Am I going to damage my electrical system

[Jusjay]

Stop me if this is a bad idea. Can I run a jumper cable to a outside invertor from my RV batteries and then plug into my RV’s shore power? I would be cautious about running this like the microwave, AC and hairdryers. I only want to power some outlets for TV.

[Jusjay]

Sorry didn’t mentions that we are boondocking

[JamieGeek]

So basically you want to hack an inverter onto your RV so you can run some minor stuff.

What you want to do is possible: You'll have to turn off the 12V converter (just turn the breaker off).

You could always simply unplug the TV and run an extension cord from the TV to your inverter (that seems like a much simpler solution that attempting to run the RV off the inverter--and you wouldn't have to worry about A/C or anything else).

[16ACE27]

Wut Jamie said

[gnach]

I think you're trying for a temporary set up, right? My short answer is DON'T. You only want specific circuits; microwave and 1 or 2 outlets, but if you back feed the whole system thru the shore power cord, you're energizing everything. Yeah, you could turn off the breakers you don't want but you could still cause trouble with the 12v converter/charger, etc.

It's best to hard wire the inverter, output to those desired circuits (do not overload the inverter!) Also you want a pure sine wave inverter, I think. The modified sine (cheaper) units can play hell on digital controls, but better qualified folk can give better qualified reasons. Just sayin'

[Jusjay]

Thanks, just looking for a way around not running extension cords all over the place, directv box, satellite and the the TV

[16ACE27]

As Jamie said, open the breaker to the converter and you'll be fine. MSW inverter is all you need as you're not powering synchronous motors. The only problem with MSW inverters and digital electronics (which all run off rectified/filtered DC) is the cheap MSW inverters that produce high powered harmonics that don't get filtered when converted to DC.

Put the inverter in/near the batteries to minimize the DC cable length and run your SP cord over (under?) to it.

[Bob Denman]

Since it's the 21st century... why not just watch TV on your smartphone?

[The Gritz Carlton]

Before you do it, set a box outside...about 30 feet away...with some water, snacks, insect repellent, a flashlight and a cell phone in it. Make sure you have the phone numbers of a few friends and your insurance company in it as well. Sounds like a disaster in the making.

[Jusjay]

The problem with that is I have 20th century eyes!

[The Gritz Carlton]

It will be interesting to see how it pans out. I guess the biggest challenge is the total amperage draw from the few appliances vs battery capacity. Please report back...you've sure invented a new technique.

[16ACE27]

Originally Posted by The Gritz Carlton

you've sure invented a new technique.

Not really. I did this exact thing with my last travel trailer we purchased in 2013. Worked great for TV when boondocking and short runs of the microwave. I also put the fridge on GAS so it didn't automatically use the supplied 120 VAC.

[Chance]

If powering a microwave, the inverter must be fairly large; like at least 1,500-Watt unit. In any case, is it really that different than plugging a motorhome into a 1,000 Watt inverter-generator to power TVs and the like? It’s a little different, but requires turning off most things in RV like A/C, water heater electric, refrigerator electric, etc. Biggest difference I see is having to turn off converter; but in some cases the converter has to be turned off also with small generators to keep from overloading the generator.

I have a small portable inverter and have plugged the 30-Amp cord to it with an adaptor for testing purposes. From electrical standpoint it wasn’t much different than when I connect to my portable generator — except generator can handle larger loads.

For what it’s worth, I would also turn off the motorhome’s generator to be safe, particularly if equipped with automatic start.

As others have stated, I would wire in a permanent installation for repeated use. For a one-time event, I’d try it. Keep in mind batteries will likely run down faster than expected.

[Bob Denman]

Originally Posted by Jusjay

The problem with that is I have 20th century eyes!

That makes two of us...