Bypass INverter?

It appears that is just a 400WATT Power Inverter... Didn't read the specs on it but you would want it to be a PURE SINE WAVE MODEL so that no matter what gets plugged into it won't go up in the infamous BLUE SMOKE thing... Electronics and MSW type Inverters don't do well being used together.

Should be pretty simple Install with two heavy wires going to the 12VDC Battery and a 120VAC outlet on it with GFCI breaker on it...


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Just trace back on the two Battery cables and remove them from where ever they tie into your battery setup... Then just simply unplug the 120VAC cable... Have no idea how this would be installed in your setup on the 120VAC side. If your 120VAC Plug Male connector is hot (Reads 120VAC with a multimeter) after you unplug it from the Power Inverter and have shore power ON then you will have a safety violation and you must remove the wiring connections. It would be very unsafe to have a hot male connector laying around still energized with 120VAC power. i.e. someone may have hooked up a 'widow maker' double male plug short cable to back feed your 120VAC receptacles when shore power or generator is not being used. A very bad and unsafe idea... Two guesses who the 'widow maker' will be...

A proper install would include a change-over 120VAC contactor when shore power or generator is not being used.

Easy to test out just use a multimeter to make sure 12VDC is feeding the unit and when turned on with nothing plugged into it you should read 120VAC at its receptacle... A 400 WATT 120VAC power Inverter would draw around 32 DC AMPS from your 12VDC battery connections when fully loaded down...

Most probably cause for failure is a dead 12VDC battery or bad 12VDC cables feeding it...

This can be replaced with a much smaller unit in size like maybe the 600WATT PURE SINE WAVE AIMS Power Inverter model PWRI60012S available from AMAZON for less than $150

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I use the 600WATT AIMS PSW Power Inverter with two drop cords from it feeding a multi-TAP Power Cord with one located in the Home entertainment area and the other cord going back to a table top near our bed area. Its not wired into the trailer system just a couple of
Multi-tap extension cords you can plug into when you need to power up something from 120VAC when off-grid somewhere... I have the multi-tap head mounted on the back of the table top with all wiring out of sight.. I usually only draw around 250-300WATTS from my 600WATT PSW Power Inverter with a few low wattage things... 300WATTS of 120VAC power will draw around 25AMPS from my 12V battery setup...

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Roy Ken

You have a Magnum Dimensions 400 watt pure sine inverter. Input is +/- 12vdc and a chassis ground. Output appears to be via a normal wall plug.

Magnum has a trouble shooting procedure on their web site:

Trouble Shooting

I'd try that first. If it's dead they have a phone number in the trouble shooting page. Maybe they repair these?

If not I'd buy a 400-800 watt pure sine inverter woth a plug output and install in your failed units place.

Room should not be an issue because you unit is huge and it weighs 14 pounds. You'll be amazed at what will replace.

Pictures would be VERY HELPFUL !

Are their any outlets that are NOT connected to your inverter ?

The quick way to install an inverter and still have a SIMPLE bypass is as follows (it does assume you have access to some of you wiring) :

• Disconnect the wires at shore power plug.
  
• Connect those wires to a heavy duty 3 wire female plug
  
• Get a 12/3 extension cord that is long enough to reach from the back side of your shor power plug to where the inverter is mounted.
  
• Cut the male end off, but leave 2-3'. Connect this to the back side of the shore power plug.
  
• Make the rest of that cord back into an extension cord by install a new male end. Plug the neww male end into the inverter and leave the female end loose near the pigtail you put on the shore power plug.
  

To use shore power, plug the pigtail in the the your AC wiring. To use the inverter, plug the inverter, plug your AC power into the the extension cord from the inverter.


The other even simpler solution is, to have the extension cord from the inverter exit the trailer near the shore power and just PLUG IT IN. Of course you may not want to go outside in the morning in you pajamas to plug it in to make a cup of coffee !

I am assuming the front plugs into the inverter.. Does the inverter have power in (120vac) and pass through or is it always working

If it has 120v IN and is an inverter/pass through then replace the inverter with a standard power outlet, Tape off the 12 volt leads, leave only the 120 volt leads connected to the power outlet. In fact you can even use an "extension Cord" type outlet (I kind of like this one, though I've yet to install it)

Locking NEMA 5-15R Extension cord outlet on E-Bay

Bypass inverter? If it just has an output as shown above... just unplug.
I assume there is a transfer switch to pass through power when plugged into the pedestal.

Replace only if needed.

To by pass this
Make sure all shore power is unplugged and generator is off

Take the romex cable that is the 110v input power disconnect from box attach a 110v female plug onto it, just like an extension cord
Plug in the existing male end that feeds your outlets, that was connected to the inverter

Alternately you could use a duplex wall outlet in a box or wall mount

Drop in replacement $479

Dimensions 400 psw

Moved from Technology

Many thanks for all the posts....particularly the photo and brief info on the $150 replacement unit.

The INverter gives power to the very front of the motorhomje....the TV and such and one outlet. PLUS....the 2 outlets (receptacles) in the bedroom. Why National RV did that...I have no idea, but there it is. It also gives me power in one outlet in the kitchen for, say Mr. Coffee. (Never used that....in fact, in 15 years, never used the INverter for anything. It just sits there with it's green light on indicating power coming in. But now...power is coming in, but nothing coming out. From experience, I found that hooking up a space heater is a no-no that pops the built-in circuit breaker.
Wondering....cheap and easy...other than replacing the INverter, would it be wise to simply run an extension cord from the, say,campground pedestal and plug it into the receptacle that the INverter currently uses? This would surely give me electricity to the TV and bedroom...my concern is any kind of danger from doing that?

Opinions? Knowledge? Experience?

We're short on specific details here. Just to toss a few things out:

"Back-Feeding" anything (where you insert power into a place that's supposed to be an outlet for power) is never good, can can be downright dangerous. An example would be putting male plugs on both ends of an extension cord, to be able to power a dead circuit from a live one.

Your Inverter is 400 watts continuous duty. A portable heater is at least three times that.

We don't know if your Inverter is hard wired, or the circuits you mention are plugged into its outlets.

We don't now if there is a source of 120 Volts AC near where your Inverter is located. If the Inverter is near your Load Center (120 AC Breaker Panel, probably with 12 DC Fuse Panel), AND the Breaker Panel has an unused slot, you could install a 15 Amp GFI Breaker and run Romex to a Box that replaces your Inverter. You'd have the same outlets, and they'd still be GFI protected.

If all you have near the Inverter is 12 DC, then a new Inverter's easiest, but the $100 one mentioned above is NOT GFI and isn't meant to be hard wired.

I don't know if it'd be possible to plug a box with a GFI into that $100 Inverter, then connect your outlets to that GFI.