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computermonkey's avatar
Jun 11, 2018

Truck Camper adding inverter

Would like to hear from people on there recent experience on adding an inverter.

My goal. To power a 1350 watt microwave for 10 minutes at max power.
I have two group 27 batteries and a 120 watt solar panel. Wanting to add at least a 3000 watt pure sine inverter.

Would like to know if someone has tried this kind of set up before?
What inverter did you use?
How long could this set up run a microwave?

Appreciate your time and help.
  • I run my microwave with an AIMS Power 2000 watt PSW Inverter, no issue. 2 Group 31's.
  • 2000 watt sine wave inverter will be fine but OK to have the extra capacity.
    Probably need to double your battery and go 2x to 3x on solar.

    I recommend GoPower inverters.
  • 3000W is big overkill.
    In the past, I had 1200W inverter on my boat (less issue with heat build-up) and it power not only 1000W microwave but also 1500W oven.
    The oven would overheat the inverter after about 7 minutes, but most of the time it was all I needed. All power was coming from single battery + 30 amp alternator on boat engine.
    Now in my Fleetwood I installed 2000W inverter. Placement in my case was easy, as Fleetwood has huge counter-top and lot of space left between WH and shelves.
    I mount the inverter just inches under countertop and all it took was like 4 ft of cables to reach batteries box.
    Remote switch on wall and dedicated outlet on top of countertop.
    Now for oven, the original cable was going in this area with lot of slag, so I cut the cable and installed plug/receptacle on it.
    Now when I am on shore power, the plug stays in original cable receptacle, when I am on battery power, the plug goes into inverter.
    Inverters draw some power when not in use, so I have switchable breaker on inverter cable inside battery box.
  • You'll need 4 more batteries to handle that kind of load for 10 minutes - which is quite a bit of time in a mw. Things are going to start heating up (connectors, cables, batteries) if running a 12v inverter.

    I'm thinking 2 batteries, fully charged and in great shape, would start pooping out at about 4 minutes.

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