pixurit said:
Bob, I don't understand why you have the inverter's output wired to your converter/charger, even if the charge side is disabled. Also, how are you powering some outlets and not others?
Am I using wrong terminology - should I be writing breaker panel? One side of the switch is from my 30Amp shore/genset cord and the other side is from the inverter. So yes, either way, all outlets in the rig have power. When I unhook from a park power post, I plug my 30amp power cord into the genset.
All of my rig 110 outlets are now concentrated between two breakers. Generally, I have the front of my rig (TV, DVR, AC lamp, 30A charger - and/or a laptop) from one breaker and my office (1 or 2 desktops, printer, AC lamp, modem and such under the other. On another breaker I have my microwave and hot water probe through a switch with red light when ON. If on Inverter I turn off that breaker. If I use the microwave while under inverter, I can switch off the hot water heater. And the A/C on another breaker. If on inverter power, I turn off the Office breaker and use my laptop up front, or watch TV, or whatever.
Within that area via power strips, I can, e.g., turn off the charger when on inverter - and the DVR and TV if working on the laptop, and so forth. Sometimes late at night while boondocking and not sleepy I will turn off "everything" in the rig (including the DVR) except my 32" HDTV and my smartphone charger (from the inverter) and connect the smartphone to the TV via HDMI cable. That allows me to watch HD movies, youtube, surf the net or whatever all night if I want using hardly any battery power. Can do the same thing from my 19" HDTV in the bedroom. Or, can turn on my DC electric heating pad. I have installed two 12V connections there for the heating pad, to keep my phone charged, or whatever. They are wired directly to the batteries (w/in line fuse and through the shunt and Trace Meter).
If I need to use my main development desktop while on inverter power, I will have the office breaker on vs. the front breaker, but via power strips turn off the printer, scanner, modem, and everything else in the office.
I have two 3x5 cards - one labled Inverter Power, the other labled Shore/Genset. Each has list of what to turn on and/or off accordingly. Takes less than a minute. If I miss something going to inverter, it will scream at me and shut down. Actually, I have another scenario if boondocking using my Honda i2000EU genset or if in need of A/C, my built in Onan 5000. If the Onan, I might as well turn on everything because am using about the same amount of gas either way. So I try to avoid that.
I find myself in parks at times that charge extra for park metered power - such as on a monthly stay. When that is the case, I continue to use only the necessary power by only allowing power to what I am using at the time. So my setup is not just for boondocking. It is amazing how much more power we use when on shore power and just leaving everything ON. In AZ and CA I find parks charging as much as $.21/kWh. Parks around the country using my SW I see the lowest at $.06 and at all amounts in between. My reservation software batch computes monthly metered customer bills - so I see these wide swings in bills with the same KWh totals.
Have also found myself in places that are charging me electric based on how much their bill goes up while I am there. Yikes!! That is why under another topic I am putting together a KWh meter to use. If I am conserving I want to pay for only what I use vs. an estimate.
Wally installed a Trace meter (in my rig and Jim Johnson's) that I use to monitor everything in or out of my batteries. That's how I know exactly what my electric bed pad heater uses or an individual light. And how I have run down every phantom load in my RV. He also installed two 80W solar panels that are wired through the meter as well. Am looking to add another larger panel this fall if I can find the right price.