Electrical

[Gravois_Trader1]

I purchased a 2000W inverter for long trips in my 98 Gulfstream 32’ to keep my dorm room type fridge and various other things going on long trips without running the gen. Don’t intend to use the inverter while stationary so I want a simple installation. If I mount the inverter in an aft basement locker, hook it to the batteries, turn off the converter and plug in the 30A shore line I should be good to go without damaging anything – Right?

[wa8yxm]

To the O/P.. Your plan sounds good to me, should work, 3 feet to the batteries is good.

To Confused: he wants to use the inverter ONLY when no shore power is to be found. IE: Rolling, Rolling, Rolling down the highway.

[Gravois_Trader1]

Thanks for the heads up on the RV refer. I will defiantly add up all possible amp draw and compare it to the alternator book numbers and will follow my catch all rule of 50% on ANY power issues electrical or otherwise.

[CA_Traveler]

Gravois Trader1 wrote:
I had heard about others using an inverter only while driving and this intrigued me since I had recently replaced the never used swivel chair with a small refrigerator – and I must certainly keep the brew cold while on the road. The 2000W inverter will handle the small frig, keep the RV fridg from soaking up propane and keep the plugged in laptop, cell phones, GPS and such all charged up without a gazillion cords hanging out of the power point on the dash. I also have no fears that the humongous alternator Cummins puts with the 9.5 will handle the draw on the two 12 volts…. Thanks so much for this forum…R

Oops - Once you start running the refer on 120V and NOT propane your DC power requirements go way up and generally this is NOT a good idea.

For example lets say the refer draws 300W which is 300/120=2.5A AC. Thats a 28A DC draw for the inverter for just the refer. The alternator may/may not handle this. Think engine, lights, ACs, house loads, dorm refer, etc.

Either know your loads or run the refer on propane.

[CA_Traveler]

Gravois Trader1 wrote:
I had heard about others using an inverter only while driving and this intrigued me since I had recently replaced the never used swivel chair with a small refrigerator – and I must certainly keep the brew cold while on the road. The 2000W inverter will handle the small frig, keep the RV fridg from soaking up propane and keep the plugged in laptop, cell phones, GPS and such all charged up without a gazillion cords hanging out of the power point on the dash. I also have no fears that the humongous alternator Cummins puts with the 9.5 will handle the draw on the two 12 volts…. Thanks so much for this forum…R

Oops - Once you start running the refer on 120V and NOT propane your DC power requirements go way up and generally this is NOT a good idea.

For example lets say the refer draws 300W which is 300/120=2.5A AC. Thats a 28A DC draw for the inverter for just the refer. The alternator may/may not handle this. Think engine, lights, ACs, house loads, dorm refer, etc.

Either know your loads or run the refer on propane.

[CA_Traveler]

Gravois Trader1 wrote:
I had heard about others using an inverter only while driving and this intrigued me since I had recently replaced the never used swivel chair with a small refrigerator – and I must certainly keep the brew cold while on the road. The 2000W inverter will handle the small frig, keep the RV fridg from soaking up propane and keep the plugged in laptop, cell phones, GPS and such all charged up without a gazillion cords hanging out of the power point on the dash. I also have no fears that the humongous alternator Cummins puts with the 9.5 will handle the draw on the two 12 volts…. Thanks so much for this forum…R

Oops - Once you start running the refer on 120V and NOT propane your DC power requirements go way up and generally this is NOT a good idea.

For example lets say the refer draws 300W which is 300/120=2.5A AC. Thats a 28A DC draw for the inverter for just the refer. The alternator may/may not handle this. Think engine, lights, ACs, house loads, dorm refer, etc.

Either know your loads or run the refer on propane.

[Gravois_Trader1]

I had heard about others using an inverter only while driving and this intrigued me since I had recently replaced the never used swivel chair with a small refrigerator – and I must certainly keep the brew cold while on the road. The 2000W inverter will handle the small frig, keep the RV fridg from soaking up propane and keep the plugged in laptop, cell phones, GPS and such all charged up without a gazillion cords hanging out of the power point on the dash. I also have no fears that the humongous alternator Cummins puts with the 9.5 will handle the draw on the two 12 volts…. Thanks so much for this forum…R

[time2roll]

Good to go on the original plan. Lots of people do it.
Although some inverters warn not to connect to a distribution system so read the instructions before you get too far along.

[GJim]

To make certain that you didn't accidentally cause damage to the inverter, when operating on 30A shore power, you could install a relay similar to those found in automatic electrical transfer panels, a DPDT relay with contacts rated at least 30A. The relay would get power from the 120 vac shore power. When no shore power, the common side would be connected to the de-energized (normally off) contacts that go to your inverter. The moment the relay senses shore power, the relay energizes and the common side is now connected to the engerized (normally on) contacts. Your inverter would still be drawing power from the batteries, so you would want to shut down the inverter until you are ready to use it again.

The relay would be intalled ahead of the breaker panel.

[AllegroD]

OK. Got it. How many and what type of batteries? What else are you running beside the fridge? Remember that the parasitical draws, CO2, will keep drawing you down. Which inverter did you get? The inverter draws continuous until you turn it off or disconnect from batts.

[MrWizard]

30 amp 'shore line'

intead of a seperate output circuit from the inverter
or a transfer to swtich inverter power

he is going to plug the RV power cord into the inverter

he is Not going to use any shore power

he will use the inverter like it was a generator

i hope i made that simple enough to understand

when doing this the RV charge converter Must be turned off
or you have an endless loop power drain
batteries powering inverter, inverter powering converter trying to charge batteries that are being used
constant endless power drain

[coolcity]

Gravois Trader1 wrote:
I purchased a 2000W inverter for long trips in my 98 Gulfstream 32’ to keep my dorm room type fridge and various other things going on long trips without running the gen. Don’t intend to use the inverter while stationary so I want a simple installation. If I mount the inverter in an aft basement locker, hook it to the batteries, turn off the converter and plug in the 30A shore line I should be good to go without damaging anything – Right?

Like other,s here have posted I dont get where your coming from?
why would you plug into 30 amp service If your trying to run off the inverter? and if your pluged in why would u turn off the conveter?

[enblethen]

Sounds like the OP is going to plug into the inverter to power the hole rig except the converter.
Yes, it could work, however it is possible to create a nasty problem if the converter is not shut down.

[AllegroD]

I'm confused. What are you hooking the 30 amp shore line to? 30 amp service? Then why the inverter?

[Gravois_Trader1]

Thanks. I thought so. I have 02 welding lead for the battery connection and it will be about 3 ft max. Also have a 300A Breaker switch with off button to mount close to the batts. ZJust needed some backup.. Thanks again………Richard