How do I wire in an inverter
To only power the microwave, the outdoor kitchen fridge, and the outlet beside the bed for a cpap? I wouldn't be worried about it normally, but our new trailer has the outdoor kitchen with a fridge...
Forum Discussion
Hi,
So what are you asking?
There are basically 5 wires going to a built in inverter.
Battery + 12 volts
Battery - 12 volts
120 volts from the circuit breaker if it has a pass through relay
120 volts out to whatever receptacles you want to power
120 volt neutral wire
Green ground is also normally installed to. One wire to the ground bussbar on the circuit breaker panel, and perhaps another wire to the RV chassis.
If the inverter does not have a built in transfer switch, then you can install one. It will have a 120 volt coil on the 'gen' side of the input line. Once the transfer switch sees 120 volts from the GEN it will delay for an adjustable time (usually 0 seconds or 30 seconds). In your case, you would hook up shore power to the 'gen' input, and set the time delay to 0 seconds. Then hook up the non-powered relay connection (normally labeled shore power) to the inverter output. This will not consume any extra battery power to run the transfer switch.
The transfer switch output then goes to the circuit breaker panel, and to the receptacles that you want to power (but do NOT connect the output to any circuit beakers, only the black wire going to the microwave receptacles or rear refrigerator receptacle. Also make SURE that you do not power up the battery charger/converter with the inverter output wires.
What I did with my motorhome was remove the wire going to the TV set from CB #3. Then I connected the black wire to the inverter input (it has a transfer switch and charger built in) to CB #3. The wire removed from CB#3 went to the inverter output. I also connected a white wire from the neutral wire from the circuit breaker panel to the inverter.
Two more #000 wires from the bank of 4 batteries to the inverter, and I was done. I also installed a remote control panel to turn it on and off from inside, as well as a temperature sensor for the battery to limit charge rate when the battery is hot.
Good luck,
Fred.
So what are you asking?
There are basically 5 wires going to a built in inverter.
Battery + 12 volts
Battery - 12 volts
120 volts from the circuit breaker if it has a pass through relay
120 volts out to whatever receptacles you want to power
120 volt neutral wire
Green ground is also normally installed to. One wire to the ground bussbar on the circuit breaker panel, and perhaps another wire to the RV chassis.
If the inverter does not have a built in transfer switch, then you can install one. It will have a 120 volt coil on the 'gen' side of the input line. Once the transfer switch sees 120 volts from the GEN it will delay for an adjustable time (usually 0 seconds or 30 seconds). In your case, you would hook up shore power to the 'gen' input, and set the time delay to 0 seconds. Then hook up the non-powered relay connection (normally labeled shore power) to the inverter output. This will not consume any extra battery power to run the transfer switch.
The transfer switch output then goes to the circuit breaker panel, and to the receptacles that you want to power (but do NOT connect the output to any circuit beakers, only the black wire going to the microwave receptacles or rear refrigerator receptacle. Also make SURE that you do not power up the battery charger/converter with the inverter output wires.
What I did with my motorhome was remove the wire going to the TV set from CB #3. Then I connected the black wire to the inverter input (it has a transfer switch and charger built in) to CB #3. The wire removed from CB#3 went to the inverter output. I also connected a white wire from the neutral wire from the circuit breaker panel to the inverter.
Two more #000 wires from the bank of 4 batteries to the inverter, and I was done. I also installed a remote control panel to turn it on and off from inside, as well as a temperature sensor for the battery to limit charge rate when the battery is hot.
Good luck,
Fred.
