inverter installation - Printable Version +- Wanderlodge Gurus - The Member Funded Wanderlodge Forum (http://www.wanderlodgegurus.com) +-- Forum: Yahoo Groups Archive (/forumdisplay.php?fid=61) +--- Forum: WanderlodgeForum (/forumdisplay.php?fid=63) +--- Thread: inverter installation (/showthread.php?tid=2450) |
inverter installation - erniecarpet@... - 04-20-2006 23:26 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] inverter installation - Ernest Ekberg - 04-21-2006 03:01 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 inverter installation - Tom Warner - 04-21-2006 03:15 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 > > > > > >---------- >YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS > > * Visit your group > "<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WanderlodgeForum>WanderlodgeForum" on the web. > * > * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: > * > odgeForum-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com > > * > * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the > <http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/>Yahoo! Terms of Service. > > >---------- inverter installation - Tim Hannink - 04-21-2006 05:46 --- 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 inverter installation - Jeff Miller - 04-21-2006 08:36 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 |