AC Life: Integrating Inverter Charger

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AC Life: Integrating Inverter Charger

Postby Rustic313 » Thu Jun 28, 2018 4:20 pm

I am getting ready for a new trailer build. I have a good handle on the 12V DC side and actually already have the power center all wired up and ready to go (battery bank, solar charge controller, sub-panel, and leads for the inverter-charger).

The AC side is a bit trickier though.

My current plan is the following:
- 30A motorplug
- Main breaker panel w/ 30A main breaker and four 20A circuits
-- Circuit #1: Inverter Charger goes here. The inverter charger then has a GFCI off of it that you can use to plug in things "off grid."
-- Circuit #2: A/C. This will only be run off of shore power.
-- Circuit #3: Auxiliary GFCI for space heater, only to be run off of shore power or generator.
-- Circuit #4: Additional auxiliary circuit (for outlet at the back of the trailer).

Finally, I was going to add an exterior outlet on the passenger side of the trailer. On the interior, it will simply be wired to an extension cord three-prong plug which allows it to be plugged into circuit #3 (if on shore power) or circuit #1 (if boondocking). Not the most elegant but seems like it would work.

This seems pretty straightforward and like it should work out ok. My main question is if there is a smarter way to integrate the inverter charger. It would be convenient to wire it up in such a way that ALL of the circuits would run off of the inverter when on battery power (fan only for A/C, lower amp appliances on the GFCIs, etc)... That way all the outlets just work all the time, whether you're on grid or not. However, the inverter has a max rating of 20A (on shorepower) and 15A (on battery), so by running everything through a sub panel that goes from the inverter I think I'd be limiting my max load from 30A down to 20A. Trying to run two space heaters in the winter (or an A/C and a kitchen appliance) is viable on 30A but not on 20A.

Is there something I'm missing here? Or is what I've come up with the simplest way to go?
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Re: AC Life: Integrating Inverter Charger

Postby Shadow Catcher » Thu Jun 28, 2018 8:00 pm

I have a Morningstar 300W Sursine inverter. I wired it so that it feeds all the 120AC outlets using a 30A DPDT switch which cuts the shore power going to the converter (otherwise you would be trying to charge the battery from the inverter).
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