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ZeeLet50's avatar
ZeeLet50
Explorer
Aug 07, 2013

wiring question

I just picked up a power inverter to run TV and small fan and chargers, I have the appropriate wire to connect to the battery and plan on mounting in the front storage.Question is how to incorporate into the living area. Would it work to just plug the TT electrical into it and turn off unneeded breakers? Would the parasitic loses be to great and run down the battery? Just thinking here that the converter would try to charge the battery when it saw AC so that may not work. Need some help on this. Also though of just running an extension cord into cabin or getting a male male cord and plug into outside outlet to power up all outlets. Thoughts???
  • 12thgenusa's avatar
    12thgenusa
    Explorer
    Aug 07, 2013
    ZeeLet50 wrote:
    I just picked up a power inverter to run TV and small fan and chargers, I have the appropriate wire to connect to the battery and plan on mounting in the front storage.Question is how to incorporate into the living area. Would it work to just plug the TT electrical into it and turn off unneeded breakers? Yes. Many folks do it that way. Would the parasitic loses be to great and run down the battery? Not necessarily parasitic losses, but inverter use will run down your battery. Just thinking here that the converter would try to charge the battery when it saw AC so that may not work. You turn off the converter breaker or unplug it. Need some help on this. Also though of just running an extension cord into cabin or getting a male male cord and plug into outside outlet to power up all outlets. No. Don't do this-very dangerous. Thoughts???
  • bob213's avatar
    bob213
    Explorer
    Aug 07, 2013
    I ran a dedicated circuit for mine and mounted a receptacle that I only use for the inverter. You can install a transfer switch if you want to power more than one receptacle.

    By the way... I love my Lynx Levelers!
  • ZeeLet50's avatar
    ZeeLet50
    Explorer
    Aug 07, 2013
    Running a dedicated circuit is my goal but need it for a 4 day weekend starting Friday and do not have time to do it properly. I will look to use TT plug and turn of appropriate breakers. Just need to make sure fridge and HWT are on gas.
  • spike99's avatar
    spike99
    Explorer
    Aug 08, 2013
    .

    For logical wiring diagram, see below

    Note: See Power Inverter section in bottom left of diagram.

    If I installed within my RV/TT, I would install new (different) Outlets and only use those special outlets for Inverter power. I hear outlets can be white color or even orange color. Or, install normal color outlets with different color covers.

    Hope this helps.


  • Gdetrailer's avatar
    Gdetrailer
    Explorer III
    Aug 08, 2013
    Zeelet50 writes "I just picked up a power inverter to run TV and small fan and chargers,.."


    Rather than using an inverter to power FANS and CHARGERS, I would suggest simply buying a 12V fan and car chargers for your phones and other portable electronic devices.

    The reason to do this is that it is much more efficient use of your battery power if you eliminate the conversion from 12V to 120V then back to 12V or 5V for portable electronic devices. You can even get 12V generic laptop power supplies for a reasonable price.

    You can buy real nice portable 12V fans for $15 and up HERE

    12V car chargers for cell phones are extremely cheap now days, for most models you can find them easily for $10 or so. For cell phones which are not picky (Motorola's are picky) and use USB port for charging you can find 12V to 5V USB chargers nearly anywhere for $5 or even less.

    Chargers especially do not give the inverter enough load to overcome the power lost by the inverter so therefore you tend to waste a lot of battery just to charge a cell phone via an inverter..

    Charging directly from 12V is better.

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