Power supply & Power inverter for boondocking

[Caseyjones955]

I am preparing to go full time and have already recieved a wealth of valuable information on this forum. Right now gathering information and starting the search for the right 5er/TV. Selling off all my things now, In going through my thing I found a couple things I forgot I had.

3000 watt power inverter. Is this overkill? does it serve any practical purpose? Wondering if a smaller one would suffice for primarily boondocking or if I should hang onto this monster.

12v 60 Watt adjustable power supply. I assume I will need one at some point but one so big? Keep, change it out or ditch it altogether?

Opinions are great!

Thanks much.

Tony

[BoonHauler]

Magnum Inverter/Chargers are the best!.....bang for the buck that is :B

Magnum Energy

[Caseyjones955]

That is an excellent response. I was intrigued by reading about solar panels and I wasn't going to move it an inch without first finding a really decent generator. but a Smart charger is what I'm missing, I think mine is big but pretty stupid so I will foot for a proper charger/pwr supply. I have been steadily looking at 5ers and tow vehicles. I have seen a couple already setup with solar but I figured I would address that after all else was sorted. This RV will be my house for a while, likely until I retire overseas. I have to get it right the first time around.

I don't think I can count the $$ all the valuable guidance within these forums has saved me!

Tony

[pnichols]

RoyB wrote:
It has been my experience to beef-up the trailer first to run all the things you want to run from the batteries. Then add the 2KW generator to that to be able to connect to the shore power cable to allow your on-board smart mode converter/charger to recharge your batteries in as little as three hours time which is the only way to be able to recharge a deep cycle battery setup.

Using the generator is the only "sure" way to re-charge your batteries as it will work in all weather situations.

Once you get successful running all the things you want to have with you then start adding some solar panels just for the purpose of re-charging your large battery bank during the daytime when the sun is out...

This is where I am now in my long term beef-up for camping off the power grid. As you start increasing the solar panels then you can start cutting back on the use of the generator. Eventually you can go several days without running the generator at all and still be able to run all the things you want to run.

But what I have found out you will need to always have the generator around for that last PLAN B effort for keeping the batteries re-charged. You may go weeks without much enough sun light to run the solar panels...

Got to have the PLAN Bs to be successful camping off the power grid...

Just some of my thoughts on how we have progressed along the camping off the power grid experiences...

Also if you are lucky enough to be able to have your RV Trailer parked at your house when not on the road then all of your Battery beef-up planning is like having a large UPS system for your house when bad weather storms knocks out your power for weeks on end. I have used my trailer setup to support the house on four occasions now, One event was for over a week without power here in the county when one of hurricane Irene came through a couple of years ago... this payed us back big time and also helped out in the community here helping folks keep their fridges powered up a couple hours a day. My neighbor RV guy and I put the 2KW Honda generator in a kids wagon and visited all the local elderly folks houses and kept their fridges going. All it cost was a cup of coffee and some conversations hehe...

Nice summary! Roy's post above is one of the best I've read in these RV forums.

[RoyB]

It has been my experience to beef-up the trailer first to run all the things you want to run from the batteries. Then add the 2KW generator to that to be able to connect to the shore power cable to allow your on-board smart mode converter/charger to recharge your batteries in as little as three hours time which is the only way to be able to recharge a deep cycle battery setup.

Using the generator is the only "sure" way to re-charge your batteries as it will work in all weather situations.

Once you get successful running all the things you want to have with you then start adding some solar panels just for the purpose of re-charging your large battery bank during the daytime when the sun is out...

This is where I am now in my long term beef-up for camping off the power grid. As you start increasing the solar panels then you can start cutting back on the use of the generator. Eventually you can go several days without running the generator at all and still be able to run all the things you want to run.

But what I have found out you will need to always have the generator around for that last PLAN B effort for keeping the batteries re-charged. You may go weeks without much enough sun light to run the solar panels...

Got to have the PLAN Bs to be successful camping off the power grid...

Just some of my thoughts on how we have progressed along the camping off the power grid experiences...

Also if you are lucky enough to be able to have your RV Trailer parked at your house when not on the road then all of your Battery beef-up planning is like having a large UPS system for your house when bad weather storms knocks out your power for weeks on end. I have used my trailer setup to support the house on four occasions now, One event was for over a week without power here in the county when one of hurricane Irene came through a couple of years ago... this payed us back big time and also helped out in the community here helping folks keep their fridges powered up a couple hours a day. My neighbor RV guy and I put the 2KW Honda generator in a kids wagon and visited all the local elderly folks houses and kept their fridges going. All it cost was a cup of coffee and some conversations hehe...

Roy Ken

[Caseyjones955]

I'm glad to know that. I do use coffee pot and microwave occasionally. Thinking about solar to but that might be a project for after I have the RV otherwise sorted. I'll probably give this one a try and see how she works, will likely upgrade to one with an integral charger.

I have done a lot of looking in on generators and the Yamaha or Honda 2000 or 3000 sounds great.

I'm getting really excited about all this even tho it will be 6-12 mo before we will actually hit the road.

[Roads_Less_Trav]

We have been living full-time on solar power for over 6 years in two trailers and a sailboat. We turn on our inverter when we wake up and turn it off when we go to bed. Our typical daily use is two laptops for 4-6 hours, charging various appliances all day, and 26" TV/DVD with surround-sound for 2-3 hours. We also use power tools on occasion and run the microwave everyday and vacuum every few days.

Our inverter in our trailer is 1100 watts (pure sine wave). It does everything we need.

Our "everyday use" inverter in our sailboat is only 600 watts (also pure sine wave). Amazingly, it does everything we need except the microwave and vacuum (for those we use the 2500 watt inverter).

So I would sell that monster and get a high quality 1000-1200 watt inverter. If you will be relying on it a lot (like we do), then I would invest in a pure sine wave inverter.

We have a Yamaha 2400i generator that we use a few times each summer to run the air conditioning (we have a 15000 btu a/c unit). It is a phenomenal generator. We've owned it for 5 years and run it only a few hours a year, yet it still starts on the first pull every single time!!!

[Caseyjones955]

I did mean 60 amps but I even lied about that, it's actually 30 amps. Not sure where I got 60 from.

I was pretty sure from what I had read already that 3000k is enough to run AC but at even half that it would drain batteries in a real hurry so I was hoping it would do all else easily. The reason I would consider downsizing is to save weight and space, these take up a considerable amount of each.

I figure I will probably do the Honda 2000 generator that so many other folks here praise.

Again thanks your input.

Tony

[KD4UPL]

If you already have the 3kw inverter keep it. It will won't draw much more than a smaller inverter powering the same load. It will work great for the microwave, toaster, coffee maker, etc. Short duration large loads.
What inverter is this? Does it also have a charger built in?
What is the 12v 60 watt power supply for? Did you mean 60 amps? A 60 amp supply would be great for charging a big battery bank.

[Glor-E-B]

Thanks for all of the input. I asked the question about AC runn on an iverter because I was curious about in motion use. My engine doesnt charge the house batteries so never ming 😞

[daveshan]

Our coach has a 2000w inverter and runs the microwave or hair dryer just fine. Before I got a 12v TV I used to carry a 400w inverter in my truck camper, ran my computer and TV with some to spare.

Just in case you didn't know the recommended wiring size from batteries to the unit for a 2000w Xantrex/Heart inverter/charger is 4/0 with a 300A fuse, something to take into account if you're planning on using one that large.

Before you think about running AC look again at just what VintageRacer has to power his inverter and the fact that he only runs it while moving. Bottom line is to run an AC of any size long enough to do any good while parked it would take a battery bank much larger than any RV can carry.

[2oldman]

Caseyjones955 wrote:
3000 watt power inverter. Is this overkill? does it serve any practical purpose?

Depends on what you're running with it. It's overkill for a TV but not a Mw and even occasional short a/c use.

[RoyB]

A 3000WATT load will drain around 250AMPS @ 12.2VDC from your battery bank. Thats a bunch... I imagine the 3000WATT Inverters will require a 400AMP protection fuse be installed between the Inverter and the battery.. You will need a bunch of batteries to sustain this.

We camp alot off the power grid and our biggest load of course is between 8PM and 11PM watching HDTV etc... We use a 600WATT PSW Inverter. We do just about everything we do at regular electric sites except no air conditioner or no high wattage microwave when camping off the power grid.

We will draw around 20AMPS for these three hours from our 255AH battery setup. This along with the usual 1AMP or so draw for parasitic drains all day long will run down our battery bank to around 12.0VDC (approx 50% state of charger) by 8AM the next morning. This is when we will re-charge it back up to its 90% charge state by connecting the 30AMP shore power cable directly to our 2KW Honda Generator. Using smart-mode charging technology this will take around three hours to do which fits into the times allowed by most boondocking camp grounds to run a generator.

We can do these 50% to 90% charge cycles with our battery bank for 12-14 days before we must re-charge the batteries back up to their 100% charge state otherwise it will start doing damage to our batteries. Using the 2KW Honda generator to re-charge to the 100% charge state will take around 12-13 hours which most boondocking camp grounds will not allow you to run the generator this long of time here on the East side of the US so this is usually when we head for the house.

Of course all of this does not include use of Air Conditioning or high wattage microwave.

Usually lots of shade so don't miss the air conditioner anyway...

Roy Ken

[VintageRacer]

My RV is a converted bus, an MCI MC-5C. It has a 270 amp 24 volt alternator designed to run the OEM air conditioning fan motors. I just removed the factory AC and installed a typical 15K btu rooftop unit, a 3KW pure sine wave inverter and a 24 volt house bank of batteries. On the road I bridge the house batteries to the start batteries and run the inverter from the bus engine alternator. Works a treat, and keeps the house batteries fully charged.

Brian

[Glor-E-B]

Vintage racer, I like the idea of running an AC on the inverter. If you don't mind my asking, how do you have that setup?

[VintageRacer]

A larger power supply - converter/battery charger - is very relevant to boondocking since it's primary benefit will be reduced battery recharge times. I'd say the bigger the better, matched to the size of your battery bank (max charge rate around 20% of the 20 hr amp-hour rating for wet cell battery). 3000 watt inverter not so much. But - just because you have it doesn't mean you need to use it, it will be as efficient as a smaller one for small loads so no real loss, it should be able to power up a coffee maker or a microwave for midnight snacks with no generator, and it could come in useful in some unforeseen emergency. Plus the one you have is cheaper than the one you don't have. FWIW I have a 3000 watt inverter for boondocking and it works great, although the primary use is running an air-conditioner while I'm traveling on the road.

Brian