Pete and Tracey Posted February 7, 2009 Report Share Posted February 7, 2009 Hi Everyone,Another question :-)Inverter in the van is a no brainer. So with this in mind, what brand have most people that have one installed?I am looking at anything between 1000 - 1800 W for the Top Ender ( due in May). Do kedron fit on if requested? Or do you need to supply.Cheers,Pete and Tracey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Posted February 7, 2009 Report Share Posted February 7, 2009 We have had an 1800 watt Xantrex installed in our new Top Ender; we supplied it and Kedron installed it. Actually, we rang Springers, who delivered it to the factory for us, and we paid by credit card.Prevailing wisdom over on another forum (Caravaners forum) in a similar discussion says Morningstar pure sine wave inverters are good, as is the Xantrex.Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grahame and Wendy Roberts Posted February 7, 2009 Report Share Posted February 7, 2009 Pete & Tracey,I have followed the Latronics LS series of inverters for over five years. They are designed by a Caloundra electrical engineer and manufactured in Oz. They are a very professional unit and the two we have working for us have never missed a beat. However any good quality full sine wave unit would do. We have a 3,000Watt unit installed in our weekender and in the van we have a 600Watt version. We use the 600W unit in the van just about every day for running the laptop, printer, small kitchen appliances such as a bar mix and charging batteries. I bought the Latronics and handed it over to Kedron to fit. They mounted the inverter on the wall of the boot and ran a separate power cct with its own earth leakage relay and two double outlets in the van - a very neat job.A couple of issues to keep in mind. If you have good hearing as I have you cannot leave the inverter on at night, it has a load management routine it goes through which creates a slight noise and because it is mounted effectively on the headboard of the bed I hear it, my wife does not. Also it is a pain to have to go outside to switch the unit on, a better solution would be to have it insdie or install a relay to operate the on/off function. The number of times I have climed into bed at night only to notice the invertor left on - well after a while it is not funny.Grahame & Wendy Roberts19Ft ATV + 100S 4.2D L Cruiser Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cvtripper Posted February 8, 2009 Report Share Posted February 8, 2009 Pete & TraceyWe have an Xantrex 1800W. We supplied and Kedron installed but to our wiring specifications & diagrams.The Xantrex has a remote control, that we mounted inside the van, which gets over Grahame & Wendy's issue.Also, if done right, you can have all your power points supplied without worrying about separate circuits - the trick is to isolate the battery charger so you don't have a feedback loop and to also allow a generator to run to supply the AC without everything else which would overload a 2kVA genny.We use the inverter to run the dometic front load washer (and on hot wash), microwave and everything else 240V. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Posted February 8, 2009 Report Share Posted February 8, 2009 CVTripper very kindly shared with us the information he has provided above, when we were still in the planning stage of our new Top Ender, and it proved invaluable. Like him, we have the remote control mounted inside the van, so it can be turned on and off there.Also, we have the power supplied to all power points (and we have had a lot of them installed throughout the van!).Have I told you all how much we look forard to picking up the new van? Friday 13th is the date, at this stage...Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete and Tracey Posted February 8, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 8, 2009 Hi Guys and Gals,Thanks for the replys. I think that the remote is a great idea. I will take that on board.Cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Posted February 8, 2009 Report Share Posted February 8, 2009 Pete and Tracey,An additional thought, in order to source the inverter (bearing in mind we live a long way from Brisbane) we rang Springers who delivered the unit to Kedron. We paid for it on a credit card. It was the Northside Springers we used.Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RussnSue Posted February 9, 2009 Report Share Posted February 9, 2009 We supplied our own 1200W pure sine wave unit and Kedron fitted it for us. We specified a changeover switch at the breaker panel inside the van. It works so that with the changeover switch in one position all of the outlets in the van work on the inverter. When changed over, all of the outlets are connected to the external 240 volt source, be it a caravan park supply or the Yamaha inverter generator.This way, the inverter and the external 240 Volt sources can never be connected at the same time.The 1200 Watt unit runs the front loader washing machine with ease and would possibly manage a microwave, but we didn't bother with one.Just remember... your batteries have to supply the inverter. A 1200 Watt model at full load is going to pull a constant 100 Amp current from your batteries. An 1800 Watt model will pull a staggering 150 Amps at full load! 150 Amps continuously will kill a three-battery configuration in just two hours - you have been warned...lol.Cheers,Russ. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cvtripper Posted February 9, 2009 Report Share Posted February 9, 2009 Russ,Natruarlly you have to be sensible with your power use and you're not going to run the microwave for an hour - 2- 5 minutes is normally all that we do and the 1800W suits the job fantastically.The hot wash on the front loader is another story and I've measure we use about 70-80Ah for a hot wash, so it's quite within tolerance, especially when you have plenty of solar panels to recover quickly - at 45A we can theoritically recover in a couple of hours, or effectively don't drop much at all if used through the day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete and Tracey Posted February 9, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 9, 2009 I would not see that we would use the inverter for any heavy applications ourselves, charging phone batteries, running 3G router, laptop etc when free camping. Anything else would dictate a genny if the environment dictated.I am surmising of corse as I have not travelled in a caravan before. Plenty of camping but no caravanning. :-)Not long now though.Cheers,Pete and Tracey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurie and Helen Posted February 17, 2009 Report Share Posted February 17, 2009 Pete and Tracey,I hope we are not to late for you, based on what you want to use the inverter for I installed a Powersine 550_12 pure sine wave with remote control, normal operation or automatic standby (I haven't bothered with the remote control yet) but hard wired the inverter into the battery comparment with the double power point just above in the van before we headed of to Tasmania. We have 3 solar panels and three batteries running a laptop, two phones chargers and camera charger with no problems. Most nights we didn't get below about 12.9 v and by most mornings were back up before we headed off for the day.We bought the unit at the October van show in Brisbane for around $595 (normally much more than this) from Brisbane Battery Traders, they also trade as one of the solar companies but can't remember the other trading names. Phone numbers 07 32093144 or sales@batterytraders.com.auHope this helps, when I was researching the Xantrex was an excellent unit but I couldn't justify the money when I wasn't going to use all that it had to offer.cheersLaurie & Helen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete and Tracey Posted February 18, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 18, 2009 Thanks for the reply Laurie and Helen,Not too late at all. We are due to pick up the TE in May and want to get the inverter to the Kedron guys to include in the build. I will be using much the same gear as you are.Not too sure yet on how much to spend as the price varies considerably. We will most likely get a 1500-1800 KW and have double outlets in the van at the table and on the bench near the TV. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Posted February 19, 2009 Report Share Posted February 19, 2009 Just like we did! A lot of our decisions were based on CV Tripper's advice. He is a genius in respect to this stuff. Well, he is pretty bright, anyway. :laugh: Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cvtripper Posted February 19, 2009 Report Share Posted February 19, 2009 Thanks Chris - I think!Pete & Tracey, best time to get it right is while it's being built.If you intend to use the 1800W I recommend you get it done properly. Have you thought about how you use the microwave or washing machine etc if you just ad a couple of power points specific to the inverter? You'd have to run an extension lead?Also you'll need to unplug your TV gear and swap power points when switching between mains power and inverter.There is a simple solution and Kedron can do this right, as long as you give them a diagram.You won't regret it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete and Tracey Posted March 24, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 24, 2009 Thanks for all the replies everyone. We have settled on a Cotek 1500W inverter with a remote control panel. Should do the job nicely!Well, just over a month now! First week in May is the due date of our Top Ender. Went to the factory the other day and can't believe how quick the time has gone.Once again.....thanks for all the knowledge.Cheers,Pete and Tracey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon and Chris Carter Posted March 26, 2009 Report Share Posted March 26, 2009 Wondering if any one can help? We are looking at getting a lap top computer and were wondering if we should get a modified sine wave or a pure sine wave? Gordon & Chris Carter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Webby Posted March 26, 2009 Report Share Posted March 26, 2009 Gordon & Chris,I would definately go for the pure sine wave inverter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete and Tracey Posted April 9, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 9, 2009 Hey everyoneTracey and I went to the factory the other day to see how the van was getting on. Here is a picture of the inverter mounted in the boot. The boys at the factory really do a neat job at mounting this hardware.Attached is a picture of the inverter mounted.2 weeks to go until we get the TE. Starting to get excited !!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cvtripper Posted April 9, 2009 Report Share Posted April 9, 2009 Pete,Sorry to say but that cable doesn't look anywhere near big enough to adequately cope with the full load of that inverter (assuming it's the 1500W you mentioned earlier) - 125A +I'll take a pic of mine later and put it up for comparison. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete and Tracey Posted April 13, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 13, 2009 cvtripper,Thanks for the heads up, I would love to see how you have your's wired up. I think they have used battery cable ?? 12 MM? whay guage do you have? Yes it is a 1500 W.Any other comments from the wise out there?Thanks once again cvtripper I appreciate it. I will call Kedron tomorrow and ask. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Webby Posted April 14, 2009 Report Share Posted April 14, 2009 The continuation of this thread has been moved to the Private Forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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