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Old 06-02-2017, 09:56 AM   #1
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Residential Fridge Power

I just purchased a new Sierra 372 LOK with residential fridge. Obviously I have a pure sine wave inverter to power the fridge when shore power is unplugged.

My question is this:
The fridge stays plugged into the same outlet at all times. Dealer told me to turn the inverter off before plugging shore power up. And vice versa.

How does the outlet get power from both sources?

Does it hurt to leave the inverter on with shore power for short periods of time (let's say I forgot to turn it off for 30 minutes while setting the rig up)?

Thanks
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Old 06-02-2017, 10:03 AM   #2
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Inverter will have a bypass circuit (transfer switch). When on shore power the 120 goes directly to the circuits in the rig.
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Old 06-02-2017, 10:13 AM   #3
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Many leave the inverter on all the time. When connected to shore power it's circuits just idle since the reefer is then powered by the incoming 120 volts. Turn it off if you want or if you are going to be connected to AC for more than a few hours.
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Old 06-02-2017, 10:27 AM   #4
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I leave my inverter on all the time. If you on shore power you inverter becomes disconnected.
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Old 06-02-2017, 11:23 AM   #5
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I leave my inverter on all the time also. Unless you know for sure you have a pure sine wave inverter, you can run many residential refrigerators on MSW inverters. My previous coach had a MSW inverter with a residential refrigerator.
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Old 06-02-2017, 01:31 PM   #6
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As "Mr_D" stated, your inverter has a bypass. This is what distinguishes more expensive inverters from the less expensive models. When your coach is using battery power, the inverter converts the 12 volt DC power to 110 volts. Again, the better quality inverters convert DC power to pure sine wave power, which is what you get in your house. Cheap models convert the power to modified sine wave power, which isn't as clean as PSW and can ruin some electronics.

When you plug your RV into shore power, your inverter "passes" that power through the inverter and tells the inverter to basically go to sleep until needed again. If you were to look closely at the 110 volt wiring in your RV, one or two of the 110 volt circuits are going directly to your inverter. These are same circuits that continue on through the inverter to all the outlets that your inverter powers.

This is a little long winded, but you should know how your system works, so if there is an issue, you know where to look. Especially helpful to know is that your inverter also has circuit breaker(S) on it, just like your 110 volt circuit breakers you have in your RV. Often, if you trip a breaker, especially if it was tripped by something connected to one of the inverter outlets, it may be a breaker on the inverter that has tripped. Locate your inverter and identify the circuit breaker(s) for future emergencies.

Lastly, leaving your inverter on all the time does not hurt the inverter. Actually, it's safer to leave it on. Sometimes, especially at night, you could have a power outage at a campground and not know it. By having the inverter on, the refer would seamlessly continue to run.
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Old 06-02-2017, 02:16 PM   #7
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Our inverter never gets turned off. There is a on/off button on its control panel - have never used it.
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Old 06-02-2017, 02:34 PM   #8
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I turn my MSW inverter off when on shore power. Why? .... because I have a few small appliances plugged into inverter outlets and they aren't happy with MSW. For instance, a small newer style desk fan. Some "stuff" has idle circuits that aren't happy with MSW. I don't want them on the inverter if I drop shore power. I unplug them when traveling and the inverter is in use. Found out the hard way ... the smoke escaped from a nice new fan that was turned off but plugged in. My soundbar doesn't like the inverter either.
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Old 06-02-2017, 06:15 PM   #9
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Residential Fridge Power

Our outlets work whether using the inverter or on shore power. We keep the inverter off when on shore power and only turn it on when we are dry camping. We installed the inverter/charger ourselves and put in a sub panel so the outlets would work either way. We also have a transfer switch and an onboard generator for our 5th wheel.
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Old 06-03-2017, 07:56 AM   #10
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I turn my inverter on only when we are going to use it for sure...like on the road. I called Magnum, the tech said on or off, it's up to us, the inverter doesn't care.
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Old 06-03-2017, 02:34 PM   #11
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Thanks for the replies. I wad hoping to hear that you could leave it on but have no experience with them.
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