# 12 Volt Electrical Upgrade



## H2oSprayer (Aug 5, 2006)

I have been searching for a small power inverter to power the small dorm sized fridge in the outdoor kitchen while we are on the road, in addition to providing a small amount of power while boondocking. I managed to find this 2000 watt inverter mismarked on a website and priced for less then $100. When I called them on it, they honored the price on the website. I am now in the process of picking up all the supplies that I will need to have on hand when our camper comes out of winter storage. For starters, I picked up a couple of Interstate 6 volt batteries. I plan to place the inverter in the front pass through storage area and estimated the distance to the batteries at less then 5'. So I picked up a pair of 5' 2/0 cables to supply the inverter from the batteries. I still need to pick up a cut off switch and a fuse.

*Now for my question:* What type and size of fuse / circuit breaker should I use? Should I use a Class T Fuse Block or can I use a circuit breaker? Looking at the material provided it indicates to use "fuse or circuit breaker with a minimum of 300adc" so I believe I should be looking for one that is rated at 300adc.


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## Tourdfox (Oct 4, 2012)

H2oSprayer said:


> I have been searching for a small power inverter to power the small dorm sized fridge in the outdoor kitchen while we are on the road, in addition to providing a small amount of power while boondocking. I managed to find this 2000 watt inverter mismarked on a website and priced for less then $100. When I called them on it, they honored the price on the website. I am now in the process of picking up all the supplies that I will need to have on hand when our camper comes out of winter storage. For starters, I picked up a couple of Interstate 6 volt batteries. I plan to place the inverter in the front pass through storage area and estimated the distance to the batteries at less then 5'. So I picked up a pair of 5' 2/0 cables to supply the inverter from the batteries. I still need to pick up a cut off switch and a fuse.
> 
> *Now for my question:* What type and size of fuse / circuit breaker should I use? Should I use a Class T Fuse Block or can I use a circuit breaker? Looking at the material provided it indicates to use "fuse or circuit breaker with a minimum of 300adc" so I believe I should be looking for one that is rated at 300vcd.


Good score.We used a Samlex remote start for the inverter.Works great and priced reasonable


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## TwoElkhounds (Mar 11, 2007)

Hi Chris,

Great deal on the inverter! That will come in handy on your visit to Cranberry Lake this summer!

I have a similar inverter that I wired up just as you are intending to do. I put the inverter in the front pass through and was able to route the cables through existing holes in the front trim of the frame, then up through some holes I drilled in the floor in the pass through compartment. Make the 12V cables as short as possible.

I got my fuse block and a 150amp fuse at Napa Autoparts. You can actually get by with less amps on the fuse. The reality is that you will likely not be able to get the 2000 Watts out of the inverter with only two batteries. The load will draw down the DC voltage and the inverter will alarm on low voltage. Should not be a problem with what you are intending to do. Put the fuse right at the battery. I wired mine up with a 6" pig tail I purchased at Tractor Supply.

I did not install a disconnect switch, just the fuse. I should probably consider this, right now I just turn off the inverter.

How do you intend to wire up the fridge? I actually used a generator transfer switch on my AC inverter circuit that automatically switches the outlets in the trailer to the inverter when shore power is disconnected. It is really nice when dry camping since all the outlets in the trailer are energized even when there is no generator or shore power connected. Something you might want to consider. A 30Amp transfer switch only costs about $50.

DAN


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## H2oSprayer (Aug 5, 2006)

Sounds like we are like minded Dan! I plan to add an automatic transfer switch so that when I disconnect from the shore power, the inverter will power the rear fridge as well as other interior outlets. Obviously, I will not need or want to power such things as main inside fridge, water heater and air conditioner off the inverter so I am thinking of adding a sub panel to move the circuits that I want to be able to run on either shore power or inverter out of the main panel. I don't have access to the camper until late March, so I'm not totally sure how many other circuits there are. If there is anyone that has a 312BH available to them, it would be awesome if you could provide either a photo of the load center or list out what each circuit breaker is. I also picked up the optional remote control for the inverter that I plan to install in the cupboard with all of the other systems monitors.


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## Jewellfamily (Sep 25, 2010)

I'm going to do an inverter for mine also, but just for the rear fridge. I have generators,so at this point wont hook anything else in to it, but you never know.

Here is the load center on my 312bh..


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## H2oSprayer (Aug 5, 2006)

Thanks for adding the photo of the load center. My original plan was to do just the rear fridge, but the deal on my inverter was just too good to pass.


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## TwoElkhounds (Mar 11, 2007)

It looks like there is no dedicated circuit for the fridge. I will bet that it is on the REC circuit, which is the RECeptacles in the trailer. So putting the fridge on the inverter will by default put the AC outlets in the trailer on the inverter. All the trailer outlets are fed by this breaker with the exception of the ones in the kitchen, bath, and outside. These are fed from the GFI breaker shown in the panel.

One note. On my trailer, the converter was also fed from the REC circuit. It was hard wired to the breaker with a pigtail. If you find this to be the case on your trailer, you will need to put this on another circuit. You do not want the inverter, running off the battery, feeding the converter, which is trying to charge the battery. The panel has extra slots in it, all you need to do is add a breaker and move the converter to this circuit. Very easy to do since everything is right there. In any event, make sure the converter is not fed from the circuit that the inverter will be energizing.

DAN


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

TwoElkhounds said:


> One note. On my trailer, the converter was also fed from the REC circuit. It was hard wired to the breaker with a pigtail. If you find this to be the case on your trailer, you will need to put this on another circuit. You do not want the inverter, running off the battery, feeding the converter, which is trying to charge the battery. The panel has extra slots in it, all you need to do is add a breaker and move the converter to this circuit. Very easy to do since everything is right there. In any event, make sure the converter is not fed from the circuit that the inverter will be energizing.
> 
> DAN


Plan on it as they are all wired that way. If you add the receptacles to the inverter you will need to move the converter power to a separate slot.


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## H2oSprayer (Aug 5, 2006)

My current plan has me moving the items that I want to power off of either shorepower or the inverter to a separate sub panel, switched with an automatic transfer switch and keeping things that I don't want powered off the inverter and only shorepower, in the current load center. By doing this, it should all function automatically without having to flip any breakers as soon as I disconnect the shorepower and turn on the inverter. Thanks for the note of caution about the converter. I had planed on isolating that bugger to is own circuit and keeping it separate from the inverter to prevent the battery death tailspin.


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## Jewellfamily (Sep 25, 2010)

H2oSprayer said:


> I have been searching for a small power inverter to power the small dorm sized fridge in the outdoor kitchen while we are on the road, in addition to providing a small amount of power while boondocking. I managed to find this 2000 watt inverter mismarked on a website and priced for less then $100. When I called them on it, they honored the price on the website. I am now in the process of picking up all the supplies that I will need to have on hand when our camper comes out of winter storage. For starters, I picked up a couple of Interstate 6 volt batteries. I plan to place the inverter in the front pass through storage area and estimated the distance to the batteries at less then 5'. So I picked up a pair of 5' 2/0 cables to supply the inverter from the batteries. I still need to pick up a cut off switch and a fuse.
> 
> *Now for my question:* What type and size of fuse / circuit breaker should I use? Should I use a Class T Fuse Block or can I use a circuit breaker? Looking at the material provided it indicates to use "fuse or circuit breaker with a minimum of 300adc" so I believe I should be looking for one that is rated at 300adc.


I have these same Interstate 6V 232aH batteries in mine. Have performed well for me.


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