serve both purposes, perhaps to further confuse people.

Most commonly there would be a separate control to turn the inverter on and off since they generally consume some (non-trivial) amount of power when turned on but now powering anything--not a vast amount of power, but often enough to worry about at least under some circumstances.

Just got back from the storage yard.
What I thought was the 1nverter was a charger unit.
I turned on both main and aux power switches when I went into the coach and checked each outlet throughout the unit and no power.
I will have to keep looking.