kearlms
Rexburg, ID
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Joined: 04/19/2005
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We would like to permanently install and inverter so we can watch a show late at night when we don't have shore power and not wanting to run the gen. Does anyone have any pics and or diagrams of what they did? We took our small inverter and used it at last camp plugged into the 12v receptacle by the TV but we have a voltage drop that would cause the inverter to whine when the heat turned on or lights were turned on. I would like to make it a permanent solution to have power at the receptacle when needed off the inverter. I have done a few searches and found where others have done this but no pics or diagrams. Hope you all can help.
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2oldman
Winchester WA
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Joined: 04/15/2001
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Try YouTube.
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donn0128
Pronounced Ore-gun
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Joined: 04/21/2005
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No pictures, but it can be extremely simple or extremely complicated, depends on what you want to do. Easiest solution is to simply run a dedicated line to power one single outlet for the TV only. Most difficult and expensive is to run a whole house inverter through a transfer switch. Personally I simply ran dedicated lines to the two places I wanted to have inverter power. Marked them as inverter power and away we went. The hardest part of the planning is where to put the inverter. It needs to be as close to the batteries as possible, In a TT that might be inside a cabinet right at the front of the trailer. drilling holes for the power cables. From there you could run the 120VAC side down one side of the trailer to where you need the inverter power for the TV.
Donn,Lorri,Max (The Rescued Lab)
Resident Know It All 
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SteveAE
Bend, Oregon
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Joined: 02/20/2012
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Sorry, don't know how to post a drawing ...... yet.
But I am sure you will get some great suggestions soon. If not, I am sure there are plenty of on-line documents already out there with this information.
Before you do this though, a couple things to think about and/or check.
1 - You mentioned "voltage drop". Most likely this is due to undersized 12 volt wiring in your rig, but you will want to confirm this before doing a permanent install. Measure your battery voltage (right at the battery with the furnace off than on to make sure it doesn’t drop....much more than ~ one or, ugh, two volts. If you don't have a volt meter, just connect your inverter right to the battery (be careful to get polarity correct) with automotive jumper cables and plug in the TV. If the TV works with both the heater on and off, then you can proceed with a permanent install (as long as you use dedicated cables to the battery).
If the voltage drops by a couple volts (or your TV doesn’t work), then you have something going on with your battery that you will need to address first.
2 - Do a real honest assessment on what you want to power with your inverter. You mentioned the TV. Are you sure that is all, or might you want to run a blender? At the same time?? Maybe a larger TV in the future?? How about charging a laptop (not much, but it adds up)? Power tools??? Microwave??????? I suggest this because once you have TV, there is a good likelihood that you (or your spouse) will want more .... human nature. Anyway, add up all the possible power needs (watts) that you will want to run at the same time to size the inverter, battery, and the cables between the battery and inverter. This number will help determine how easy (or complicated) your install is likely to be.
Hope this helps get you off on the right foot - from someone who has two left feet 
Steve
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Highway 4x4
La Verne, Ca
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Joined: 12/07/2006
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The more things you run, the shorter time you can run them. Better do a watts check on what you want to run and figure out how much run time you will have. I am going to guess it won't be as long as you want unless you have at least 2 or more batteries in good condition.
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rustycopperballs
Four Corners,NM
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Joined: 02/12/2009
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My 2 cents worth, figure out your amp supply, this is a must, Do you have l.e.d lights or incandescent lights use amps figure your amp usage. everything adds up. Best way I can explain it and I'm sure I will be corrected, for every 1 amp of ac current used , 10 amps of dc used!
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kearlms
Rexburg, ID
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Joined: 04/19/2005
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We only plan on running the tele. and the dvd player. It ran fine on the inverter out of the 12v plug by the tele. but woul whine now and then and it got annoying. I have two brand new 6 volts from sam's club. We dont use a blender or coffee maker in the camper, so that is not an issue. The one time we did this we watched a 2 hour movie and ran the heat all night and did not recharge the batteries for 2 more days. I think we will be fine if I can get good juice to the outlet.
* This post was
edited 04/11/12 11:55am by kearlms *
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rustycopperballs
Four Corners,NM
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You need to figure out where you need to put the inverter, closet to batteries as possible, In my case I installed an inverter with a 15 amp auto transfer switch. PM me for details
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CavemanCharlie
Storden,MN
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Joined: 03/01/2012
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It's possible the problem is just that you have a cheap inverter. I do the same thing you are and have no problem with the noise you are talking about. Where did you buy the inverter? and How big is it?
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smkettner
Southern California
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Joined: 03/21/2005
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I power my tv, dvd, laptop and charge small items with a Go Power 300w sine wave inverter.
I mounted the inverter behind the fuse-breaker panel. 12v connects to the main battery feed to the panel. 120v is wired into the entertainment area circuit with an automatic transfer switch. The wiring is very straight forward if you have done any home wiring before. The Go Power 300w has a provision for a remote power switch so with the touch of a button I have instant power.
GP 300w SW $160
Xantrex 15 amp switch $49
So all in maybe $250-$300 for self install.
2001 F150 SuperCrew
2006 Keystone Springdale 249FWBHLS
675 watts solar
Send a PM if I missed something
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