Thor Forums

[Chance]

Originally Posted by dstankov

....cut..... It would require one heck of an inverter and battery bank to power all residential appliances (refrigerator and convection microwave), two AC units, three televisions, and an electric fireplace. This is not to mention a clothes dryer if one were installed in my coach or the 120VAC outlets used for coffee pot, toaster, laptop computer etc.... Oh, I almost forgot the electric side of the hot water heater.

And before someone says you don't have to, or your not going to run all of that at the same time or that the battery bank doesn't have to be that large, if it is connected to the inverter the inverter must be able to operate all at the same time using shore power or when disconnected from shore power.

....cut.....

I'm not sure why you think it's necessary for the inverter to be able to power everything at once. Most electrical systems are not designed to run everything downstream all at once. That applies to a house, utility, or industry.

If an inverter or inverter/charger is wired so it's on the incoming shore line, and thus could be connected to major items like air conditioners, it will no doubt trip on over-current. But that should be expected.

Before I disconnect at a campground, I turn off the Air Conditioner, Microwave, etc. before disconnecting shore power from the utility. With an inverter/charger it would be no different except that outlets with minor loads can remain powered.

If owners don't understand the concept of very limited power supply from an inverter or inverter/charger, and try to run ACs or clothes dryers, then I can see a problem. For me that would not be an issue at all. On the other hand I'd want the option to use the coffee maker or microwave powered off the inverter.

For people who don't understand the associated limitations or may just not want to be bothered turning major items on and off, perhaps it would be better to wire all the larger items that can't be run off the inverter or inverter/charger anyway separately. It can be done but for me and my needs it complicates the electrical system more than necessary.