Inverter not powering some things

[Butcher]

I find electricity for me is easy to play with. I understand many people fear it.

When I set up my system, I sized everything before I purchased the items and everything works right the first time. Time consuming but easy peasy.

A/C units do have a high inrush of current. Solved with an easy start. Done, no problems with my 3k inverter. Turn on the microwave with the A/C on, no problem. Make a cup of coffee with the microwave on, done. Never tried A/C, microwave, and coffee. Can't see an instance I would do that either.

Cables to supply the inverter are, 4/0 and very short runs [combined total of less than 4ft]. Batteries discharge rated to 300ah each. 2x allows a potential 600ah discharge. I purchased 2 200A BMS and set them to turn shut down at 150A. Why buy a 200A BMS when I can suck 300A? Because I am cheap. A 300A BMS is not cheap. I also believe that running anything at full tilt is not good. Better to run at half throttle. It's just me. A year later, I added 2 more 300ah batteries with 200A BMS [setting to a 150A discharge shut off]. Mostly for capacity vs consumption.

I changed the consumers at the breaker box since the inverter only supplies one leg of the box. I put all the ones I don't want power up to the second leg. 2nd AC, fireplace, and converter are the ones I know that I changed to the second leg. Solves the problem about me remembering to manually turning on/off the converter.

I did get a shunt and switch over box too.

I've never had a problem and it was fairly easy for me to 'think' this out and come up with a game plan. It was time consuming to find all the places to put those parts without any loss of storage space. Grand Design has plenty of space behind the storage panels but it took days to re-plumb and rewire the mess to make room.

If you are afraid of AC, then it can be a bit daunting and some people say it's difficult. It might be difficult to make these components, but to buy the right ones and wire them up, is not that difficult.......for me.

 

[Fairview Roamstead]

Here is what I found by pulling out the breaker panel. Basically, the GD “inverter prep” sucks. The main 50 amp service goes from the automatic transfer switch (the RV is generator prepped as well) directly to the breaker box. There is a 12AWG romex going from an Inverter breaker on line 1 to the AC in on the inverter/charger. The AC out on the inverter is a 12AWG wire that goes to a breaker labeled “sub panel” on the breaker box and is essentially a 3rd bank of breakers which consists of 3 breakers - Range/GFCI, General, and Mini Fridge which is in the outside kitchen. Obviously this is stupid and is a waste of having a 3000W generator.

Here is my plan. Run 6-3 wire from the automatic transfer switch to the inverter AC in, then run 6-3 wire from Inverter AC out to the main breakers. That will allow the inverter to power everything in the RV. Here is my dilemma though. How do I bridge power over to run those 3 breakers that the inver is currently powering?

In the picture, the breakers above the Main is line one, the breakers below the main is line 2 and the breakers in the sub panel area are powered directly from the inverter and not line 1 or 2. Well technically it is line 1 because the inverter is getting its power from line 1.

 

[JKellerJr]

Here is what I found by pulling out the breaker panel. Basically, the GD “inverter prep” sucks. The main 50 amp service goes from the automatic transfer switch (the RV is generator prepped as well) directly to the breaker box. There is a 12AWG romex going from an Inverter breaker on line 1 to the AC in on the inverter/charger. The AC out on the inverter is a 12AWG wire that goes to a breaker labeled “sub panel” on the breaker box and is essentially a 3rd bank of breakers which consists of 3 breakers - Range/GFCI, General, and Mini Fridge which is in the outside kitchen. Obviously this is stupid and is a waste of having a 3000W generator.

Here is my plan. Run 6-3 wire from the automatic transfer switch to the inverter AC in, then run 6-3 wire from Inverter AC out to the main breakers. That will allow the inverter to power everything in the RV. Here is my dilemma though. How do I bridge power over to run those 3 breakers that the inver is currently powering?

In the picture, the breakers above the Main is line one, the breakers below the main is line 2 and the breakers in the sub panel area are powered directly from the inverter and not line 1 or 2. Well technically it is line 1 because the inverter is getting its power from line 1.

To be fair to GD, The vast majority don't want or need to power their whole RV with an inverter. Too the best of my knowledge they never install a 3000 watt inverter from the factory so there either don't want to or just won't engineer for that. Just like their solar prep isn't good enough if you want to put 1200 watts on the roof. They not engineering for all possible scenarios, just the most common.

On the sub panel ?. I don't know exactly how its built so maybe this is not possible but can you add a breaker in the main panel and wire the sub panel to that breaker?

Edit. Or is there enough spaces left to move the 3 circuits over to L1 and L2. Not quite sure based on the pic

 

[JKellerJr]

has nothing to do with the 3000 watts. I run my ac frequently in the multiplus.

because of the design of the power distribution panel. it has two sides. one for line power and the other for inverter power.


the trailers electric was not designed for the job, it is a simple but expensive fix, put a very large inverter charger on the incoming power line, this powers both sides of the distribution panel from battery

Gotcha. I interpreted it differently. I read as the inverter wasn't capable, not necessarily the system itself.

 

[goducks14]

Seems to me and I'm no elec guru by any means, that you could simply wire the inverter with an ATS inline before the main 120V line going into the converter box. When the Inverter is turned on it switches all 120V to it. That should make it possible to run all 120V including the micro and one AC. Should be a breaker for both AC's so simply flip the not needed AC breaker off.

I have a simple 2000W inverter and just run a power cord to my shore power inlet on the ext of the trailer. That lights up all AC in the trailer. I just have to remember to flip the breaker for the charger or I have a battery sucking loop.

 

[Fairview Roamstead]

I got it figured out what I need to do. I have already installed an EMS between the shore power and the automatic transfer switch. Next I’ll run 6-3 from the shore/generator transfer switch to the inverter AC in and then from inverter AC out to the power distribution box mains. I will then connect the two wires that are currently being used for the inverter together essentially creating a loop to give power to the sub panel section of the distribution box (taking it back to the original configuration of the “inverter prep” from the factory before the inverter was installed. In the meantime, to get power to the microwave from the inverter I simply moved the microwave breaker down to the sub panel section of the distribution box. Quite frankly I’m not sure why GD doesn’t do this from the factory. Even if I had the factory installed 2000W inverter it would run the microwave. Eventually I will get the Victron Multiplus II but for now this Go Power IC-3000 seems capable, I just don’t get the cool bluetooth monitoring like the Victron stuff. There is a monitor panel for the inverter inside the coach but it is limited in functionality.

 

[Soundsailor]

Sounds like a good plan, let us know how it works out.

 

[440scout]

I have that same Go Power 3000 watt inverter/charger in our 2019 Solitude for over 3 years. It is wired the same way you did with the output from the ATS going to the input of the inverter and the inverter output feeding the entire breaker panel. Then of course I removed the original converter. That Go power inverter should have a remote display panel that allows you to do all its programming even adjusting the system to different shore power settings whether its 15, 30 or 50 amps and everything in between. It also should have ajustable battery charging amperage to well over 100 amps if needed.
The manufacturer recommends using 4/0 battery cables and running one 15-k btu Coleman Mach a/c unit draws 72 amps off the batteries so those 4/0 cables will get warm after a while. Your idea of using soft starts on the a/c units will help when on 30 amp shore power (load assist is on line one only) and when boondocking. If you have multiple batteries I highly recommend using bus bars, the inverter runs much better with them. Once you get it all setup, you should have a good system in place.