Wanderlodge Gurus - The Member Funded Wanderlodge Forum

i have the inverter/ charger combo, wiith the little remote panel that plugs
iinto the inverter. Believe me, with my vast non-knowledge, is that a word-
of all things electrical , pictures can help me out a lot. Ernie-83pt40-
ready to get rid of the battery cooker.


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

since I received my Heart inverter, i have been wondering if I can
install that where the rediline was located in my PT40? I have the old
battery cooker in there now, and would sure like to take advantage of
the 3 stage charging capabilities of this inverter/charger.i have the
trojan 105 batteries that I added a few months back and dodn't want
them fried like the old ones were. Thanks, ernie ekberg, 83pt40

If you wait a few days Ernie I will take pictures of my Heart
installation in the rear of my PT40. I have just been finishing a
couple of little things on the 1982 Fc before the new owner takes it.

yes you can use the same battery bank on the PT40 to connect the
Heart to. But I plan to add some more batteries in the rear just have
not decided how to do it yet.

As for installing it "right". Of course there is many ways to
install an inverter/charger but if you want it to do what the
designers intended then you should not rebalance the loads on the
existing load center but install a new Square D sub panel. Makes for
a very neat easily installed look. As for installing the Heart in
place of the old chargers in a FC model and running 4/0 cable to the
front drivers side compartment please dont do it. There is to large
a voltage drop (should be less then .25 VDC) since the cable run is
over 40 feet when you take both the -positive and negative cable runs
into consideration which is how you calculate the voltage drop. The
ideal installation of course is in a PT where it can be installed in
the old charger compartment with very short cable runs. And I hope
you are installing the Link 1000 with it. The link really gives you
good indications of your alternator output while the engine is
running and the output of the chargers when either the shore power is
connected or the generator is running. It will also give you the
current reading of each individual device in your coach as you turn
it on and off. Real neat for finding problems.

As for using the sensing functions of the Heart (or the Trace)
inverter/chargers if you install the battery cable to the positive
terminal of the shunt you will NOT be reading all of the current flow
thru the batteries and thus all of your readings will be incorrect.
Why would you want to do that after spending well over a $1000 for a
very sophisticated inverter/charger? But of course everyone can
install it like they want.

Tom Warner
Vernon Center,NY
1982 FC35 sold
1985 PT 40


At 11:01 AM 4/21/2006, you wrote:
>since I received my Heart inverter, i have been wondering if I can
>install that where the rediline was located in my PT40? I have the old
>battery cooker in there now, and would sure like to take advantage of
>the 3 stage charging capabilities of this inverter/charger.i have the
>trojan 105 batteries that I added a few months back and dodn't want
>them fried like the old ones were. Thanks, ernie ekberg, 83pt40
>
>
>
>
>
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--- In WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com, Tom Warner
wrote:

> As for installing it "right". Of course there is many ways to
> install an inverter/charger but if you want it to do what the
> designers intended then you should not rebalance the loads on the
> existing load center but install a new Square D sub panel. Makes
> for a very neat easily installed look.


AFAIK, the designers already balanced the loads out when they came
up with using two 30-amp power cords/circuits idea when a 50-amp
circuit wasn't available.

I wired the output of my inverter in place of one of the 30 amp
inputs and use the transfer switch in the 30-amp position to power
one leg of my panel. This puts all of the receptacles, the hot water
heater and the rear A/C on the inverter. Since I don't need to make
hot water electrically when I am underway, I make sure the heater
switch is turned off.

This wiring method also enables you to kill all AC power to the
coach (including the inverter output) with either the transfer
switch or the main 50-amp breaker. Makes it a whole lot safer for an
inexperience person to kill power to the coach without hunting for a
sub panel or an inverter on/off switch, especially in an emergency.

> There is to large a voltage drop (should be less then .25 VDC)
> since the cable run is over 40 feet when you take both the -
> positive and negative cable runs into consideration which is how
> you calculate the voltage drop.

My inverter is in the middle street-side compartment where the
battery boilers once were. I used 15' of black and 16' of red cable
to reach the front battery pack. My front coach-side compartment has
two 8D starting batteries that were integrated into the system by
Bluebird in the late '80's according to my documentation, so using
that location wasn't an option for me.

There is a diagram and more complete description of my installation
in the FC_Wanderlodge Yahoo_Groups file section.

Good luck,

Tim Hannink
Winter Park, FL
1981 FC-33SB

If you read the Xantrex manual Tom, you will find that running wires
from the inverter to the batteries on a mid-mounted inverter / FC is
within the allowable length. In a pre-'87 it is only about 15feet
away,less on newer FCs, across the coach is around half that at 7feet
or so, plus wire routing. Yes it would be nice to mount the batteries
and inverter together as in Mike's FC or the '87PT we did, but
leaving the FC batteries where they are means that you're either
across the coach from them or behind the front wheel, neither is
optimum.

As far as what "the designers intended", I've found that the load
center in our Wanderlodges is badly in need of balancing, not
properly set up IMO. Re-balancing loads makes the panel and twin 30a
setup work better in my experience, it also gives you an opportunity
to set the panel up for a primary and secondary leg (if you only have
one 30a circuit and one 20a to plug into as is found many times, this
is very important), and it allows use of the transfer switch setup in
the RV2512 and RV3012 inverters as a 50a which can power an enire
leg. It takes a little brainpower and planning to do it right, but in
the end you wind up with a better setup for inverter use while on the
road and while drycamping.

It can be done with a subpanel, I'd suggest no less than 8 circuits
however, this will work also. I have the advantage over you in that I
have done it both ways, I've found the split-panel method to work
best and it makes things so simple for others to operate.

Regarding shunts, if you look back the post where you replied: "Bob
shunts are always in series with the negative terminal of the
batteries.", my response is to correct that comment as BlueBird and
automotive shunts are all on the positive side with negative-ground
systems. What runs through the positive wire runs through the
negative on your inverter, your entertaining perspective that
shunting the positive will not sense all of the load on the negative
is a new electrical phenomenon at least.

- Jeff Miller
in Holland, MI


--- In WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com, Tom Warner
wrote:
>
> If you wait a few days Ernie I will take pictures of my Heart
> installation in the rear of my PT40. I have just been finishing a
> couple of little things on the 1982 Fc before the new owner takes
it.
>
> yes you can use the same battery bank on the PT40 to connect the
> Heart to. But I plan to add some more batteries in the rear just
have
> not decided how to do it yet.
>
> As for installing it "right". Of course there is many ways to
> install an inverter/charger but if you want it to do what the
> designers intended then you should not rebalance the loads on the
> existing load center but install a new Square D sub panel. Makes
for
> a very neat easily installed look. As for installing the Heart in
> place of the old chargers in a FC model and running 4/0 cable to
the
> front drivers side compartment please dont do it. There is to
large
> a voltage drop (should be less then .25 VDC) since the cable run is
> over 40 feet when you take both the -positive and negative cable
runs
> into consideration which is how you calculate the voltage drop.
The
> ideal installation of course is in a PT where it can be installed
in
> the old charger compartment with very short cable runs. And I hope
> you are installing the Link 1000 with it. The link really gives you
> good indications of your alternator output while the engine is
> running and the output of the chargers when either the shore power
is
> connected or the generator is running. It will also give you the
> current reading of each individual device in your coach as you turn
> it on and off. Real neat for finding problems.
>
> As for using the sensing functions of the Heart (or the Trace)
> inverter/chargers if you install the battery cable to the positive
> terminal of the shunt you will NOT be reading all of the current
flow
> thru the batteries and thus all of your readings will be incorrect.
> Why would you want to do that after spending well over a $1000 for
a
> very sophisticated inverter/charger? But of course everyone can
> install it like they want.
>
> Tom Warner
> Vernon Center,NY
> 1982 FC35 sold
> 1985 PT 40