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  1. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by Casa_Woody View Post
    #acolman43
    Thanks for the input. Agree with what you are stating. The reason to split the AC units off inverter power is so batteries are not drained rapidily during a outage. It's a double edged sword. Need to keep the AC's running while away from the camper as we have pets. But if the power goes out, the AC's will be off until power is restored (I'm working on a temp senor with email notiications). With current battery capacity and solar, I believe I could only run the AC's for about 2.5 hours. If home during an outage, a generator would need to be started to run the AC's.
    Lol, yes I get it.

    About a year ago I finally had enough of the 2 way (AC/propane) fridge. inefficient, small, wind would blow out flame when using porpane....I removed and replaced with a DC compressor fridge. At the time we had 2 AGM batteries and the factory 300W solar panel. First time out with the new fridge my wife forgot to plug into shore power. By about 10 PM the new fridge was beeping and flashing error code E3. I had no idea what E3 meant. Looked it up and turned out it was a "voltage out of range" error meaning voltage was either too low or too high. Huh??

    Everything in the trailer was working so what could it be....well, I tried the microwave and then it hit me. No AC power. We weren't plugged into shore power and the batteries voltage had dropped below acceptable voltage for the fridge.

    So I upgraded to 1200W, 800AH of batteries and a multiplus to power the entire trailer. Even with 10K+ KWH of energy we can only manage about 7 hours of air conditioner before all batteries are dead.

    Bottom line is, I think it's about being aware of energy usage/consumption and managing it properly....obviously something I'm still working on

  2. #12
    Seasoned Camper
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    Quote Originally Posted by Soundsailor View Post
    I recently tested running my A/C on battery, and the draw from my 3,000-watt inverter was 125 Amps.
    I would concur with this. I too used around 125A, A/C on, average amount of lights on, and measured using a shunt at the battery ground.

  3. #13
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    Were it me, I'd just add a second panel fed from the OUT2 of the inverter but if you don't have space, what you have drawn up is a clever way of isolating everything and should work just fine. Just make sure you're taking out an entire section of the buss bar and not just a small sliver where something could make contact later on. I would suggest soft starts or getting a "hi-mag" beaker for the OUT2 side main just because of the inrush current on the AC units. If one is running and the other kicks on you may find the 20 amp main to be trip-happy.

  4. #14
    Rolling Along
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    I'm confused by this request and the need. The idea is the MPII 2 x 120 is to not have to worry about rewiring anything. If you have loads that you don't want to run on inverter, just turn them off at the device switch (i.e. turn AC to off).

    ETA:

    I read your reasoning. Seems another option would be to wire generator to come on if battery voltage got to a certain point (inherent capability of the MPII).
    Last edited by A.Texas.Yankee; 08-27-2022 at 08:44 PM.

  5. #15
    Site Sponsor Casa_Woody's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by bnorvell View Post
    Were it me, I'd just add a second panel fed from the OUT2 of the inverter but if you don't have space, what you have drawn up is a clever way of isolating everything and should work just fine. Just make sure you're taking out an entire section of the buss bar and not just a small sliver where something could make contact later on. I would suggest soft starts or getting a "hi-mag" beaker for the OUT2 side main just because of the inrush current on the AC units. If one is running and the other kicks on you may find the 20 amp main to be trip-happy.
    I should be removing about an inch of the each bus bar. That would be plenty of space. I will add softstarts to my plan....thanks. The 20A main breaker is dual pole. Meaning 20A on L1 and 20A on L2. That should be sufficient to support both air-conditioning units.
    Ken & Tammy
    Union Valley, TX
    2021 GD Reflection 303RLS 5th Wheel
    2019 Ram 2500 6.7L Cummins 4x4

  6. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by Casa_Woody View Post
    I should be removing about an inch of the each bus bar. That would be plenty of space. I will add softstarts to my plan....thanks. The 20A main breaker is dual pole. Meaning 20A on L1 and 20A on L2. That should be sufficient to support both air-conditioning units.
    Disregard, I was in idiot mode! Yea on a two pole you're golden without anything else.

  7. #17
    Site Team Second Chance's Avatar
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    On our factory solar setup (with 2,000 watt inverter), it came configured with a sub-panel (a small metal breaker box in the cabinet to the left of the main panel). There's a breaker on the main panel for the subpanel for shore power. When shore power is lost, an ATS switches the subpanel to the inverter. That way, only the desired circuits (i.e. refrigerator, a few outlets) are on the inverter.

    Rob
    U.S. Army Retired
    2012 F350 DRW CC LB Lariat PS 6.7
    2020 Solitude 310GK-R, MORryde IS, disc brakes,
    Sailun LRG tires, solar, DP windows, W/D
    (Previously in a Reflection 337RLS)
    Full time since 08/2015

  8. #18
    Site Sponsor Casa_Woody's Avatar
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    Finally got around to making the modifications to my breaker panel. All-in-all a pretty easy evolution.

    Step 1: Verified the functionality of the "AC OUT 2" terminals on the Victron Inverter.
    It does function as I described in my earlier post. "AC OUT 2" is off while inverter is functioning and on when an external AC input (120V or 240V) is provided.

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    Step 2: Verified all breakers and their labels. I did find that the fireplace and microwave were labeled incorrectly. Easily fixed in a future step.

    Step 3: Removed the breaker panel, breakers and wires. Labeling the wires as I removed them. Cool thing was they were all color coded. Each piece of equipment had it’s own color. Except for the AC units. They were both yellow 12AWG. All other wires were 14AWG.

    Click image for larger version. 

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    Step 4: Removed the two bus-bars. Four (4) screws. Could not be simpler. Marked the locations to cut. Doubled and triple checked that I marked the correct location You only get one chance to do this correctly. I then proceeded to cut the bars and rounded the edges to remove burrs.

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    Step 5: Installed the bus bars loosely at first. Then installed two double-pole breakers to properly align the bars. Then tightened the bus bar screws.

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    .......More comming
    Ken & Tammy
    Union Valley, TX
    2021 GD Reflection 303RLS 5th Wheel
    2019 Ram 2500 6.7L Cummins 4x4

  9. #19
    Site Sponsor Casa_Woody's Avatar
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    Step 6: Removed the receptacle that was part of the breaker box. It was the outlet for the PD Converter that was no longer used. Replaced by the Victron Inverter. I repurposed that square hole and inserted the wire connector for the new 8/4 NM-B wire.

    Note: The original 6/4 NM-B cable remains. It is rated for 50Amps. The new 8/4 NM-B cable is rated to 40Amps. These wires will be protected by 30Amp breakers.

    Step 7: Reinstalled all the breakers and wired the panel. I did have to install one tandem breaker. No issues with doing so. The panel is rated as 10 slots / 20 circuits.

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    Step 8: Relabeled the panel.

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    Step 9: Routed the new power cable to the Victron Inverter and connect the wires to “AC OUT 2”. I wired Red/Black for L1/L2 to match “AC OUT 1”, And wired the double-pole breakers the same as well. This kept L1 feeding the lower bus bar and L2 feeding the upper bus bar. It’s not critical but I wanting things to match.

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    With everything complete I tested the new setup with AC input to the camper. Everything powered up. Then tested by securing power to the camper. Equipment powered from “AC OUT 1” were powered from the inverter, while the equipment powered from “AC OUT 2” remained off.

    One thing to note, after restoring AC power to the camper, the Victron inverter switch to AC input and powered “AC OUT 1” at the 15 seconds point. “AC OUT 2” is on a 2-minute delay. This prevents cycling the air-conditioning units.
    Ken & Tammy
    Union Valley, TX
    2021 GD Reflection 303RLS 5th Wheel
    2019 Ram 2500 6.7L Cummins 4x4

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