I want to install an inverter at the battery box location but can't figure out how to run the wire from the inverter to the TV area which is about 12ft. The underside of the trailer is enclosed in some sort of black material. Not sure how to proceed. Any suggestions. If I cut into this black material how do I repair it when finished. Thanks Ed
I added a black tank flush to one of my fifth wheels. To get to the tank connection location I cut a small (6") three sided square hole in the underbelly material. The fourth side I folded so it acted like a hinge. Once the work was complete I closed the (door) with a piece of panelling as backing (above the cut-out section) and used some screws (through the underbelly material and into the panelling) to put it all back to-gether. Then covered the (door) with eternabond tape to seal it all off.
1960's: Tents.. 1970's: Soft top & Hard top P/U.. 1980's: 17' RV.. 1990's: 24' RV.. 2000's: 2002 Cougar 276EFS; 2005 Laredo 29GS; 2002 GMC 2500HD Ext Cab 4x4;(Nfld/Labrador-Yukon/NWT/Alaska-Gaspe', Que./Florida!!)
I am guessing it is a travel trailer? Most fifth wheels have accessabliity from the battery to the living spaces. You don't actually want the inverter in the same compartment as the battery, so no battery fumes have a chance of damaging the inverter. It is OK to have it several feet from the battery. Yet larger wire would be used for the longer run.
What I have in my motorhome is a #8 wire factory installed from the power panel to the TV location, and I was able to fish it out of the wall, and hook up a cigarette lighter to it, then plug in a 150 or 300 watt inverter to that location. So the inverter is not drawing any power once unplugged, and has large enough wires to prevent voltage loss.
You might want to install a twist lock plug on the inverter, and a receptical in the front of the trailer, say under the bed, where you can run wires through to the battery location, or in a location adjacent to the 12 volt fuse panel. With this set-up, you can run #10 wire to that special receptical, then to the power cord of the inverter, then use a small 120 volt power cord to the items that you want to plug in.
Basically that is what I did with my class C motorhome. I had a cord to the TV set that was plugged into the inverter all the time, except on the rare times when in a campground, then plugged into the 110 volt receptical. Then plug in the 150 watt inverter to a cigarette lighter that was installed with #10 wire running directly to the battery - some 25' away. The voltage drop with a 60 watt TV running was insignificant.
The underbelly can probably be dropped easily. They usually just have screws every few feet holding it up. Drop the underbelly enough to reach your arm or a tool in. I used a 8' 2"x2" with a vinyl coated hook on the end where the reach was to far. Reseal Amy openings as needed.
Red Ramrod wrote: The underbelly can probably be dropped easily. They usually just have screws every few feet holding it up. Drop the underbelly enough to reach your arm or a tool in. I used a 8' 2"x2" with a vinyl coated hook on the end where the reach was to far. Reseal Amy openings as needed.
x2 or if needed just drop the entire underbelly, not that hard a job. either way it allows you to do a proper job of routing and protecting the wire.
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