hooking inverter inline in a 99 Win 37G

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99WinAdventurer37G

99WinAdventurer37G

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Jun 28, 2012
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Saginaw, TX (north fort worth area)
My inverter, a 2000 watt pure sine wave, specs here: http://www.donrowe.com/KISAE-SW1220-Power-Inverter-p/sw1220.htm

My MH is a 1999 Winnebago Adventurer 37G

I have my inverter under the sink in the cabinet which is closest to the sink.  Just a simple installation, as it's the nearest wall to the Batteries, I had to shorten the cables from the inverter to the batteries to get it working well. What I've been doing is running an extension cord from there to where I want the AC power when the generator is off. 

My question; How difficult is it to hook it up inline so the power goes directly to the outlets? 

This Thanksgiving I will be taking my uncle and my parents on a trip.  They are all in their 80's, two of them on oxygen.  The extension cord is not a problem for me, I haven't tripped on it yet.  But all three of these people have tripped and fallen, even without a cord to trip them up, so I want to get rid of the cord, and have power to the Oxygen machines when the Generator is off.  When we are going down the road the generator will be on to run the A/C in the back bedroom, but when stopped outside, many times I won't be allowed to run the generator.  Any ideas?
 
This what I plan to use to have power to my outlets whether I have the generator running, hooked to shore power, or running off the inverter.

http://www.bestconverter.com/Xantrex-Prowatt-SW-Inline-15-Amp-Transfer-Switch_p_457.html

But I bought them here:  http://www.ecodirect.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=Xantrex-808-0915

Paul
 
To hook the inverter "inline" to the main power system forces you to deal with some issues, and the solutions can vary a lot depending on what you have and how "automatic" you want it to be. First, you probably don't want the inverter to be active when shore power or genset is on, so you need a big switch of some sort. You also have to be 100% assured that the inverter and the shore/generator power never, ever, try to power anything at the same time.  You also have to make sure the charging system isn't powered from the inverter, since that would be sucking power from the batteries to provide the power to charge them, but losing about 20% in the process.

One of the conceptually simpler ways to do this with your standalone inverter is to install a manual or automatic transfer switch with a panel that shifts selected circuits from the existing load center to the inverter. Whether that is easy or hard depends on how things are now physically installed, i.e. placing the switcher and re-routing wires.

There is a lot to discuss about this and much has already been written on the subject. Use the SEARCH button on the menu bar to find topics related to 'inverter' or maybe 'inverter install'.
 
99WinAdventurer37G said:
..My question; How difficult is it to hook it up inline so the power goes directly to the outlets? ...
Click to expand...
Good answers from Paul and Gary.  Here's the KISAE version of the transfer switch that Paul mentioned and that's what you need to automatically power on some outlets with the inverter when you have no AC mains power.

If you are handy with electrics and wiring I don't see why you can't divert some AC branch circuits to the inverter.  You can power a separate small breaker box with the inverter output that feeds a branch circuit or two.  If this is making your head spin, then you might want to get with an electrician involved.
 
Here is a video of my friend installing auto transfer switches in his Winnebago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OC1lxy81_FQ

Paul
 
The simplest method of powering the whole motor home from the inverter, is to run a 12 gauge NM or UF cable from the inverter to the bay with the shore cord plug. Put a 30 amp RV receptacle on the shore power end and plug the shore power cord into the receptacle coming from the inverter. As Gary mentioned, make sure the converter breaker is off. Also make sure the water heater electric element is off and that the refrigerator is on propane. Run the 12 gauge cable in some type of conduit such as

ENT Flexible Conduit
https://www.platt.com/platt-electric-supply/Flexible-Conduit/Flexible-Conduit-ENT/search.aspx?SectionID=3&GroupID=47&CatID=1206

If you run the cable in the enclosed basement, you can use NM cable, if you go under the chassis use UF.

This is a pretty much fool proof way of doing it.

If you had to shorten the battery cables, you probably don't have large enough cable. You should be using 2/0 battery cable.
 
Thanks all, I've got till November to get this done, the transfer switch won't be here till Monday, but I'm going out on Thursday for a long weekend.  So I'll read over everything, and get it done the next time I go out there.

Thanks again,


    Steve
   
 
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