Well as I said I’ve been workin’ on Phase one of our new electric upgrade on the 5ver. In this phase I’m installing four new 220 amp Sam’s Club 6 volt batteries, a 1500 watt Cobra inverter, IOTA 30 amp transfer switch with remote switching and a Trimetric 2025RV monitoring system.
I’ve been spending my time going through the shore power electric system as wired in our fifth wheel. We have a 50 amp service which powers a 30 amp converter panel. I don’t want to and can’t power the entire system from a 1500 watt inverter. So I’m workin’ on separatin’ some circuits. First the converter is powered from the same breaker as all the GFCI outlets in the coach, the wires are crimped together, no way to turn it off when boondockin’ without killin’ the power to most of the outlets. So I’ve put a switch in the converter feed to disable it while runnin’ the inverter. I could have put it on a new breaker in the main panel but I already had everything needed to switch it. Can’t have the converter tryin’ to charge the batteries from power originating from the inverter which is runnin’ on those same batteries. Since I don’t know if I want to get rid of the converter, we’ll live with this fer’ a spell.
Most of the new equipment will be added to the front basement compartment with the exception of the transfer switch. It will be mounted in the same cabinet as the main breaker panel so I only have one wire run from the inverter to the transfer switch. I’ve had to move the main breaker panel about some to get some room for the switch that disables the converter and the transfer switch. I got a sweet deal on an inverter from Don Rowe fer’ $119 on sale. The remote switch was another $20. I decided to go with a modified sine wave inverter in that I’m basically running lights and appliances that I feel won’t require a more expensive pure sine wave inverter. If I encounter a problem with something in the coach I can always add a small pure sine wave inverter to power that device.
I’ve already ordered most of the needed items and my battery interconnect cables arrived yesterday. Nice hefty 4/0 cable to reduce any voltage loss and carry the current for charging. I’m hoping all the other items arrive next week as we’re headed back to Rose’s in Kissimmee for a few days. I have yet to build a battery box & get it sealed and installed in the basement. The batteries I’ll pick up at our local Sam’s Club later. My son found a source for ‘Blem’ batteries for cheap, as a matter of fact he purchased an “Optima’ battery for his airboat for $40 which was manufactured two months ago. I gave some thought to purchasing 6 volt batteries here at a reduced price of $50, but I need the batteries to be the same age, condition and size to keep the battery bank at peak performance. Mixing batteries is not the best idea for longevity as weaker batteries will draw down fully charged batteries reducing our total power. The Sam’s Club batteries are $72 and change. I have old batteries to exchange, so I’m lookin’ at only payin’ the $1.50 Federal tax and sales tax still keepin’ the total under eighty bucks for brand new batteries. I’ll feel a lot more comfortable this way. I looked into other Branded batteries such as Trojan and US Battery but they are twice the cost or more. Folks seem to be havin’ good luck with the batteries from Sam’s Club and if they only last half the life of the others, I’ve only paid half the price.
In addition to this upgrade I’m going to run #6 wire from a disconnect in the front basement to a combiner box on the roof for the solar panels I hope to add in the near future, just got to get rid of a ten ton, twenty foot, tandem dump trailer and some of those proceeds will go to the rest of this upgrade. I already know what size and how many panels and what vendor I’m usin’. Just have one more job fer’ that dump trailer then she’s goin’ on Ebay!
Well I’m not getting’ anything done on my project cliclin’ keys so I’ll say “Adios” fer’ now. Hope to see ya’ down the road as we’re;
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