Dry camping electrical questions
Hey all, so we've been camping for quite a while now and are starting to transition to no hook-up camping and have a couple of questions. We are looking to add an inverter and solar charging and could...
Forum Discussion
CamperWill wrote:
Am I right in thinking that the inverter can be wired into a spare 120v breaker and we can just flip it on when dry camping as well as turning on the inverter itself?
Let me put it this way: NO, NO WAY, DO NOT DO THIS, DANGER WILL ROBINSON, NO, Absolutly NOT, NO, DANGER AHEAD.
How to do what you want to do safely:
Mount inverter in a compartment next to the batteries (IMPORTANT, Keep battery vapors away from electronics) use shot heavy cables to connect to batteries.
If inverter has outelts.. Run a heavy (10 or 12ga) extension cord to a proper adapter (Dogbone or puck) and plug the RV's cord into this adapter... Power RV only via it's power cord, NEVER backfeed.
If inverter does not have outlets.. Run Romex to a compartment near the power inlet or cord and plug in there.
Alternative method
For 30 amp RV's you can either get a 30 amp Auto Transfer Switch (Put shore into the Generator inlet and Inverter into shore)
Or for 100 or less (i paid 50) a 30 amp MANUAL transfer switch
(I use it for a 15 amp circuit in teh RV that siwtches between the inverter or mains/generator on my demand only)
.BUT NEVER wire it in the manner you suggested. That is called "Suicide method" and for very good reason, You may kill the inverter...... You may also kill a human.. If that happens you should hope it's you because if it's someone else... Then the fun begains.
.
