Removing converter and adding charger, inverter, + solar
I recently purchased a 21 ft 1971 Coachman travel trailer. It has an updated electrical system but it is still at least 15 years old I would say. It has a converter with a charger (not a 3-way) and no inverter. Since we do a fair bit of dry camping, I would like to add an inverter as well as removing the converter and adding a smart charger. I don't have the money for a fancy inverter with a built in 3 stage charger so after doing some research, it appears that my best option would be to remove the converter all together and add in a charger. I have a solar panel that can beef up my batteries. When I plug in, my batteries can be topped up by the new charger.
I'm looking for an economical solution and something I can do myself so I've come up with the following. I'd appreciate any technical advice and feedback since I've never put a system like this together.
Removing converter- So I haven't been able to find my DC fuse box, so I'm assuming it's in my converter? I'll need to wire in a new fuse box, has anyone ever done this before? Here is a photo of my electrical compartment with converter (120v breaker box is to the left of converter).
Inverter - Going for a cheap option. Walmart has a Cobra CPI 880 on for $75. It's a basic 800W Msw. We won't be running much of anything off it other than charging laptops, phones, tablets and then running some little Christmas lights or something similar for outside. inverter specs
Charger - Looking at the Genius G7200. Has all the smart features I think I'll need. Sells for $130 at Canadian tire so within my price range. charger details
Install - For the inverter/charger install I'll be following one I found here
I'm going with option 4, so I'll hook up a 30 Amp receptacle in my electrical cabinet so the inverter goes from battery, to inverter, to receptacle. When using the inverter, I turn it on, then plug my shore power cord into the new receptacle and viola! The rig thinks I'm plugged into shore power power and all my lights and outlets work as normal. During the day, my solar panel charges my batteries.
For shore power charging of the batteries, I'll install an outlet in the electrical cabinet that the charger will plug into along with a switch to activate the plug (a double safety to make sure that I'm not using the inverter to charge the batteries- I'll need to plug the charger in AND flip the switch to turn on charging). I'll also need to turn the inverter on so I guess that will be a triple safety.
Monitoring
Due to cost and the relative simplicity of my system, I'm going with a DIY monitoring system that will include a basic voltmeter and ammeter. There are a few posts on here and a lot of people have said that they've done this project, but I haven't found a very detailed description of how to specifically do this including wiring? What are the specs on the voltmeter and ammeter I should be getting and what would be the best wiring configuration? Would this work for the dc side of things and this work for the ac side? My understanding is the voltmeter would determine charge capacity (how much juice is in the batteries) and the ammeter would tell me how much current is going in or out of the batteries (or in from shore power)? I would also like to be able to tell how much juice my solar panel is providing (I have a charge controller, but it's mounted on the panel so it would be nice to have everything in one place).
I realize this is a long post with a lot of info and questions, so I appreciate if you've made it this far! Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Feel free to fire questions at me if you need more info!
Thanks!
I'm looking for an economical solution and something I can do myself so I've come up with the following. I'd appreciate any technical advice and feedback since I've never put a system like this together.
Removing converter- So I haven't been able to find my DC fuse box, so I'm assuming it's in my converter? I'll need to wire in a new fuse box, has anyone ever done this before? Here is a photo of my electrical compartment with converter (120v breaker box is to the left of converter).
Inverter - Going for a cheap option. Walmart has a Cobra CPI 880 on for $75. It's a basic 800W Msw. We won't be running much of anything off it other than charging laptops, phones, tablets and then running some little Christmas lights or something similar for outside. inverter specs
Charger - Looking at the Genius G7200. Has all the smart features I think I'll need. Sells for $130 at Canadian tire so within my price range. charger details
Install - For the inverter/charger install I'll be following one I found here
I'm going with option 4, so I'll hook up a 30 Amp receptacle in my electrical cabinet so the inverter goes from battery, to inverter, to receptacle. When using the inverter, I turn it on, then plug my shore power cord into the new receptacle and viola! The rig thinks I'm plugged into shore power power and all my lights and outlets work as normal. During the day, my solar panel charges my batteries.
For shore power charging of the batteries, I'll install an outlet in the electrical cabinet that the charger will plug into along with a switch to activate the plug (a double safety to make sure that I'm not using the inverter to charge the batteries- I'll need to plug the charger in AND flip the switch to turn on charging). I'll also need to turn the inverter on so I guess that will be a triple safety.
Monitoring
Due to cost and the relative simplicity of my system, I'm going with a DIY monitoring system that will include a basic voltmeter and ammeter. There are a few posts on here and a lot of people have said that they've done this project, but I haven't found a very detailed description of how to specifically do this including wiring? What are the specs on the voltmeter and ammeter I should be getting and what would be the best wiring configuration? Would this work for the dc side of things and this work for the ac side? My understanding is the voltmeter would determine charge capacity (how much juice is in the batteries) and the ammeter would tell me how much current is going in or out of the batteries (or in from shore power)? I would also like to be able to tell how much juice my solar panel is providing (I have a charge controller, but it's mounted on the panel so it would be nice to have everything in one place).
I realize this is a long post with a lot of info and questions, so I appreciate if you've made it this far! Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Feel free to fire questions at me if you need more info!
Thanks!
