With solar, you can keep your batteries charged to fuel your new inverter, to fuel your 120vac stuff. Otherwise the inverter would drain your batteries with just a few things plugged in, in less than a day and you'd be SOL. Also, most people only consider an inverter when also installing solar. Most go the route of REPLACING the converter/charger with an inverter/charger, so it's all in one unit. If you want to use your 120vac appliances or outlets AT ALL while not plugged into shore power, you need an inverter or an inverter/charger. I just reread the OP and I have one thing to add.ĭo not assume your RV has an inverter installed "somewhere else." All RVs have a converter, very few come with an inverter at all. You can accidentally plug 120vac into the inverter's OUTput, you'll fry and cry. Be careful if you're adding an inverter to an existing breaker box. Sidenote: my whole system was less than $2k, but the inverter charger was $600 of that.įootnote: I have my inverter hardwired into my rig, so shore power goes directly into it. The fun trick is to add solar, so you can keep those batteries charging while your inverter is in invert mode. This will begin inverting 12vac from the batteries into 120vac and supplying your breaker box while your batteries continue to supply 12vdc to the fuse box. When you unplug, your auto transfer switch will swap over to INVERT mode. It supplies the correct voltage to your batteries for charging (and supplying your fuse box), and it through-puts 120vac to your breaker box (when installed correctly). When you plug in to shore power, your inveter/charger begins charge, or line, mode. The benefit is, once set up, you just leave everything on and you're good. Yes, I believe your statements are correct.Īdditionally, most inverter/chargers today will come with an automatic transfer switch. So, I just designed a complete solar package from scratch for my RV and did LOADS of research on this very topic. The second best upgrade you can make is single-stage converter charger > multi-stage converter charger. My conclusion: the best upgrade you can make is single-stage converter charger > inverter charger. But the converter that your RV comes with does not have an inverter built-in so I'm guessing that's installed somewhere else in the system?ĭoes that mean it's not necessary to have an inverter charger? When would you use one? I'm coming from a vanlife background and inverters are very common there. Inverter charger: this lets you convert 12v DC power to 120v AC power AND charge your batteries in the opposite direction (using a transfer switch) from 120v AC to 12v DC. Inverters come in modified sine wave (PWM) or pure sine wave (PSW). but you CANNOT CHARGE your batteries with an inverter. Inverter: converts 12v DC power to 120v AC power so you can power electronics from your batteries. Smart converter charger: another name for multi-stage converter chargerģ-way converter charger: another name for multi-stage converter charger but it only goes through the first 3 stages Faster to charge, and better for battery health. It's more efficient because it goes through bulk, absorption, float, equalize stages. Multi-stage converter charger: what you probably want to upgrade to. Cons are it's slow to charge, inefficient, not great for battery health. It converts 120v AC to 12v DC power for your batteries. Single-stage converter charger: What your RV normally comes with. Can someone please let me know if I have this correct or ELI5? I'm researching RV stuff and I'm getting a little confused on the nomenclature.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |