Running Air Conditioner Via Inverter while Towing/Driving

[StartingNewChap]

I am considering buying a 3000 watt inverter for my travel trailer. I would like to run my air conditioner whiling driving to my destination. My hope is that short stops for lunch can be accomplished in a comfortable trailer. The specs on my 20 amp air conditioner states is uses about 2700 watts to start then 1300 to run. I have 270AH batteries that I hope will supplement the startup power needed. I am wondering will my alternator on my Jeep Grand Cherokee provide enough power to run the tow vehicle, run the air conditioner and charge the Jeep and trailer batteries? I could not find any definitive answers from Jeep.

[furballs]

I use a system that works for us. Because I use a pickup, my exact setup would not work for the OP, but perhaps just knowing it can be done and how, you may get some ideas. I use a Victron inverter/charger and 6 Lifeline 6 volt batteries in series/parallel. Single aught gauge interconnections. Double aught cables to/from inverter from the batts. The Victron has some pretty nifty features that allow you to charge and run AC with lower wattage shore feeds. I blew 300 amp fuses multiple times testing the system on AC so there are very high currents involved here. I never tried to run the AC all day. I envisaged being able running the AC at noon rest stops. During testing i could run the AC for 55 minutes on low fan. The inverter/charger will put around 60 amps (depending on temps) to the batteries with a 30 amp shore line. I have a '17 truck with dual alts. I have obtained a supply of 0 gauge cable and intend to interface the batts with the truck's system. There hasn't been much urgency because we typically camp at no service campgrounds and such for 2 or three days. The batts will run the micro, cat warmers, electric blanket, TV, etc for two days. If we will be staying longer, we bring twin connected Hondas and slam the batteries as hard as possible. Lifelines were chosen because they have nearly unlimited charge and dischargw rates. The batts and inverter fit in a aluminum in bed tool box. Your results may vary.

[prstlk]

IMHO, A method with a reasonable cost and ease of install follows. Have a fabricator build a shelf on the back of the rv. If has a rear bumper that can be modified as well if you concerned about a rear end collision mount it high. You can also fabricate a shelf that rides above the tanks on the front of the trailer frame. A Honda 3000 weighs 134 lbs, dry. A good shop can build a unit to that easily would support 175 to 200 lbs. Run a 30 amp cord to the regular power port on the RV. The Honda has a remote start as an option. Set your RV A/C to and start the gennie as needed. The 3000 does not immediately send power when started, as there is lag for gen to come up to speed. Should be able to get this done for under 3k and you now have a power source when dry camping.

[houstonstroker]

I believe that the Renegade brand of Class C Super C has a dedicated Inverter to power the front coach air conditioner while going down the road. I'm not sure how many batteries the Renegade has. I'm assuming a bigger capacitor or the soft start module to help with start up.

Advantages of not running big diesel Onan. Obviously the power has to come from somewhere. If it has the same Cummins as my super C, then it has a 270 amp alternator to charge the batteries.

[time2roll]

Where we talking about air conditioning?

[JaxDad]

dougrainer wrote:
Here is a fun fact. The FIRST Major Lawsuit against the Pinto was filed by the Elkhart County District Attorney back in the 70's. He alleged Ford was liable because 3 young girls died in a rear end FIRE when a motorist rear ended their Pinto on a hi way. YES, Elkhart, Indiana where the majority of RV's are made. Elkhart won.

Here's an even more fun fact, that's wrong.

The trial was Winimac, IN, 75 miles away from Elkhart and it was NOT the first lawsuit it was the first attempt to find Ford corporately criminally guilty of reckless homicide, after a 10 week trial the Ford Motor Company was exonerated after 4 days of jury deliberations.

Probably the fact the driver had stopped in the right lane to retrieve the fuel cap that had fallen off after fueling the car up, it was hit by a full-sized van doing 55 mph with a modified front bumper had a lot to do with the whole affair.

They lost because, as stated earlier, the defence showed that when hit by 1972 Chev van (which was what hit the Pinto), many other cars had similar damage as what happened to the Pinto in which the three girls perished. The testing involved the Chevrolet Vega and Impala, American Motors Gremlin, Dodge Colt, and Toyota Corolla.

The first lawsuit was, the one that started the ball rolling was in California, and the FACTS of that case was that the car stalled on entering the freeway and was rear-ended by a larger vehicle doing 35 mph, it had been unable to slow down from highway speed fast enough.

BTW, speaking of fun facts, as stated earlier, over 3 million of them were produced, more than 90% of those were sold AFTER the 'problem' became known.

More fun still? GM had to recall 320,000 of its 1976 and 1977 Chevettes for similar fuel tank modifications because of the same problem.

[down_home]

down home wrote:
Our 05 Ford F350 had dual alternators but only a 20 amp, big fuse, under the hood for the line to the Fifth Wheel or trailer or whatever you were towing. The wire was at least ten gauge, best I remember. I don't remember if both alternators worked together for the total load. One was 140 amp and the other 160 amp but I won't swear to it. Dealer let battery in RV go dead and tried to jack the Fifth Wheel up from the truck via the plug in. I installed heavy wiring instead of the meager stuff and plug found most commonly. It blew that big fuse and had a time finding one that day. Perhaps 5o amps or that motor, was required. I don't know if it would operate the a/c down the road or not. Someone do the electrical math. It can be done with large enough alternator ,at least two big batteries and preferable four and wiring or twin alternators. It is illegal for someone to ride in the Fifth Wheel or Trailer while being told, I read on these forums years ago though, if that is your thoughts.

[down_home]

Our 05 Ford F350 had dual alternators but only a 20 amp, big fuse, under the hood for the line to the Fifth Wheel or trailer or whatever you were towing. The wire was at least ten gauge, best I remember. I don't remember if both alternators worked together for the total load. One was 140 amp and the other 160 amp but I won't swear to it. Dealer let battery in RV go dead and tried to jack the Fifth Wheel up from the truck via the plug in. I installed heavy wiring instead of the meager stuff and plug found most commonly. It blew that big fuse and had a time finding one that day. Perhaps 5o amps or that motor, was required. I don't know if it would operate the a/c down the road or not. Someone do the electrical math. It can be done with large enough alternator and wiring or twin alternators. It is illegal for someone to ride in the Fifth Wheel or Trailer while being told, I read on these forums years ago though, if that is your thoughts.

[road-runner]

JaxDad - Thanks for the explanation. Sometimes I can interpret the same thing two ways. This discussion reminds me of the gas tank in my mom's 1971 Ford Torino. The floor of the trunk was the top of the gas tank, and looking at it I thought the tank was actually a structural member of the car (I could be wrong, that's what it looked like to me). It seemed obvious to me that a rear end or rear quarter collision could easily split the tank. I never heard of any problems with it, it just looked like dangerous design to me. A fuel tank hanging on the rear of a vehicle gives me the same feeling.

[dougrainer]

Here is a fun fact. The FIRST Major Lawsuit against the Pinto was filed by the Elkhart County District Attorney back in the 70's. He alleged Ford was liable because 3 young girls died in a rear end FIRE when a motorist rear ended their Pinto on a hi way. YES, Elkhart, Indiana where the majority of RV's are made. Elkhart won. Ford DID build a defective tank system, and the Retrofit recall(adding a Bladder to the fuel tank) was too little too late. Ford did its best to HIDE the fact of the fuel tank design and THAT was what caused Ford to lose Lawsuits. It WAS a Bad/dangerous design and the recall did fix the issue. But, with bad publicity, Ford had to drop the Pinto. Publicity that FORD CAUSED. he Corvair is a different type of design defect and was corrected by GM. But, too late to stop the decline is sales. Doug

PS, The design of that Truck is not what I take issue with. It was the fact that he thought a Grand Cherokee could be done the same way. I don't want Fuel cylinders or LP tanks mounted on the rear of vehicles. In Texas, ANY LP fuel cylinder mounted on the REAR of a vehicle is against State Law.

[JaxDad]

road-runner wrote:

JaxDad wrote:

Urban myth and and ‘I knows it!!’ versus reality, reality wins EVERY time.

Am I reading that comment backwards, or did you mean to say that urban myth wins over reality?

Nope, it’s correct. People can believe and spread the urban myths all they like, but that doesn’t change the reality of the matter.

[map40]

I have 6 6v batteries and a brand new 3000w inverter and did EXACTLY THAT. Even with a Cat C7 and the batteries topped off (brand new batteries) I get 20-25 minutes and the inverter starts beeping. 35-40 minutes after that, it shuts down, batteries are down to 40%. Basically, not worth it. A HF 3500w generator is 699. Cheaper, easier, better.

[road-runner]

JaxDad wrote:

Urban myth and and ‘I knows it!!’ versus reality, reality wins EVERY time.

Am I reading that comment backwards, or did you mean to say that urban myth wins over reality? Similar issue with the Corvair. Its handling problems got fixed and it was a good car, but was unsellable because of its pre-fix reputation.

If I may, an old joke: The worst place to be is stuck in a toll booth with a Pinto in front of you and an Audi (unintended acceleration reputation) behind you.

[JaxDad]

dougrainer wrote:
Ever hear of the Ford Pinto:h Doug

Ever hear of “facts”? Look up the actual real-life crash data.

Ford built a little over 3 million Pinto's over the 10 years the car was in production, there was 117 lawsuits brought against Ford over the Pinto in total, and NOT all of those lawsuits were ‘the real McCoy’, a large number of them were ‘nuisance suits’.

Years after the fiasco blew over, UCLA law professor Gary T. Schwartz in a Rutgers Law Review article found that the incidence of Pinto deaths represented 1.9% of all "fatal accidents accompanied by some fire."

The Pinto also accounted for that same 1.9% of all cars on the road at the time. Implying the car was average for all cars and slightly above average for its class.

Yet people still think of a Pinto as a "death trap".

Urban myth and and ‘I knows it!!’ versus reality, reality wins EVERY time.

[NRALIFR]

dougrainer wrote:
You must be delusional. The OP has a GRAND CHEROKEE, NOT a Truck. Besides, I want YOU in front of me if I rear end you with 10 gallons of gasoline sticking out the back of your truck. I would bet, Having Gasoline mounted like you have must be a violation of some Law, as long as being plain stupid. Ever hear of the Ford Pinto:h Doug

You know what blather like this always sounds like to me?

ENCOURAGEMENT!

Thanks old man.

:):)