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Inverter Question for Dummies

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luvrbus
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Re: Inverter Question for Dummies

Post by luvrbus »

That is a large battery bank you have Mark my Prevost had 6 4D's and I thought that was large over 3 grand for batteries.Dick told me to hold off on buying a new inverter till Magnum came with their new ones never mention Outback to me so I will ask him about the Outback.I am getting away from the electric in my coach mine has 240V cooktop and I was going to change to 110V Seward Princes Dick sells but the cook didn't like it she wants a induction type and all I can find are 240v for the three burner

good luck
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Boomer
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Re: Inverter Question for Dummies

Post by Boomer »

We have the two burner flat top Princess but we have never used it. We either BBQ or use the convection/microwave.
Last edited by Boomer on Thu Feb 26, 2009 7:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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beltguy
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Re: Inverter Question for Dummies

Post by beltguy »

For the life of me, I don't know how anyone can do without an inverter!!!!!

We had a new motorhome a few years ago with no inverter and it was an unbelievable pain. No TV, no computers (batteries only last so long), nothing without the generator running!!!!!!!

Yes inverters are expensive, and so are house batteries. But running the generator at a 1/2 gal. per hour (give or take, depending on load and size) can really add up. Yes, we are enjoying $2 diesel right now, but it won't be long until we are back up to $4. That is $2 per hour for every hour you want to watch TV.

Once you start thinking about a way to be off-grid you need to have an inverter and house battery bank. Go to Sams and buy golf cart batteries (less than $70 right now) and get 6 or 8. Get a good inverter that will charge those batteries properly. Then you can have a house fridge (pretty darn convenient) have lights at night for as long as you want, watch TV, and fire up the computer so you can contribute to this forum :D :D

You should not count on running the AC through an inverter. Yes you can do that going down the road, but you will not be able to run it when you are stopped unless you have a post or the generator going.

You are going to live in your coach full time. You have to find a way to bite the bullet and do it correctly. This is not the place to cut corners!!!!!

There are "surplus" inverters on the market. I would guess that number will go up a bunch with all the folks going out of business. Just be warned that the warrantee will not apply, but you can probably save a bunch of money. The fellow with the business next to Dick's used to have some good inverters that were surplus from Monoco.

I just checked John Palmer's site (http://www.jolynenterprises.com/Inverters.htm) and he has new 2000 watt Magnum (good brand) full sine wave inverters for $1799 with free shipping. He has a modified sine wave unit for $1499. Since you do quite a bit of computing and have printers, you really should have a full sine wave and then you will NOT have any problems with critical equipment. The $300 is money well spent.

John can be a bit abrasive, but he knows his stuff and has great prices and support.

Dick Wright is an excellent vendor and has been very involved with the bus community. Give him a chance to give you a good price (http://www.wricointernational.com/inver ... rters.html)

Sell the dog or whatever and get one!!

Jim
Jim Shepherd
Evergreen, CO
'85 Eagle 10 with Series 60 & Eaton AutoShift 10 speed transmission SOLD
2005 Dodge 2500 with 5.9 Cummins and 6 speed manual 2022 Sunset 28 foot trailer
Bus Project pages: http://beltguy.com/Bus_Project/busproject.htm
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Email: eaglesinternational.email at gmail.com   NOTE this email box is only for general correspondence related to the forum and not technical advice.  Technical questions will not receive a response.
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Boomer
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Re: Inverter Question for Dummies

Post by Boomer »

Well put Jim. This avenue moves you into "motorhoming" and not "camping".
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Songman
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Re: Inverter Question for Dummies

Post by Songman »

Good reading... I am far from that time in my conversion but I will need a pretty good inverter. I am planning an all-electric coach. And of course I will have lots of computer stuff and gadgets in my bus. The expense of the inverter is probably the largest single cost that I am afraid of.
Dale Houston
1993 Eagle 15-45
Nashville, TN
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Re: Inverter Question for Dummies

Post by Dreamscape »

Sheesh! I had a post all done and thought I'd check out Jim's links, post went bye bye. I sure wish we could click on a link and a new window would pop up. Do ya hear me Dale! ;) Now I forgot what I was going to say!

Anyway, I'll keep reading and investigating. Have a Pow Wow with the banker and figure what to do.

We will probably be next to a pole most of the time, so we'll be ok until we really hit the road in a year or so.

All comments are being considered. We'll either get a good one or not. I know the pure sine wave is really the way to go with sensitive electronics, want to keep the smoke contained for sure.

~Paul~
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Songman
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Re: Inverter Question for Dummies

Post by Songman »

If you are using Firefox, you can right click any link and select 'Open link in new tab'. That way you can have more than one reference page open at a time.

If you are not using Firefox... you should be.
Dale Houston
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Nashville, TN
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beltguy
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Re: Inverter Question for Dummies

Post by beltguy »

A couple of other features with the full sine wave units:

1) You will get full power on your microwave. On modified sine wave you will loose some, depending on how much they chop off the peak to peak. Some are not too bad, but they are the top of the line units. I think smaller units (read cheap) are pretty bad.

2) You have feature where you can tell the inverter what the shore cord source is capable of in terms of amperage. If you plug into a friends 15 amp outlet, that is no problem. The inverter simply adds capability to the power to run a heavy draw appliance (or more than one at a time).

If you don't install the inverter for a while, be sure to set up your electrical panels so that you are ready for it. To do that, you set up your main breaker box so that it has a feed for the inverter (30 amp breaker) and all of the things you don't want run off the inverter (AC, some outlets, washer/dryer, etc). You then set up a second breaker box with breakers for everything you want to run off the inverter (inside outlets, 120 V lights, etc). For the time you don't have the inverter, simply connect the second box to the main box and have the 30A from the main box be the main feed to the second box.

With a good inverter, the power to the second box will simply be fed through the inverter when you are on the post or the generator is running.

I would download an inverter manual and study it a bit, then do the wiring modification.

If you do the wiring modification now, installing the inverter will not be a huge undertaking. You will need room for the battery box and the inverter (must be very close together). Then you only have to run some battery cable, and connect the inverter to the main box (30A) for input and the output to the second box.

Location of the breaker boxes is optional. I have my main breaker box (standard house type) in the bay and the inverter breaker box on the inside. For the inside box I went whole hog and used Blue Sea toggle breakers. The unit I used was: http://www.marine.com/blue-3059-breaker ... 37845.html. They look nice, and make it very convenient to shut circuits off if you wish.

I used the same type breaker system for my 12V panel and located it inside as well. That makes it very easy to shut off the water pump when we are away or hooked up to water.

The Blue Sea breakers have a tremendous reputation and are used heavily in the marine industry. I think you can find units on Ebay once in a while.

PS: I did not mean to imply that a modified sine wave would hurt any electronic equipment. Some equipment is sensitive to the power source and will not function with the MS inverter. I think that used to be more of a problem a while back. Have not heard of any problems recently, but why take the chance that you will have something that will not work or get flaky on you?

PPS: You can see a some of my system details and pictures of my system at: http://www.rvsafetysystems.com/busproject2.htm

Jim
Jim Shepherd
Evergreen, CO
'85 Eagle 10 with Series 60 & Eaton AutoShift 10 speed transmission SOLD
2005 Dodge 2500 with 5.9 Cummins and 6 speed manual 2022 Sunset 28 foot trailer
Bus Project pages: http://beltguy.com/Bus_Project/busproject.htm
Blog: https://beltguy.com/Travelogue/
Email: eaglesinternational.email at gmail.com   NOTE this email box is only for general correspondence related to the forum and not technical advice.  Technical questions will not receive a response.
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luvrbus
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Re: Inverter Question for Dummies

Post by luvrbus »

Well Paul so much for Anne Green Springs and Miller Lite budget huh.If you just want to watch TV do a little mirowave cooking go with a simple system.I have a Iota backup charger on mine the trace charger quit one time and I was with a inverter for 3 weeks BTW it cost 480 buck to have it fix so now I use the 100 buck Iota must of the time.Mark has a good system but knowing the price of the 8d AGM and the inverter his system is worth more than some of my friend buses are plus it about 1500lbs of weight. good luck
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Re: Inverter Question for Dummies

Post by Songman »

I've got a couple of older Vanners that I will most likely use at first just so I can start using the bus. One is a 2000 and the other is a 2500. From what I hear I probably shouldn't hook up computers or fancy TVs to them but other than that they will get me going.
Dale Houston
1993 Eagle 15-45
Nashville, TN
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