Need an Inverter

[Pigman1]

I replaced the Norcold 1200 with a KitchenAid two door and couldn't be happier. We needed a 2 door because the electrical distribution panel is under the refer, and DW would have had a problem reaching the upper shelves on a French Door. Our house 3000W pure sine wave inverter handles the load just fine, but when it is on, I also end up powering a lot of overhead I don't want or need when we boondock for weeks at a time. I want to put in a separate, dedicated inverter for the refrig. The power use on the KitchenAid is 6.7A max. Has anyone put in a separate inverter? What brand and size did you use? I'm looking at a Cotek SK 2000W. I don't need a charger, or a load switching one, just the basic inverter. Comments from real experience, please. I've gotten lots of OPINIONS, that aren't even worth looking at.

[Gary RVRoamer]

I installed a standalone inverter in a previous coach. It's pretty simple if you are only feeding one dedicated circuit (the fridge). The easy way is to always power the fridge via the inverter, whether shore/genny is on or not. That way you don't have to worry about a transfer switch for inverter vs shore/genny power on that circuit. It is absolutely imperative that shore and inverter power never be applied to the same circuit at the same time.

Basically you want to keep the cable from inverter to battery as short as possible. 6.7A x 120v = 804 watts, so a 1000W inverter should handle it ok and 1500W would give you some margin to spare. Drawing 804 watts requires about 70 amps from the batteries, so make sure the cables to the inverter can handle that much amperage over whatever length you need.

[John Hilley]

You can get a Xantrex Pro Watt Pure Sine Wave 1000 watt inverter for under $400 or a 2000 watt for under $500. The simplest way to make things work would be to install the inverter as close to the batteries as possible and then run a new dedicated 120 VAC circuit to the refrigerator. You could then always run it off the inverter or if hooked to shore power for an extended period of time, plug the refrigerator into the existing 120 VAC circuit. When adding the second inverter, it would be a good idea to install a large power post for both positive and negative cable from the batteries. Use as large a cable as is practical from the batteries to the power post and then the appropriate size to each inverter, the existing inverter cable would just be moved to this power post. Don't forget to adequately fuse the cable to the new inverter.

Samlex also makes a nice line of pure sine wave inverters at reasonable prices. I have a 2000 watt Samlex. I use two inverters also, one for all circuits except entertainment and one dedicated to entertainment. This conserves battery power and the entertainment inverter has a wireless remote control so I can shut it off from bed without getting up.

[Pigman1]

We've tried Samlex with terrible results. I had a 1500W that they swore would work fine, and it blew out with a 60W drop light plugged in, before I even put it in the RV. They replaced it (3 weeks, numerous phone calls to Vancouver, and $30+ shipping) and the replacement lasted about 10 days, so I'm not going that way again. The starting draw on a fridge can be up to 5x the run current required, so I'm looking for something with a high spike rating for more than the 500 milliseconds many specify. We've got the wiring already in, with a DC cutoff so we can shut the whole system down overnight or when we're plugged into shore power. I've rigged a duplex outlet with one outlet on the inverter, and the other on house power. Based on a lot of help from Mr Wizard on the RV Net forum, the TrippLite PV2000FC looks like it has the guts to handle the high start loads. Our battery bank is 6 Lifeline deep cycles, and monitoring the fridge on a Kill-A-Watt has shown a power consumption of 1.09A@120V when running. I lose about .2V overnight on the main batteries, so capacity is no problem. Now my only issue is finding the Tripplite in Arizona.

[Qwert66]

Tripplite, no load current of 2.0+ amps of 12v is higher than most in this 2k range of inverter. Efficiency not stated as well.
Just food for thought on a fridge that doesn't run all the time.

[HotMech]

Why not just turn off a few breakers, when you boondock. Would be a lot easier, and cheaper too.
K.