Electrical Mod -- Feedback Requested

[offtohavasu]

Of course you're right--RV 50A service has two distinct 120Vac lines providing 50A each. (My hard-wired Progressive EMS-50 monitor screen shows "L1=xA" and "L2=xA" when the trailer is plugged in.)

What you're saying is with the inverter only one of the shore power 50A lines can be used? More troubling is does that mean there is only one inverter output ac line to the RV's distribution panel? In other words, when in inverter mode (ac provided by the batteries) only the c/b's tied into that one output line have power, the other c/b's (tied into the second 50A ac line) do not.

Very obvious now that you point it out, but I'd completely overlooked that issue. Now all the conversation about a sub-panel, load balancing, and the rest (in other threads) is starting to make sense. I need to go back and look at your drawing again.

Thanks, Dave, for the note.

GoPower makes an inverter that has 50 amp pass through on both legs. I know the Magnum inverter will not pass through 50 amps on both legs, only one. Unless something changed in the last few months.

[el Rojo]

FWIW

Our 18 cubic foot refrig pulls 600 watts. If mine ever goes out I'll replace with a residential frig which only pull 120 watts. The residential run appox $1200 to $ 1500 and our norcolds are around $3200 I'm told. So I'll take the extra $2000 and add it to solar.

[ncitro]

Well dang. The lure of having options on where I can park for the night is alluring, but without a/c in the summer it will be miserable sleeping almost everywhere except high in the Rockies. (Just thinking about camping near Rocky Mountain National Park makes me smile.) I'll need to ponder my expectations from the system more to ensure the financial outlay has the expected ROI.

Really appreciate your insights and help, Dave.

-Howard

I know the Magnum I have can either do 30 amps with two hot legs or 50 amps with one. I added a new main panel and brought my shore power feed into that. Then I fed the inverter with a 30 amp 220 breaker in that, and put the output of the inverter into the old main panel. I then took the loads I would not run from the inverter (both AC feeds, HWH, and the fridge) and moved them to the new panel I added. This way the inverter feeds most of the things in my rig, but I am still under the 30 amps on two legs it can put out. Obviously in your case you could keep the fridge on the inverter panel.

Regarding the AC units the inverter and Battleborns will do it, but you will need a lot more batteries to get through the night. You will be using the generator for that, I am looking at the same propane Champion as you, I think it is a good fit.

As far as keeping up with the fridge while driving, you can either add the solar now, which your battery capacity combined with some solar while on the road should handle, or upgrade the charging capability of the truck. I am having the same debate but keep coming back to moving the solar up in my schedule rather than invest in upgrading the trucks wiring, since I will not need it when I do the solar eventually. I wish it was easier though, I feel like with dual 220amp alternators on the truck there is a ton of untapped power there that could be used.

[jbailey]

Howson,
I actually have (I think) the exact setup you are talking about. I have a Multiplus 12v/3000 with Progressive EMS and Victron Solar charger. My battery bank started at 412 amp hours but I have since added another 400 so i am sitting at about 775amp hours after a couple of years aging.

I can run my AC off battery alone, but I only get about an hour before the batteries his the 70% or so mark. Consumption at that high of a level really takes an effect on the batteries.

Otherwise I can run everything off batteries for a long weekend while partially shaded and with no generator usage.

Let me know what questions I can help answer. Here is a picture of my setup

[howson]

Howson,
I actually have (I think) the exact setup you are talking about. I have a Multiplus 12v/3000 with Progressive EMS and Victron Solar charger. My battery bank started at 412 amp hours but I have since added another 400 so i am sitting at about 775amp hours after a couple of years aging.

I can run my AC off battery alone, but I only get about an hour before the batteries his the 70% or so mark. Consumption at that high of a level really takes an effect on the batteries.

Otherwise I can run everything off batteries for a long weekend while partially shaded and with no generator usage.

Let me know what questions I can help answer. Here is a picture of my setup

Very cool, Ben. Thank you for the note. I've been knee-deep in my onboard compressor project, but I'll circle back around to this soon. You can bet I'll take you up on your generous offer.

-Howard

[Cate&Rob]

FWIW

Our 18 cubic foot refrig pulls 600 watts. If mine ever goes out I'll replace with a residential frig which only pull 120 watts. The residential run appox $1200 to $ 1500 and our norcolds are around $3200 I'm told. So I'll take the extra $2000 and add it to solar.

Hi Red,

What is the brand of residential fridge that uses only 120 watts ? The fridge on our boat (about 9 cu ft) draws about 400 watts.

Rob

[el Rojo]

Hi Red,

What is the brand of residential fridge that uses only 120 watts ? The fridge on our boat (about 9 cu ft) draws about 400 watts.

Rob

I'll have to ask our solar installer, this info came from him. Might take a couple of days
to get a response.

Red

[el Rojo]

So Rob's question made me google a frig
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/insigni...gMkg&gclsrc=ds

So it says Average annual use 296 kilowats. Does that work out to 33.78 watts per hour?

Red

[ncitro]

So Rob's question made me google a frig
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/insigni...gMkg&gclsrc=ds

So it says Average annual use 296 kilowats. Does that work out to 33.78 watts per hour?

Red

I found a calculator online that shows it translates to 34 watts, which would be .25 amps at 120 volts. Given how low that is, I think that must be based on the average over one year. At times it is going to be higher than that (when the compressor is running for instance).

That same fridge you link shows a current draw of 1.4 amps, which would equate to 168 watts which sounds more realistic. Running that through your inverter (figuring 100% efficiency to make the math simple) would be 14 amps, or 1,680 watts. If thats all you were drawing from your batteries, and with no truck charging, you would run for about 10 hours using 75% of 200ah of batteries.

[jbarnes4868]

Read this thread with interest and I can verify that you can save a ton of power by going to residential fridges. I have a house boat on Lake Powell that is totally electric, no propane. We originally had two RV refers in the boat which would drain our 8 batteries in about a day. We replaced those two with one residential fridge. When the fridge comes on your can see the inverter supply 2 amps of 110v power. Our batteries can now support that fridge for over a day. My house boat is setup with Outback 5000 inverter/charger, 6000 watts of solar controlled by a Outback controller feeding 8 flooded batteries (200 amp per battery). The system runs at 48volt. Have had this running for 8 years now and it works great. I'm going to move to BattleBorn batteries next time I need a battery replacement.