Need Inverter/battery recommendations

[jim bounds1]

Greg,
An inverter of 1200 watts or so is enough to run most smaller appliances
and will not require extensive primary power supply wiring. I designed
ambulances for a year or so and we installed 1200 watt Tripp inverters
which worked out very well.

I would agree that isolating the inverter system from the gen./ shore power
circuits is a very good idea. No one can make a mistake and toast
something besides this will make both systems more reliable. The inverter
will proboobly call for an 8ga. pos. & neg. wiring, the larger the guage
the better. I would use at least 6 ga. wiring and make the runs as short
as possible.

I picked up a really heavy group 7 deep cycle marine battery at Discount
Auto parts that would work great for you. I don't remember the # but it
will be the heaviest one on the shelf.

An inverter system like you describe is a great idea especially if you are
in an area where the roof air is not needed.

If you need help sourcing the inverter give me a call and I;ll round up
some prices for you.

Hope this helps,

Jim Bounds
- -------------------------------

>Hello all,
>Looking to set-up my coach with a large capacity inverter, probably
hard-wired
>to the coach battery (as opposed to going thru the cigarette lighter, which i
>believe drains the engine battery). Just looking to get a good amount of
>power without needing to run the generator (installing a mini sound studio!).
>I know that there are 1200 watt inverters on the market, and i'm wondering if
>anybody has heard of anyone using one even larger than this, or is this not
>recommended? I'm probably going to add a second coach battery, and sit it up
>front next to the engine battery, but unfortunately the battery tray is not
>large enough to fit the 12v (deep cycle marine) battery next to the engine
>battery. any recommendations on where to get a larger tray? I have a '78
>Eleganza II, and i know some of the earlier models came with the larger tray
>up front.
>I'm probably going to have this system supply a few dedicated 110v
outlets, as
>opposed to wiring into the coach 110v outlets. I'm not an electrician, but i
>have a friend who can do all this for me, once i decide the course of action.
>Any recommendations on inverter size/brand, battery tray, wiring schemes; and
>retail referrals or warnings greatly appreciated! thanks!
>
>Greg Weber
>'78 Eleganza II
>Boston MA (but soon hittin' the road!)
>GoneMad5
>
>

 

[david l greenberg]

Hi Greg,

Welcome to the "Net"!

Heart makes a 2500 watt unit as do others. I am familiar with Heart as
they are used on large boats.

As to the battery tray, I made one out of 3/4" marine plywood, painted
both sides and bolted it tothe original brackets. Old tray was rusted. By
using a borrowed patter fom Sirum GMC I was able to make the tray large
enough to fill the entire area inside the fender.

This can be done for both sides altho ealier GMCs already had all
batteries up front. At the moment I have room on one side, for my
starting battery and an industrial bin that holds (exactly) on 12 quarts
of oil and misc cleaning supplies.

Good luck with getting on the road. Happy Trails. Don't forget to make
sure your coach is ensured for appraised value before you go and most
importantly get your coach in the Registry! [g]

Dave Greenberg
GMC Motorhome Registry
200 MacFarlane Dr PH4
Delray Beach, FL 33483-6829

 

[thom hole]

I did the same thing as far a building a 'shelf' for the batteries in the
front of my Transmode conversion. I made my own pattern with a hit-and-miss
method and bolted it to the existing brackets. I also used a 'Battery Mat'
that stops the corrosion from affecting the Shelf. (Available from
Automotion $5.50 1-800-777-8881) The batteries I used for the 'House' are a
pair of 6V Golf cart style put in series to create 12V. The other
advantage to this setup is that I can easily deal with the 3 batteries
instead of struggling with the oversized truck or bus type.

>Hi Greg,
>
>Welcome to the "Net"!
>
>Heart makes a 2500 watt unit as do others. I am familiar with Heart as
>they are used on large boats.
>
>As to the battery tray, I made one out of 3/4" marine plywood, painted
>both sides and bolted it tothe original brackets. Old tray was rusted. By
>using a borrowed patter fom Sirum GMC I was able to make the tray large
>enough to fill the entire area inside the fender.
>
>This can be done for both sides altho ealier GMCs already had all
>batteries up front. At the moment I have room on one side, for my
>starting battery and an industrial bin that holds (exactly) on 12 quarts
>of oil and misc cleaning supplies.
>
>Good luck with getting on the road. Happy Trails. Don't forget to make
>sure your coach is ensured for appraised value before you go and most
>importantly get your coach in the Registry! [g]
>
>
> Dave Greenberg
>GMC Motorhome Registry
> 200 MacFarlane Dr PH4
>Delray Beach, FL 33483-6829
>

 

[heinz wittenbecher]

>Hello all,
>Looking to set-up my coach with a large capacity inverter,



Hello Greg,

I've been using a 1200 Watt Heart Inverter for many years. It sits under the
couch and is connected directly to rear house battery.

A word of caution: If you're planning to use the inverter to "clean"
shorepower as well as to provide 110 when no shorepower is available be sure
you DO NOT get a model that has the charger built in.

The inverter with built-in charger switches to charging from inverting when
on shorepower. This is great if no power protection is needed as they are
usually 100 Amp chargers.
My Inverter is on all the time to supply full-time inverted AC to my
computers, TV, VCR, etc. I use a seperate 2 x 30 Amp charger setup for
charging the batteries.

This gives me protection in case breaker blows at the pole, somebodies
"oops" as they unlug you, poor shorepower, etc. Quite often I "borrow"
shorepower at a client and it's not always up to snuff (or 117Volts)

You mentioned Studio, which probably equals to expensive electronics, which
equals to covering ones' butt as best as possible, i.e. fulltime on
Inverter. Remember, you'll need more charging power than your converter
supplies by some means, i.e. portable battery charger or larger built-in to
replace your converter.

STATPOWER make one now that is absolute true SineWave. Capacities range
1000-2500 watts. Talked to them at SEMA show last week re efficiency when a
larger unit is used to supply very little AC. No real penalty or
inefficiency, which means when I have to replace mine a 2500 watt unit will
go in.

Cheers

Heinz
'76 Transmode

 

[thomas g. warner]

Boy! a 1200W inverter is going to pull 100 amps of current. You are going
to run it down very fast.

>Hello all,
>Looking to set-up my coach with a large capacity inverter, probably hard-wired
>to the coach battery (as opposed to going thru the cigarette lighter, which i
>believe drains the engine battery). Just looking to get a good amount of
>power without needing to run the generator (installing a mini sound studio!).
>I know that there are 1200 watt inverters on the market, and i'm wondering if
>anybody has heard of anyone using one even larger than this, or is this not
>recommended? I'm probably going to add a second coach battery, and sit it up
>front next to the engine battery, but unfortunately the battery tray is not
>large enough to fit the 12v (deep cycle marine) battery next to the engine
>battery. any recommendations on where to get a larger tray? I have a '78
>Eleganza II, and i know some of the earlier models came with the larger tray
>up front.
>I'm probably going to have this system supply a few dedicated 110v outlets, as
>opposed to wiring into the coach 110v outlets. I'm not an electrician, but i
>have a friend who can do all this for me, once i decide the course of action.
>Any recommendations on inverter size/brand, battery tray, wiring schemes; and
>retail referrals or warnings greatly appreciated! thanks!
>
>Greg Weber
>'78 Eleganza II
>Boston MA (but soon hittin' the road!)
>GoneMad5
>
>
Tom & Marg Warner
Vernon Center NY
1976 palmbeach

 

[marcus mcgee]

I just got a "Whistler" 1500 Watt inverter from Heartland for a little over $300
includeing shipping. It is a moddified sinewave - not hte best but good enough
for most things. The unit is on OEM version of a well known manufacturer - can
not recall it now -, but we tested it and it seems to perform well. Heartland
list them for $349.

Marcus

> Greg
>
> You mentioned that you might just put in a few outlets. I was thinking
> of doing that way too. I got to looking at the wiring diagram for
> my Glen Brook. All of the outlets are on one breaker. Then I call
> Stat Power and talked to their tech assistance. They said to take
> power from our present breaker and run it to the AC input on inverter.
> Then take output from inverter to a new separate breaker. Then reconnect
> the outlet circuit to the new breaker. If you get one with an auto transfer
> switch when you are hooked to shore power the circuit will be powered
> by 110 V. When you are on battery power it will automatically switch
> over.
>
> (old panel)-------(inverter)------(new breaker)-----(outlet circuit)
> | |
> (12V)
>
> Now I am no inverter person but this sounds right. He is going to fax
> me some diagrams. I am not sure about the grounds on this set up.
>
> Take Care
> Arch GB IL
>
> > I'm probably going to have this system supply a few dedicated 110v outlets,
> > as
> > opposed to wiring into the coach 110v outlets. I'm not an electrician, but
> > i
> > have a friend who can do all this for me, once i decide the course of
> action.
> >
> > Any recommendations on inverter size/brand, battery tray, wiring schemes;
> > and
> > retail referrals or warnings greatly appreciated! thanks!
> >

 

[david l greenberg]

> I will post
>the formula. Also, the charger side of the inverter will "sense" high
>voltage
>from the converter (and vice versa) and no worthwhile charging will
>occur.
>This happened to me. I would isolate your battery bank from the
>converter. Let
>the high output charger on the inverter do the work. To be continued.
>Larry
>Nelson, PB 75, "I might where socks today in November in Springfield,
>MO"
>
Great Idea Larry, I'll be looking for the formula, here in Florida were
we never wear socks!

Dave Greenberg
GMC Motorhome Registry
200 MacFarlane Dr PH4
Delray Beach, FL 33483-6829

 

[mr.c]

I have a 1500 watt inverter and it can handle surges to 2500 watts. I have it
wired to a couple of circuits in the coach and a relay so when I am on shore
power, all the circuits come off of shore power, but when I am on the road, the
power comes from the inverter. Just for info, the 1500 watt inverter can run for
about 30 to 40 min max because it uses all of the 100 amp hours 12 volt (two six
volt batteries). So don't plan on using it long. If you put in a second set of
batteries, you might want to consider using an isolator to charge them because
they will drain each other very quickly, and if one goes bad, it will bring down
the others. Hope that helps.

Al chernoff

> Hello all,
> Looking to set-up my coach with a large capacity inverter, probably hard-wired
> to the coach battery (as opposed to going thru the cigarette lighter, which i
> believe drains the engine battery). Just looking to get a good amount of
> power without needing to run the generator (installing a mini sound studio!).
> I know that there are 1200 watt inverters on the market, and i'm wondering if
> anybody has heard of anyone using one even larger than this, or is this not
> recommended? I'm probably going to add a second coach battery, and sit it up
> front next to the engine battery, but unfortunately the battery tray is not
> large enough to fit the 12v (deep cycle marine) battery next to the engine
> battery. any recommendations on where to get a larger tray? I have a '78
> Eleganza II, and i know some of the earlier models came with the larger tray
> up front.
> I'm probably going to have this system supply a few dedicated 110v outlets, as
> opposed to wiring into the coach 110v outlets. I'm not an electrician, but i
> have a friend who can do all this for me, once i decide the course of action.
> Any recommendations on inverter size/brand, battery tray, wiring schemes; and
> retail referrals or warnings greatly appreciated! thanks!
>
> Greg Weber
> '78 Eleganza II
> Boston MA (but soon hittin' the road!)
> GoneMad5

 

[darren paget]

Putting a1500 watt TRACE inverter in my 76. Looks like a good size to work with.
As far as I am aware, I only have to wire it directly to the house battery, the
110 power coming in, the transfer switch and the 110 fuse panel in the coach. I am
not privy to wiring it into the 12v system of the coach. Mind you I am not using a
converter either. Don't know how that would change things though. Darren

> Hello all,
> Looking to set-up my coach with a large capacity inverter, probably hard-wired
> to the coach battery (as opposed to going thru the cigarette lighter, which i
> believe drains the engine battery). Just looking to get a good amount of
> power without needing to run the generator (installing a mini sound studio!).
> I know that there are 1200 watt inverters on the market, and i'm wondering if
> anybody has heard of anyone using one even larger than this, or is this not
> recommended? I'm probably going to add a second coach battery, and sit it up
> front next to the engine battery, but unfortunately the battery tray is not
> large enough to fit the 12v (deep cycle marine) battery next to the engine
> battery. any recommendations on where to get a larger tray? I have a '78
> Eleganza II, and i know some of the earlier models came with the larger tray
> up front.
> I'm probably going to have this system supply a few dedicated 110v outlets, as
> opposed to wiring into the coach 110v outlets. I'm not an electrician, but i
> have a friend who can do all this for me, once i decide the course of action.
> Any recommendations on inverter size/brand, battery tray, wiring schemes; and
> retail referrals or warnings greatly appreciated! thanks!
>
> Greg Weber
> '78 Eleganza II
> Boston MA (but soon hittin' the road!)
> GoneMad5