How to wire an inverter?

Usually wires come with inverter to fix with your battery. Be careful to connect positive wire with positive phase of battery and negative with negative, otherwise your inverter's fuse will burst.

work2much wrote:


Thanks for the info. Too tall for my basement, but possibly could be mounted in the cabinet where some people put the fireplace. I was going to mount a Victron solar charger there. I wonder how much heat and noise it generates when it's working hard.

I believe you can mount it horizontally as well. Max efficiency is over 90% and they are usually near max when heavily loaded. 2000 watts conversion means you will get 220 watts heat rejection at max load. A small cabinet would have to be ventilated. Usually that kind of load is very low duration though, like a microwave for 5 minutes. I don't know what Victron does, but Mastervolt has a cooling fan that only comes on when needed and runs only as fast as needed. These are high frequency switchers, so they do not hum. If you have a Victron solar charger, they whole thing can be connected to one remote control.

The Multiplus is also the battery charger and has a unique feature: it can boost the incoming AC for loads that are over what the line can carry, using the inverter function. The only use for this I can think of in a TC is the ability to start an air conditioner on a much smaller cord or genset.

No they do not fight each other. They each just turn off when the voltage set point is reached.

Here's something I'm confused about. If I'm on shore power and I'm also in the sun, are my two chargers fighting each other to charge the batteries? That's one of the reasons I'd prefer a unit like the Victron that has an MPPT, inverter, charge controller and transfer relay.

HMS Beagle wrote:

work2much wrote:

HMS Beagle wrote:
IThe best inverters are Mastervolt and Victron, but expect to pay for them.

Unfortunately Victron doesn't make a high power compact inverter. They have small inverters that wouldn't handle stuff like a microwave. Their Multiplus 3000 is an outstanding charger/inverter capable of endless configuring and monitoring but it is huge for a truck camper. It is really a cabinet.

The Victron Multiplus 2000 is about 20 x 10 x 5, only slightly bigger than my Magnum 600W and will easily power any microwave. It is highly programmable (including for Li chemistry), includes a very nice 4 stage charger, and has excellent specs. Particularly the idle power (10W no load, 3 in search mode) which is a sore point with the Xantrex and Magnum stuff (25W no load, 8 in search mode), but also efficiency. It can be had for around $1100, somewhat less than an equivalent Magnum (which is 14 x 13 x 8), and it would be a much better unit. About half the weight too.

Mastervolt has the Mass 12/2000 (inverter only), 16 x 12 x 5, with even better specs: no load current of only 480 mA and a power saving mode drawing only 50 mA. You can leave this on all the time. They have charger/inverters as well. I have the Mass/Combi 4000 on my boat, it has been flawless for 8 years and draws little enough power idling that we simply leave it on 24/7.

Thanks for the info. Too tall for my basement, but possibly could be mounted in the cabinet where some people put the fireplace. I was going to mount a Victron solar charger there. I wonder how much heat and noise it generates when it's working hard.

work2much wrote:

HMS Beagle wrote:
IThe best inverters are Mastervolt and Victron, but expect to pay for them.

Unfortunately Victron doesn't make a high power compact inverter. They have small inverters that wouldn't handle stuff like a microwave. Their Multiplus 3000 is an outstanding charger/inverter capable of endless configuring and monitoring but it is huge for a truck camper. It is really a cabinet.

The Victron Multiplus 2000 is about 20 x 10 x 5, only slightly bigger than my Magnum 600W and will easily power any microwave. It is highly programmable (including for Li chemistry), includes a very nice 4 stage charger, and has excellent specs. Particularly the idle power (10W no load, 3 in search mode) which is a sore point with the Xantrex and Magnum stuff (25W no load, 8 in search mode), but also efficiency. It can be had for around $1100, somewhat less than an equivalent Magnum (which is 14 x 13 x 8), and it would be a much better unit. About half the weight too.

Mastervolt has the Mass 12/2000 (inverter only), 16 x 12 x 5, with even better specs: no load current of only 480 mA and a power saving mode drawing only 50 mA. You can leave this on all the time. They have charger/inverters as well. I have the Mass/Combi 4000 on my boat, it has been flawless for 8 years and draws little enough power idling that we simply leave it on 24/7.

You're buying some high end AGM batteries, show them some respect with a temperature compensated charger, either in the inverter or separate.

Charging voltages change with temperature. The PD bulks at 14.4 and floats at 13.6. These are ranges that should be acceptable for your AGM batteries. These are also the recommended charging rates for some LiFePo4 batteries such as the Battle Born brand, so it should work ok for that as well when you upgrade.

Victron does make a very nice line of MPPT charge controllers (without inverter) that are reasonably small, are 100% adjustable for voltages as well as temperature fluctuations. They have many depending on your needs. This is one that will charge up to 50A Victron 100/50

If you leave the stock PD and just add an inverter you will need to think about how you wire to deliver the power to the camper. Depending on the camper adding receptacles may be easy or not. Some people just add a plug or two where they would need power such as kitchen, behind the TV etc.

We plan to run a large inverter to power the entire camper that we can switch on and off from inside. Mostly we use 12v. power or small local inside inverters for things like tv. The large inverter to be turned on to run high load devices only.

Here is Lifelines recommended charging voltages at variable temps. Unless you get a sophisticated programmable charger with temp sensor you sort of need to find a good compromise. The stock unit is a good compromise

Have read posts where a high pitched whine is made when there is almost no load on the PD converter. Does it change if you turn on some or all the lights? I would sooner replace it with a 60 amp rated PD over the inverter/charger. The PD converters are generally very reliable and match the Lifeline battery charging specs about perfect. If it is less than two years old you might get a replacement under warranty.

time2roll wrote:

Freep wrote:
Any of you know how to pull the charger/converter from a Progressive dynamics PD4045KA Power converter/distribution panel without unwiring everything in the distribution panel?

PD converter is excellent. Are you really stuck on an inverter/charger?

I recommend keeping the PD converter and just add a stand alone inverter to power what you like. Separate transfer switch too.

I'm concerned that the PD converter/charger will overcharge my AGM batteries. Also when on shore power the converter whines loudly. I suspect I may have to replace that soon anyway.

But I am not married to the idea of a inverter/charger.

The ultimate would be to have an inverter/charger/MPPT controller in one unit like Victron makes. But that is just too big.

I will more than likely be adding a 200 watt panel soon.