Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

As Icon said a ac/ac xfmr may solve the issue?

McDave

Hi Icon. I can see how I could see how that may work, but adds another level of complexity I would like to avoid. You would think that would be built in as part of inverter. But as it is, no issues as long as a short shuts down inverter as it is suppose to.

McDave, no chance of running shore/gen power on same circuits at same time. That would be bad for many reasons. The transfer switch ensures that will not happen. I believe it is working as designed. I opened it up and it is all a PC board with a few connections on input and outputs that appear correct. It appears very clean and well built. I would like schematics in any case if I ever need to repair..

I am willing to bet a lot of folks do not even know their Inverter works like this. The more I read, this appears to be more common than you'd think. It has some pros as well. I think noise isolation when I am using my HAM radio will be much better and little chance for ground loop type issues. I am sure it is cheaper to build for the mfg.. as probably avoids another AC/AC conversion to isolate as Icon mentioned.

You could not tie this inverter into a house that has a bonded neutral in the panel as it should. It would toast it. Clearly this inverter is made for RV's and portable ops where no bonded neutral/grounds are in place. My CTC does not Bond ground and neutral. That is a no/no. You do not want to do that as you will have GFCI issues with shore power due to ground loops as well as other concerns. There are more expensive inverters that have isolation and could be wired into a bonded ground situation. Buyer beware is all I can say. You need to know what you have and what you are doing.

I am willing to bet many reviews on various brands of inverters where they say "this POS smoked as soon as I plugged it it or Cheap China Junk" are due to the bonded neutral situation and ignorance on users part. I have read a lot of those lately.

Interesting to know in any case. Again... just learning this about these inverters. This one does seem to have a few large capacitors and a large inductor on the output that I am thinking is possibly for power factor correction needed for inductive (reactive) loads. Probably why it starts and runs the compressor in the AC and Fridge more easily and efficiently. Who knows. I cannot be sure without looking at schematics



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Further testing and reading.. this unit is working as it is suppose to with the hot Nuetral. Testing everything on board and everything works. We have mostly full sun today and I ran the Fridge, the Air Conditioner, lights, fan , and stereo all from the battery Bank. Running a little over 800 watts for 2 hours and no issues. At times with full sun and array of 500W, the solar panels would kick in 430W.. averaged about 350 with clouds in an out.. At rate, I could probably get 4-5 hours on the bank before I'd need to kick in the generator. The AC is about 600~650W by itself.

In any case, when I do take this out west for an extended period in the desert southwest, I will throw on 400W of additional panels so AC can run all day with no battery concerns or no need for generator. Plenty of roof real estate in the back end. Here it would be wasted money with shade and clouds passing over.

I got it wired in directly with 12GA wire from front of the inverter to the transfer switch (which I need to put the label back on!) ... so all seems well.





Solar Panels pulling in 433W with over 34A @ 12.5VDC. Almost full capacity for the 40A controller. I have 500W to account for no tilting.. so I am always happy with 400W.

Don,
Well first Hi hope all is well. I may have missed it but have you seen Tommy?
Second,
My boss/friend Jim bought an RV. He wants to boondock, with inverter not solar. I said he needs to type at you!
Sucks, he+wife & dog have already camped Twice this month. Me 0.

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Padilen wrote:Don,
Well first Hi hope all is well. I may have missed it but have you seen Tommy?
Second,
My boss/friend Jim bought an RV. He wants to boondock, with inverter not solar. I said he needs to type at you!
Sucks, he+wife & dog have already camped Twice this month. Me 0.

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Good morning Padilen. All is well here. Hope you are doing well also. I see Tommy occasionally. I have been out of state on business since mid March and only been home a few times. I am on my last two weeks now so happy about that. Tommy made his TTR-250 street legal, so we are planning on taking that dual sporting this summer with the CTC's.

Try to get out there and camp this summer. It will do you good! Ride your 2 smoke as well!

I have an ~1100 mile trip from border of Virginia/NC winding all the way through PA to border at NY planned on my KTM-690R. My brother has a KLR-650 he is riding. It is a mix of off-road/forest roads and back roads through the Appalachian Mts., etc.. Bike is prepped. Just got to get through the next few weeks at work. I'll post some pics.

I am itching to get out there and use the CTC more too. Just not enough time to do it all and work just gets in the way!

Glad to hear Tommy is planning on DS! TTR250! I'd like one!
My 2 smoke is broke. Haven't had funds for parts, so I haven't even completely tore it down.
I'm wanting a bigger bike again. Not that I have money for one, but dreaming. And it would be a DRZ. Thought about other 300-400cc more DS- street, than dirt. And the DRZ, is light, cheap, and plenty of them. And I still have all my lowering bits.

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Padilen wrote:Glad to hear Tommy is planning on DS! TTR250! I'd like one!
My 2 smoke is broke. Haven't had funds for parts, so I haven't even completely tore it down.
I'm wanting a bigger bike again. Not that I have money for one, but dreaming. And it would be a DRZ. Thought about other 300-400cc more DS- street, than dirt. And the DRZ, is light, cheap, and plenty of them. And I still have all my lowering bits.

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Sorry to hear your 2 smoke broke. What is broken? Will the company send you parts? I have heard they will if in warranty period.

I kinda thought you might regret getting rid of the DRZ. I agree.. they are nice dual sports.

Tommy had the TTR in his garage and was going to sell it. I mentioned he could find a frame with street title on Ebay and move everyrhing over and register it. He found a frame with street title and did just that. I wired up blinkers, horn, high beams, brake light, and turn signals for him to make it legit. Looks great and is nice.

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I don't regret selling the DRZ. I had to to try the 2 stroke. I regret that I can't afford 3 bikes! I don't regret the 2 stroke completely. I like the bike. Figured the breakage was late effects of my original screw up. But now I'm thinking it's not related at all. Something broke in the lower end. And had I not listened to others saying it was carb. I wouldn't have ruined my piston, head, and cylinder. They were fine when I started tearing it down. When I found those weren't damage, others said it was the carb. So while I thought otherwise, I caved. Put it back together, started it and did more damage. Crank is seized, well it can be forced to move. I hope to get it apart this week.
I had thought I was going to sell it with my health issue. Found no buyers, and was told it was worth only 2000$. It's (was) to good a bike to sell for that.
Broke maybe


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I used Microsoft Video (free in Windows 10) to make a video of my build picture file. It is 7 minutes long but captures the work. I hope you enjoy it!




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qD2oaDzrtSs

Very nice. That was a bunch of work, but you have something to be proud of.
Well done Sir.


McDave

Very nice summary video. Thank you for posting it. It helped remind me of several things of yours that I liked and will be adapting/adopting.

flboy, Howdy;

Don, great walk through. Something you can be proud of and enjoy until
you get the urge to 'upgrade' and do another ...

hank

Thanks you all. Making the clip was super easy. I literally just drag over the pictures from the folder and the software does the work. In any case, I thought it would be neat to document the build via the video.. this thread is more of a blog these days.

Updates to come in a few weeks. Going to put 400w more solar on roof for 900w total. I already have 1 of the 4 panels needed. 900w will run AC and fridge with good sun and not deplete battery at all and in fact, charge also with excess.

500W and 400W systems will have separate charge controllers which also provide redundancy in case of one charger failing. I like that.

Assuming the 4 panels will also provide additional shade for roof. With the exception of vents, it will be about 90% covered.

I will just need to seek less shady places when I depend on solar. Fortunately, those are the most available spots in the summer when I need AC. Putting in the 3000W inverter and running it all for hours during a dry run a few weeks back inspired me to go 100% solar.. of course Honda is backup.

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flboy, Howdy;

Don, what is your total Battery capacity? Do you need more for all the extra
solar you are harvesting? Just being curious as a lot of folks don't think about
that end of the project.

hank