I'm looking for recommendations for an inverter for my 2005 Cedar Creek Day Dreamer 5th wheel.
I want to be able to watch TV (42" LED TV + Sat receiver), run a convection/microwave oven, coffee pot (and similar electric appliances), etc...
The LED TV takes half what my old LCD required so it isn't exactly a big power eater even when combined with my Blu-ray player or XBOX, but the convection/microwave will probably be the deciding factor. I couldn't find a manual for the exact model on the manufacturers website but I do have a Kill-a-Watt to check it with if needed. I figured I'd need a 1500 watt inverter just because of the microwave.
Now, I also have a residential style fridge which I think has it's own inverter (new Cedar Creeks I've looked at with residential fridges do) but I'm tracking down an electrical issue and I'm not certain yet. If it has it's own I'd like to leave it on it's own circuit so I can turn off the 2nd inverter and still run the fridge. If it doesn't have it's own, is one inverter going to be more efficient than two? What efficiency should I be looking for (other than as high as possible)? 90%? Better?
Are there any other features I should be looking for?
BTW, my electrical issue is that the fridge and TV work when plugged into 110 but they don't when plugged into a 50 amp plug. Bad converter or inverter maybe? It's a new 50 amp outlet at my house but I saw them test it after installing it today. I guess I'll have to get the multi-meter out.
If anyone has the same model Day Dreamer I'd like to know if yours came with an inverter.
Better make sure you have enough batteries to run that TV. They use a lot of power. One of the better inverters on the market today is a Magnum pure sine wave. The Xantrex are garbage.
VIZIO says the TV is 115 watt but I didn't get anything close to that on the Kill-a-watt.
My 5er came with 3 Interstate batteries (which may be a problem) but I planned on going to 4 when these die. I haven't pulled the batteries to see what voltage they are. It's a tight compartment.
The RV has a Parallax 550 converter/charger and I was also going to add solar panels later this year if that makes any difference.
We run our entire motorhome on a 2kw Magnum ME2012 inverter, which is also a 100a 4 stage battery charger. That includes a standard house micro/convection oven, all electronics, the DWs hair dryer, etc. I am in the process of changing the ME2012 2kw inverter to a ME2512 2½kw inverter, as we are looking at going to a residential fridge. There is NO need for the expense of a PSW inverter, unless you are a electronics geek. Everything we have, including our heated mattress pad and coffee maker work fine on a MSW inverter. Check around and you will find several sources for Magnum ME2012 or ME2512 inverters at a very reasonable price.
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Check the AC input requirement on the back label of your microwave.
A 1000w MW wants 1500w input. Think 2000w inverter not a 1500w one. (assumes a PSW inverter)
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RET ARMY 1980, DW Donna , "Tiny" (furkid) . Class A, 2007 Bounder 35E, Ford Chassis, 4 SAMS 6VOLTS,405W Solar,TriStar 45 Controller,1750W INVERTER, YAMAHA 2400, TOW: Honda CRV. READY BRAKE. "Living Our Dream". NASCAR FAN 14,18,20,11 LOVE CO & NM
The Texan wrote: We run our entire motorhome on a 2kw Magnum ME2012 inverter, which is also a 100a 4 stage battery charger. That includes a standard house micro/convection oven, all electronics, the DWs hair dryer, etc. I am in the process of changing the ME2012 2kw inverter to a ME2512 2½kw inverter, as we are looking at going to a residential fridge. There is NO need for the expense of a PSW inverter, unless you are a electronics geek. Everything we have, including our heated mattress pad and coffee maker work fine on a MSW inverter. Check around and you will find several sources for Magnum ME2012 or ME2512 inverters at a very reasonable price.
I'm an electronics geek (software engineer) so I'm probably stuck.
When I said "assumes PSW" I meant for pulling 1500w with the 150amp battery draw that goes with that. Our 2000w MSW inverter actually has the "1000w " MW pull less than 1500w because the MW won't run at full power from MSW, so the battery draw is more like 120a. The MW works but not as well as if it were on PSW or shore power/gen 120.
Because of that we could operate the 2000w inverter to use the MW (a little) on a bank of three 27DCs. It is all easier though with the four 6s we have now.
I have a Prosine 1800 that powers the microwave and one added outlet in the kitchen to cover all the big stuff. The rest of the outlets are powered by a GoPower 300w inverter to cover the small stuff. Both sine wave. Both work perfectly.
I added the large inverter first and was using a small MSW in the 12v connector for the tv. As other toys and gagets accumulated it became a tangle of cords so I wired in the small inverter. Could have connected the Prosine but it tends to have a high idle draw for watching a movie or charging a phone.
Nit picking terminology, but some recent tests with various sized invetters showed that it is not the "idle draw" that adds to the appliance draw that makes it inefficient to use a big inverter on a small appliance. It turns out that the inverter has an efficiency curve for the watts of the appliance wrt the max watts of the inverter, with peak efficiency typically maybe at 75% ratio.
This is what makes it efficient to "size" the inverter to the appliance load in watts. So if your load is x then add 1/3 to get the best inverter size. eg, load is 300w so inverter should be 400w to be near peak efficiency. (very approx and peak % varies with inverters too--just rule of thumb stuff ---experts on here can refine the "rule" if worth it)
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. Class A, 2007 Bounder 35E, Ford Chassis, 4 SAMS 6VOLTS,405W Solar,TriStar 45 Controller,1750W INVERTER, YAMAHA 2400, TOW: Honda CRV. READY BRAKE. "Living Our Dream". NASCAR FAN 14,18,20,11 LOVE CO & NM
