charles wrote: I'm now curious about the kind of battery trouble a hard wired inverter would cause as that is one of the options I was considering.
Nick
2010 Explorer X-ST
I didn't mean to imply that a hard wired inverter causes sure battery trouble. Simply that a larger draw from a single battery could flatten it pretty quickly. (I've forgotten to turn off the fridge for a few hours several times when I've gotten home. Not a problem with four house batteries.)
If you do draw more than 5a from a 100ah-rated battery you will get less than 100ah from it. If your inverter draws a lot more than 5a you may suffer a voltage drop that the inverter might not like. Cure would be more batteries. A battery should only be drawn down to half capacity for extended battery life. A larger bank will also recharge to 80%-90% much faster than a smaller bank to 100%. The required time to recharge is more important to people running gen sets than someone plugged in to shore power for the entire night.
My advice is to keep it simple and not depend on a single house battery for more than lights, powering a little inverter and small electronics. Otherwise more use implies hardwiring, a larger bank, a better quality inverter and fancier monitor. Shore power life is so much easier to plan for than boondocking!
I converted a low top, electric bed aft van to a stealth RV a few years ago--I found it was not large enough for us, so went to a Road Trek. But, I used an 120 amp hour AGM battery, on its side (allowed) under the electric bed--put in am enclosed plastic box, with a breaker on the box, and going to a wooden junction box, with breakers for each circuit I put in. (Extra lights, two cigarette lighter plugs)--I used a chest type of Norcold (12/110) for refrigration, a portipotty for a head, and a Home depo cabinet--with a 5 gallon water source, and 5 gallon water drain under the cabinet (yes I had a small sink for the drain, but also used small dish pans). Clothes were in duffle bags.
For hookup on the battery, I use a rig somewhat similar to Golden HVAC, but used what is called a "combiner" or "VSR" from the Marine world followed by a breaker. These are not ignition accentuated, but sensitative to output voltage from the charging source, and combine the house and engine batteries at 13.6 volts and disconnect them at 12.7 volts. The engine battery is left permently attatched to the alternator as original. There is also an "off" or disconnect switch on the battery box. I had always thought that 12 volt convention was that red was posative and black (or yellow, "safety) was ground.
I would only put in an inverter with a breaker between it and the battery. I have used all sorts of large inverters up to 3500 watts on boats, BUT have had up to 1200 amp hours of batteries. A 1200 watt inverter (which I used on the converter van) uses a lot of battery power, and can drain a 120 amp battery to 50% in 30 minutes. (microwave--or hot plate)
I also put in a couple of 110 volt sockets--one set in the galley cabinet, and one set just behind the driver's seat. I used a marine input fitting to the van, put in a master 110 V 15 amp breaker pannel, and wired to code, using marine stranded #12 wiring to each plug (ground fault interupter circuit)
Bob Austin
2001 H R 30 Admiral
Toad 2003 Honda Pilot
1993 Roadtrek popular Dodge chassis
2000 Ford Excursion 7.3 Diesel
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