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[Scubawise]

Originally Posted by Judge

We also will do Cracker Barrel for quick stops overnight but we try not to run the generator out of consideration for others who may stop there as well more than the cost of running the genny.

Last year I upgraded to LiFePO4 batteries from BigBattery and installed 680Ah. This year I upgraded the Inverter to a Xantrex 3000W Freedom Pro XC and rewired the coach so the Inverter powers any circuit I want to use. The main intent is being able to run the bedroom A/C overnight for a few hours when boondocking. If I close the door to the bedroom the A/C shouldn't have to run very often on the Inverter.

I tested the A/C's one at a time several times on the new Inverter with both fridges also running while the coach was in our garage and it worked great every time. I ran them over 15 minutes and no issues and the batteries were holding up great.

This weekend we are boondocking at my inlaws and the temps were over 90 yesterday. I was excited for my first real chance to use the new system. When I tried to run the bedroom A/C off the Inverter I kept getting a fault for low AC output voltage shortly after the A/C started running.

I suspect the sun beating on the roof caused the compressor to work harder on startup than it had to when I was testing in the garage where it was much cooler. I also had my Starlink router plugged in and the fridges also had to work harder because of the heat so there was more power draw there as well.

I was hoping I could get away without having to install a SoftStart... especially since I already have applied insulation to the A/C evaporator enclosures and I need to access that area to install a SoftStart.... but it looks like I will need it to use the Inverter for the A/C.

I ended up ordering two SoftStart's on Amazon yesterday. I was only going to do the bedroom A/C since we would only use that one when boondocking but I decided to do both A/C's in case we ever get a campground with only 30A service and we need to run both A/C's.

In any case.... had to end up running the generator at the inlaws to cool down the coach enough to get by overnight after a storm rolled through and cooled things off a bit.

On a positive note.... the LiFePO4 upgrade works great. The first night the DW had an electric fan running all night... I had the Starlink router plugged in..... two fridges running.... phones charging.... fresh water pump.... and the kitchen DC fan running. Then the next morning two pots of coffee and an electric skillet for breakfast and a laptop charging. I had 70% battery capacity remaining after all that. Typically I would be running the generator after the second pot of coffee when I had the four 6V flooded batteries.

Nice setup..way above my budget
Did the in-laws not let you plug in?