Wire output of 400w invertor to shore plug on outside smart?

SoundGuy wrote:

thealexdexter wrote:
Does wiring my 400w inverter output to shore power connector on outside seem smart?

Benefit I see is any AC plug is hot and can be used within 400w limit. No rewiring of Camper and install is very easy.

Drawback I see is batteries may try to charge off inverter output. Could probably solve this by pulling a fuse. Any other drawbacks I’m not thinking of?

What you're wanting to do is to power the trailer "whole house" with your inverter. Sure, works fine within the limits of your inverter but doing so creates a closed loop with the inverter supplying power to the converter which in turn will try to charge the battery which is supplying power to the inverter. You can prevent this simply by turning the converter off. Also make sure your fridge is forced to gas mode and your water heater, if it has an electric heating option, is switched to run in the gas mode only. I did it this way originally but found it to be a PITA so I later wired the inverter outputs to dedicated receptacles in the trailer and no longer have to remember to turn anything off. :B

Theoretically, how could/would you connect the output from one of the 2 GFCI outlets of a built in inverter (accessible from one of the exterior storage compartments in the motorhome) to the AC power feed to the rest of the coach's AC receptacles? I think this would be similar to what you said you did to "light up" some more of the coach AC receptacles in your rig, rather than fiddle with the shore power cord connection to the inverter, and the resulting additional disconnects required to make that work without doing damage.

I've got a coach with an inverter with 2 GFCI outlets situated in a passenger side storage compartment, fairly close to the power converter/charger and the fuse/breaker panels. One GFCI outlet is in use to feed the TV and entertainment cupboard also located near the side entry door.

I'd like to "light up" some additional receptacles (preferably all of them) throughout the coach to run off the inverter once in a while, using the other GFCI outlet.

I understand that when supplying power to these receptacles from the inverter, I would have to make sure I a) wasn't plugged into shore power or b) plugged into/using the on board generator.

Could this be done fairly easily, and does it sound about right for taking advantage of my batteries and inverter when camping off grid, and wanting to avoid running the generator?

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
Make sure shore power and inverter power cannot see each other. I've seen installations where individual relays paralleled breakers right at the main panel.

Physically plugging the shore power cord into the inverter, as the original poster was suggesting, is of course one foolproof way of achieving this. It is not the only way, naturally.

More generally, there should never be any way of having two sources of AC power connected to the same circuit simultaneously in any RV. The only exception I can think of, if you want to call it that, are inverter generators which are designed to be able to be paralleled, in which case the parallel kit does connect the two outputs together and special circuitry in the generators allows them to properly sync up and share the load.

SoundGuy wrote:
What you're wanting to do is to power the trailer "whole house" with your inverter. Sure, works fine within the limits of your inverter but doing so creates a closed loop with the inverter supplying power to the converter which in turn will try to charge the battery which is supplying power to the inverter. You can prevent this simply by turning the converter off. Also make sure your fridge is forced to gas mode and your water heater, if it has an electric heating option, is switched to run in the gas mode only. I did it this way originally but found it to be a PITA so I later wired the inverter outputs to dedicated receptacles in the trailer and no longer have to remember to turn anything off. :B

I did this on my last rig and SoundGuy is right- it gets annoying quick.

You absolutely DO need to turn off the converter otherwise you'll overload the inverter and it'll shut down. Fortunately, with an inverter so small, it'll overload before going into a self-charging death spiral.

For me, with a 1000W inverter, I'd turn off all of the breakers except for the 2 that controlled almost all of the outlets in the camper.

Make sure shore power and inverter power cannot see each other. I've seen installations where individual relays paralleled breakers right at the main panel.

thealexdexter wrote:
Does wiring my 400w inverter output to shore power connector on outside seem smart?

Benefit I see is any AC plug is hot and can be used within 400w limit. No rewiring of Camper and install is very easy.

Drawback I see is batteries may try to charge off inverter output. Could probably solve this by pulling a fuse. Any other drawbacks I’m not thinking of?

What you're wanting to do is to power the trailer "whole house" with your inverter. Sure, works fine within the limits of your inverter but doing so creates a closed loop with the inverter supplying power to the converter which in turn will try to charge the battery which is supplying power to the inverter. You can prevent this simply by turning the converter off. Also make sure your fridge is forced to gas mode and your water heater, if it has an electric heating option, is switched to run in the gas mode only. I did it this way originally but found it to be a PITA so I later wired the inverter outputs to dedicated receptacles in the trailer and no longer have to remember to turn anything off. :B

Moved from Technology Corner

I used a transfer switch and wired mine onto the two branch circuits.
Put my converter on a separate breaker. Still need to set the fridge to propane only. Push the remote power switch and instant power.

Yes you can plug the main cord direct.

This is what I did with my OFF-ROAD Camper.

I have a duty always 'ON' 600WATT PSW Power Inverter just inside my cabinet area off of the 5X8 front deck.

I use the 120VAC OUTPUT of this Power Inverter to run a couple of multi-head drop cords inside my trailer with one going to the home entertainment area and the other one going to a cabinet top close to where we sleep. I also have a connection going to an OUTSIDE w/lid 120VAC Receptacle like shown here. This is next to the Shore Power Connection for the trailer wf-8900 series Power Distribution Panel... I have another 1500WATT PSW Power invert I can use as well but it is too big a drain for my battery back and is not used very much... This Power Inverter also creates a whole bunch of Radio Noise which i don't like to mess with...


Roy's image

When I want to feed my WF-8900 series 120VAC Power Distribution panel I use a short jumper cable as shown in the diagram. This is my poor mans transfer switch... I usually have all the 120VAC breakers 'OFF' except for the 120VAC inside/outside receptacles when doing this.

My over-all floor plan shows some of this as well... This idea here is to power up all of my HAM RADIO items for Emergency Comms I am associated with when camping off-grid

Roy's image

I also have a 300WATT MSW Power Inverter associated with my truck that I use alot to power up outside lights etc... This doesn't do well with any of my electronics - only good for lights and will power up my bean coffee grinder sometimes but that starts getting hot to if I use it too long. I need to change this power inverter out for a PSW type...

I think all of this can give you an idea of what I am doing here...

Roy Ken

400 watts... to power WHAT?

small amount of power ...

I have a 400 watt inverter.. for 32 inch TV and satellite receiver.

I use a 15a power cord.. and unplug power strip.. from wall outlet., into power cord to inverter...

I have my inverter next to shore power supply.. wired to 12 volt line from battery.. and next to main fuse box of trailer.

Make sure you can kill the battery charger and any other high draw items and it's a simple way to do it.