Which Inverter?

[jeffwhite]

I have a 97 Rexhall Aerbus and I want to get an inverter and run it to the outlet for the coffeepot. I hate turning on the Generator just to make coffee in the morning with all the noise etc. Any idea as to the draw on a little coffeepot like that, and the resultant size inverter? This is the stock coffeepot that comes with the RV. jeff

[MrWizard]

transfer switch
either manual toggle or a relay
double pole, double throw.. total of six contacts

load side aka outlet circuit goes on the center pair/common contacts
the two input methods go on the other two pairs
hot/neutral pair, on each of the two input sets

the switch/relay .. chooses which power is used

opening an outlet cover is not the problem
its getting the power into the wall behind the outlet
or to the junction someplace where the romex from the outlet is connected to the hot feed from the panel

IF you can pull a new circuit from the inverter to the area of the outlet
you can then use a 20amp DPDT toggle switch to choose between the two power methods, existing from panel or the new circuit from the inverter

thing is if you can pull wire there, why mess with the switch
just mount another outlet right there connected to the inverter
then all you have to do is move the "coffee maker" plug from outlet to the other

[jeffwhite]

smkettner wrote:

MrWizard wrote:
Everybody talked about the inverter, or the coffee maker!
Nobody talked about the problem of wiring the outlet
Basically you have TWO choices
Go whole house
Or
Run a new dedicated circuit to that location

Third method is a small transfer switch to the single circuit. No pulling wire to a new outlet and no complications of verifying certain items are off and stay off.

I was not sure what I was going to do about this, as I have decent access to the back of this partucular outlet (I think, if I pull the microwave),but getting from the inverter to the outlet might me sketchy. What is the transfer switch you are talking about? jeff

[time2roll]

MrWizard wrote:
Everybody talked about the inverter, or the coffee maker!
Nobody talked about the problem of wiring the outlet
Basically you have TWO choices
Go whole house
Or
Run a new dedicated circuit to that location

Third method is a small transfer switch to the single circuit. No pulling wire to a new outlet and no complications of verifying certain items are off and stay off.

[MrWizard]

Everybody talked about the inverter, or the coffee maker!
Nobody talked about the problem of wiring the outlet
Basically you have TWO choices
Go whole house
Or
Run a new dedicated circuit to that location

Trying to rewire that outlet/circuit will be next to impossible
You just don't have access to the wiring
You would have to find the hidden junction box (behind closets cabinets etc..)
and run the inverter power to that area and connect it
And since you have to run new wire, it's easier to run a new circuit, than rewire an existing one

[MEXICOWANDERER]

I am in with ze Press Frances crowd but discovered some years ago a single coffeecup micro brewer works good even with a car battery and laff-a-thon Harbor Freight 700-watt inverter. The inverters are si ghastly that the 700 watt model was chosen to protect it from itself.

[otrfun]

We use a TF6, 5-cup, Mr. Coffee coffee maker in our TT. Less than $20 at Walmart. It's rated at 600 watts. Our 600 watt PSW inverter along with the TF6 makes some awesome coffee every morning!

BFL13 brings up a good point about using shorter/fatter wires/cables. Very difficult to get the rated/maximum output out of any inverter unless you have a quality connection to the battery. Our 600 watt inverter is drawing 45-50 amps when we're running that coffee maker. Pretty hard to get that kind of amperage through a pair of dinky wires & alligator clips--lol!

[BFL13]

You can get the inverter to not alarm off until at a lower SOC by using shorter/fatter wires between it and the battery bank.

I see a 0.8v drop while running a load that pulls 90 amps from the battery bank of four wet 6s. This means I can be at 12.2v to start and it will stay above the 11.0v alarm point. (Allows for the initial drop to 11.4 and then some for decline while load is running)

[dahkota]

We make coffee using an inverter a lot. A few things to note:
Our 10 cup coffee maker is 800W. If our 4 batteries (440AH) are not at least 73% full (12.5V), there is a chance that the inverter will alarm. This is because the voltage drop from such a large load causes the voltage to drop below 12V. If the pot is unplugged, it goes right back to 12.5V.

Our 1 cup coffee maker is 400W. We can use it down to 55% battery as the draw is not nearly as high.

The most efficient way to make coffee when on battery power when using a drip coffee maker is to heat the water on the stove and pour it through the coffee maker yourself. This requires no battery power and the end result is the same if you take the time to pour the water through slowly - at the speed of a drip coffee maker. We would never run a generator just to make coffee. If I don't want to listen to it first thing in the morning, I assume others don't either.

[SoundGuy]

RoyB wrote:
For us the best way to make our coffee when camping off-grid is to use the generator. It is just too big a draw on the batteries to use a very high wattage Inverter.

Earlier this year I installed a 1000 watt true sine wave inverter in our TT's front pass through storage compartment and wired it "whole house" to power the entire trailer simply by plugging the trailer's main service cable into it. I installed it primarily for running 120 vac fans but since discovered it works just fine for running a 2-slot toaster rated at 650 watts or this 4-cup Cuisinart Coffee Maker rated at 550 watts. It won't run my wife's hair dryer on HIGH but has no difficulty at all running it on LOW. Since I had originally only intended to use the inverter for running fans I never bothered to upgrade my single 7 yr old G27 Interstate battery but found it powered the inverter just fine anyway even when subjected to substantial draw from the toaster or coffee maker. Next year I'll likely upgrade to one or two G31s but in the meantime this combination of a 1000 watt inverter and G27 battery works just fine for the purpose and the advantage is I can now enjoy coffee & toast when I first get up but it's far too early in the day to be running a genset.

[Old_Days]

We have a 2000 watt inverter in the TC, it works good for running a coffee pot.

[petrel]

Although I have no first hand experience, I've read on both boating and RV forums that Xantrex makes a good product.

FWIW My DW purchase a french press for me when we decided to dry camp in a national park. I liked the pressed coffee so much that I don't even use a coffee maker at home anymore.

[GordonThree]

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
UL and ETL demands wattage and amperage be posted near where the AC cord enters the device. See if you can find it. Be prepared to consider a 1000 watt inverter and 200 amp hours of batteries.

x2 - an electric coffee maker or even a simple hot pot kettle is going to demand at a minimum 700w and some are upwards of 1300-1500 watts

Have you considered using gas to heat water and something like a french press to make the coffee?

[RoyB]

For us the best way to make our coffee when camping off-grid is to use the generator. It is just too big a draw on the batteries to use a very high wattage Inverter.

Our style of OFF-ROAD camping requires us to be using the generator each morning to re-charge our battery bank using our on-board smart mode converter/charger setup. This is the time we make our coffee for the day... Our 2KW Honda Generator sits secured to the inside of the covered and lockable truck bed setting on the tailgate and is very quiet in operation. This has been our daily routine when camping off the power grid since 2009...


We use the Cuisinart DGB-600BC GRIND AND BREW BEAN COFFEE MAKER which grinds fresh coffee beans and brews up into a thermos karafe. This only take around five minutes of time to give us a a good 10-cup source of brewed coffee.. We use the EIGHT O'CLOCK COLOMBIAN PEAKS brand of coffee (WALMART)



Our backup coffee maker which does not require the use of the Generator is the Coleman peculator to be used on the propane stovetop and we grind the fresh coffee beans with a Mr Coffee bean grinder. Then we pour up the fresh coffee into a thermos karafe... This method of making coffee is not as good taste for us as the Cuisinart coffee maker gives us.


The Mr Coffee grinder runs off of our 600WATT PSW Inverter we use for all of our Home Entertainment and other 120AC items we have for our low wattage daily use.This also takes around 5 minutes to make...

Another trick we do is to always use the same brand of bottled water to make our coffee with to get the same coffee taste we like.

Roy Ken

[MEXICOWANDERER]

UL and ETL demands wattage and amperage be posted near where the AC cord enters the device. See if you can find it. Be prepared to consider a 1000 watt inverter and 200 amp hours of batteries.