Integrating a 48V Hybrid Inverter With Existing RV Electrical Systems

[acampingwewillgo]

I'm still on the fence regarding this upgrade when I finally get around to putting the solar on the roof of the RV that has been in my garage for 3 years(solar panel, that is). I recently read on this very Forum regarding a set up using two completely different sources for 12 volt power vs. high volt 120/240 volt...basically leaving the 12 volt intact with 12 volt chassis and house batteries, utilizing only the charger function of the old inverter/charger to maintain chassis and house bank. In addition to this, I was thinking of a separate 48 volt system consisting of a Hybrid 10,000 watt inverter with either 12 volt lithium (4 280a in series or a couple 48 volt lithium in parallel). It would seem that a simple solution would simply to take the output of New Hybrid inverter and terminate it into a 50 amp (N, L1, L2 and Grn) RV outlet. My concern is that if I do it this way, would the inverter output be compatible with my down stream Hughes Auto-former and Surge Protector?

As it is right now, my auto-former and surge are hard wired after my transfer switch before heading into main RV Panel.....???More worried that these two pieces of safety equipment may not play nice with a pure sine wave inverter? I can foresee a loss of some power by powering the old inverter/charger via the 48 volt system but it would NOT be a situation of the same battery bank doing both inverting and charging. I've also look at the idea of taking the output of my current transfer switch (shore and Gen power) then throught my aforementioned auto-former/surge protector before landing on the input of the new 48 volt inverter and that output feeding the panel of the MH. I could then set the new inverter to prioritize shore, gen or inverter power? This way the Gen and shore power would be cleaned before entering the Pure Sine wave inverter?

My house and chassis bank of batteries would still be charged via the alternator, its own 600 watts of solar or via the 48 volt system when engaged( I could have a separate sub panel from the 48 volt inverter with both a 50 amp breaker for MH panel and a 120 volt 30 amp for the old inverter/charger(once again, only using the charger function. Would removing the old inverter/charger be better? Replace with a separate stand alone charger? or a 48v to 12 volt converter (DC to DC)?

OK....I know, a very long winded question but I'm sure someone has taken on this project many different ways. Any thoughts, idea's ,suggestion's...I would most certainly welcome. I've done most of my own work, both electrical and mechanical, on this MH over the past 20 + years of ownership and with the junk their producing nowadays....I think I'll keep old Betsy for the duration. Thanks

 

[Lou Schneider]

You won't need the Hughes components when you're running the inverter - they're only useful when shore power goes out of spec. So move them to shore power alone.

Sounds like you're dedicating a lot of roof real estate and complexity to keeping the existing 12 volt system up and running.

You could use a DC-DC converter to produce the needed 12 volts from your main battery bank. If you keep the existing converter in place to back up the solar you'll have to keep the inverter on all the time unless you include a 12 volt battery.

 

[acampingwewillgo]

Just as I'm still thinking about this Mod, there is a U tube Video covering exactly what I was laying out above. Explorist.life ( Solar installer company ). It was pretty much as I thought but one consideration would be "alternator" charging of the 48 volt batteries. Something not totally necessary but something I could consider down the line. Thank You for your input!