Our 1981 Frontier truck camper had the original converter in it.(Made in Winnipeg) It has a sort of charger to it that is broken. Tossed that whole thing even though it did the converter job, it didn't charge enough amps even if the charger did work.
No DC fuse panel and a three-breaker AC panel for the three 120v circuits in it.
The DC fuses are on the individual DC positive wires scattered here and there instead of being collected on a "panel"
I did a "few modifications" but the main thing from the OP's point of view, is that you can get your DC from the batteries and don't need any converter at all even on shore power (which just gets you some 120v)
If the batteries get low, you can charge them up with any old battery charger using the 120v shore power or your solar or both.
You don't need a nice pretty fuse panel if the wires are already fused here and there, and you sure don't need a converter unless you want one to be your charger and also to be able to run the rig's 12v when no batteries are installed (when is that ever?)
Can Tire has their 1000w PSW inverter (a Xantrex unit) on sale again, this time for $199. A couple of years ago the sale price on that was $120. Inverter prices are sneaking back up again as well as our dollar is in the sewer again for some reason (We are not the country that is trillions in the hole, so how come it is our dollar in the sewer? Oh well)
BTW, the truck camper is now rigged up for a five day off grid session coming up with:
-230w solar panel and Eco-Worthy controller
- four batteries (two Exide 226AH 6s in the truck bed where the wheel wells are not, and two 12v T-1275s at 270AH approx inside the camper, in parallel as one bank at almost 500AH
-2000w Vector MSW inverter to run the electric-only Igloo brand fridge (3.2 cuft that draws about 4.5 amps DC when "on") plus any microwaving (Sharp 1000w cooking power) and toaster and TV/DVD, whatever 120w stuff happens
-if needed if the batts get low and some 120v can be located, a PowerMax 100amp converter
(Borrowed some of that from our 5er just for now)
The solar is supposed to take care of the electric fridge while the batteries draw down normally doing the other stuff for a five day run. Big battery recovery when back home coming up!
Loaded for bear and ready to go! (As long as we get some sunshine or else we are doomed---no generator :( )
