Adding Inverter for dry camping
I would like to add an additional battery (have one group 27 now), possibly a solar charging system and an inverter. I hate that the 120V outlets don't work on battery power. Seems crazy you can't...
Forum Discussion
I'll start by saying that I am not a big fan of a solar system. It is expensive & has limited power yield dependent on the panel size & your preferences for campsites. Great if you are a desert camper. Not great if you are a forest camper.
Being first & foremost a boater, I looked at the 12V system of the trailer with boaters eyes. Boats don't have converter/chargers. Boats have inverter/chargers. Inverters & chargers can be separate units or combined as one. My boat had separate units. The charger had facilities to charge 3 battery banks. Boats get all of their 12V needs from their battery banks.
With that in mind my trailer converter/charger came out & in went an inverter/charger. The two piddly group 24 12V batterys came out too & in went a 4D AGM which has about the same amperage as your 2 group 27s will have.
Through a bus bar the 2kw pure sine wave inverter charger gets its power directly from the battery. The thicker the feed line the better. The AC side from the inverter/charger goes to the main feed to the 120V AC circuit breaker box.
Theoretically everything can be powered by the inverter this way. NO it can't. Not if you want the battery bank to last the night.
When setting up for dry camping the first thing that is done is the turning off of circuit breakers for the A/C, water heater, built in 120VAC heaters & fridge. Now the inverter can be turned on & it will power all of the outlets in the trailer with PURE sine wave AC, the same as of the grid.
Fridge & water heater stay on propane. Air is not used. Microwave is used very sparingly. To conserve battery power a stovetop coffee maker is used.
We choose to turn the inverter on as needed manually. We could leave it on automatic switch over but those big power users must be turned off.
Installing an inverter/charger is not hard. Instead of buying a solar system use the money to get a better inverter/charger. Read up on why get a pure sine wave vs cheaper non pure sine wave. It could save something very voltage sensitive & expensive getting fried.
Being first & foremost a boater, I looked at the 12V system of the trailer with boaters eyes. Boats don't have converter/chargers. Boats have inverter/chargers. Inverters & chargers can be separate units or combined as one. My boat had separate units. The charger had facilities to charge 3 battery banks. Boats get all of their 12V needs from their battery banks.
With that in mind my trailer converter/charger came out & in went an inverter/charger. The two piddly group 24 12V batterys came out too & in went a 4D AGM which has about the same amperage as your 2 group 27s will have.
Through a bus bar the 2kw pure sine wave inverter charger gets its power directly from the battery. The thicker the feed line the better. The AC side from the inverter/charger goes to the main feed to the 120V AC circuit breaker box.
Theoretically everything can be powered by the inverter this way. NO it can't. Not if you want the battery bank to last the night.
When setting up for dry camping the first thing that is done is the turning off of circuit breakers for the A/C, water heater, built in 120VAC heaters & fridge. Now the inverter can be turned on & it will power all of the outlets in the trailer with PURE sine wave AC, the same as of the grid.
Fridge & water heater stay on propane. Air is not used. Microwave is used very sparingly. To conserve battery power a stovetop coffee maker is used.
We choose to turn the inverter on as needed manually. We could leave it on automatic switch over but those big power users must be turned off.
Installing an inverter/charger is not hard. Instead of buying a solar system use the money to get a better inverter/charger. Read up on why get a pure sine wave vs cheaper non pure sine wave. It could save something very voltage sensitive & expensive getting fried.
