50 Amp Receptacle to Inverter
Hello all! Ok, so backstory is I'm doing research on installing a 3000w inverter in my travel trailer, and rather than go through a super complicated and expensive direct to panel wire install, I'm...
Forum Discussion
Quick update on my situation.
I opened up the breaker panel again yesterday trying to decide whether I wanted to figure out how to wire the inverter into the panel instead of doing an outlet. I'm starting to think the continuing hassle of only being able to use the inverter with the RV power cord plugged in could become tedious. If we want to make a quick stop for lunch or something, I don't know that I want to have to haul out the big heavy cable just to use the microwave.
Turns out that almost all of the things I want to run on the inverter were already on the left leg of the main 50 amp breaker. Only thing missing was the microwave, but fortunately the electric fireplace (which was on the right leg) and the microwave both had 15 amp breakers, so I was able to easily swap the wiring and now everything the inverter would power is on the left leg now, and the remaining items will only power up when connected to shore power. This means I won't have to figure out splitting the single hot wire from the inverter to both legs of the system.
The cool thing is that I have a breaker for the converter, which is on the right leg, which will by default be unpowered when the RV is being powered by the inverter...assuming I decide against doing the shore power plugged into outlet route. I was going to install a relay to automatically cut power to the converter when the inverter is on, but this would automatically solve that problem for me.
So I guess now I need to settle on a different inverter and figure out the best way to swap between shore power and the inverter. I was considering a rotary switch, as I'm a big fan of keeping it simple, but some of the automatic transfer switches aren't all that expensive and might be worth the hassle in the long run.
I opened up the breaker panel again yesterday trying to decide whether I wanted to figure out how to wire the inverter into the panel instead of doing an outlet. I'm starting to think the continuing hassle of only being able to use the inverter with the RV power cord plugged in could become tedious. If we want to make a quick stop for lunch or something, I don't know that I want to have to haul out the big heavy cable just to use the microwave.
Turns out that almost all of the things I want to run on the inverter were already on the left leg of the main 50 amp breaker. Only thing missing was the microwave, but fortunately the electric fireplace (which was on the right leg) and the microwave both had 15 amp breakers, so I was able to easily swap the wiring and now everything the inverter would power is on the left leg now, and the remaining items will only power up when connected to shore power. This means I won't have to figure out splitting the single hot wire from the inverter to both legs of the system.
The cool thing is that I have a breaker for the converter, which is on the right leg, which will by default be unpowered when the RV is being powered by the inverter...assuming I decide against doing the shore power plugged into outlet route. I was going to install a relay to automatically cut power to the converter when the inverter is on, but this would automatically solve that problem for me.
So I guess now I need to settle on a different inverter and figure out the best way to swap between shore power and the inverter. I was considering a rotary switch, as I'm a big fan of keeping it simple, but some of the automatic transfer switches aren't all that expensive and might be worth the hassle in the long run.
