Transfer Switch or Seperate A/C Outlets

[NCmountainsOffgrid]

yes, agreed, as our own motorcoach operates exactly that way - seemless from generator, shore power, or inverter. The transfer switch takes care of whether Shore or Generator power gets to the Main Panel, and the Inverter's own internal transfer switch senses 120v power from the Gen or Shore power, passing that thru to the 'sub-panel' of outlets that serve the Fridge, Microwave, and all general outlets. When the Gen or Shore power is lost, the Inverter immediately takes over, providing 120v power from the batteries to the 'sub-panel' of outlets.

Now, the only 'drawback' to this, if I can admit, is that when you DO lose shore power, or if your generator trips it's breaker(s), you may not realize it right away, possible drawing down your batteries to the point that after a while you suddenly lose power to everything because your Inverter's LBCO(low battery automatic Inverter cut off) triggers when the levels fall below 11.5 or so.
I would like to see the ability for the Inverter designer/engineer to provide the customer the ability to program for an AUDIBLE alert when this happens, such as a series of beeps, to allow the owner to know that something has 'happened', and it WILL!

When a generator's breaker trips, it can leave the owner unaware, as the generator may still be running, but the battery charger is no longer receiving power, and anything 'plugged in' to an outlet will now be powered by the Inverter, which might not be what the owner wants to be happening. Admittedly, though, this normally happens when running the roof air conditioners, where if the breaker trips, the air conditioner suddenly stops. Oh Well.

[OldJeepGuy]

Out of curiosity What old jeep(s) do you have?
This 73' CJ-5 was my daily driver on Catalina Island for over 20 years before retiring it to the beaches and deserts of Baja. Salta Verde 108_edited.JPG

I currently have a 92' YJ and a 05' TJ. Too much money thrown at them but I'll just say they've got lockers, and are well built. We did the jeep club gig for a few years but are put off with loud music, bright lights, and disrespect from the younger generations. So we quit the club thing.
I'm the crotchety old fart telling the kids to turn down that music. We go to the desert for peace and to get away from hooligans. Lol
We now usually just take our Rzr SXS and go out on weekdays to avoid the weekend crowd and the youngsters.
Anyway,
I'd like to have a 40 something Willys, but can't find the time or room to restore one.

[PNW_Steve]

I have done a couple of RV installs with a sub panel and transfer switch.

When on shore power or generator all branch circuits are energized. When shore/genny power goes away the inverter lights up only the branch circuits fed from the sub panel.

This makes for completely automatic switching.

[littleharbor]

Salta Verde beach on the backside of Catalina.

[Ampster]

.......
This 73' CJ-5 was my daily driver on Catalina Island for over 20 years before retiring it to the beaches and deserts of Baja. Salta Verde 108_edited.JPG

Nice picture. Is that on Catalina Island? I spent many weekends there in the 70's an 80's. Also saw lots of the interior riding a horse.

[J.P.M.]

Out of curiosity What old jeep(s) do you have?
This 73' CJ-5 was my daily driver on Catalina Island for over 20 years before retiring it to the beaches and deserts of Baja. Salta Verde 108_edited.JPG

Way off topic and only FWIW: When I was single in the early '70's, 2 buddies I lived with and I bought a surplus army jeep (for as I recall ~ 50 bucks) and used it for bar crawling in the summer. When going to Canada (~ 20 miles away) we had to leave the ammo can that came with it home but the customs officials on both sides and the OPP loved it, particularly those who were veterans. Great vehicle. Easy to service/keep running, easy to clean (just hose the whole thing out), almost indestructible, and strangely, a chick magnet. The required 1X/yr. NYS motor vehicle inspections done by officials we met and knew socially and drove home after consultations in local watering holes, etc. We kept it off limited access/high speed roads as it topped out @ ~ 40-50 MPH. Beyond that, the only other limitation was winter - it just wasn't a winter car for Buffalo.

[littleharbor]

Out of curiosity What old jeep(s) do you have?
This 73' CJ-5 was my daily driver on Catalina Island for over 20 years before retiring it to the beaches and deserts of Baja. Salta Verde 108_edited.JPG

[OldJeepGuy]

Get a real vacuum bottle, heat the water the day before, and you will have near boiling water the next AM. No generator.

I'll look into that!

[OldJeepGuy]

yes, just keep the 'inverter outlets' either plugged into the inverter itself, if it has any, or run separate outlets solely for the inverter, since it is a small wattage anyway.... BUT...

having coffee in the morning is the real 'hump' to deal with, as you don't have a lot of 6v battery storage with only two batteries, but you can try and see if the voltage is still high enough in the morning to run the heater in the coffee maker long enough to run the full cycle of coffee, while not dropping the batteries too low. Since most folks make coffee WELL before the sun rises and is anywhere NEAR high enough to be helping produce sun power thru the solar panels, the issue is that most of the voltage drops overnight might mean not enough left in the morning for your 'coffee'... making you need the generator anyway.

A generator is not a bad usage of power, or power maker from fuel...but most don't like the noise associated with it, though it is a very powerful tool for the actual little fuel it needs - use it and enjoy... you may find that in your situation it is WAY more economical to use what you already have, than making big investments in solar panels, controllers, inverters, and more batteries.

Yeah, we've had this trailer for 9 years. The Onan genny is great, not too loud either, but... it sits directly under and to the left of the bed my wife sleeps in.
I'm an early riser. Her, not so much. So coffee is usually done by me with the coffee press. But I'd rather coffee maker it because I, well, own a trailer. And the trailer is a constant maintenance hobby for me. And I like to tinker. Earlier the better. So I'm usually too busy, but havin fun btw, to go press some more coffee. I'll drink a whole pot each morning while I'm tinkering with this trailer mod or that one. You get the idea. Currently its install solar panels, moving the batteries inside and venting them, resealing the roof.. Etc. Etc.

I do enjoy a great cup of fresh ground and pressed coffee. I'll sit with the wife and do that. But that's usually about 10am!

My solar plans may not provide what I need to make coffee with the coffee maker. So next year it'll be a few more panels, and batteries, larger guage wire and a MPPT. Lol.

It only ends when I'm too old to care, too old to work on it, or don't have the funds.

[Mike90250]

Get a real vacuum bottle, heat the water the day before, and you will have near boiling water the next AM. No generator.

[NCmountainsOffgrid]

yes, just keep the 'inverter outlets' either plugged into the inverter itself, if it has any, or run separate outlets solely for the inverter, since it is a small wattage anyway.... BUT...

having coffee in the morning is the real 'hump' to deal with, as you don't have a lot of 6v battery storage with only two batteries, but you can try and see if the voltage is still high enough in the morning to run the heater in the coffee maker long enough to run the full cycle of coffee, while not dropping the batteries too low. Since most folks make coffee WELL before the sun rises and is anywhere NEAR high enough to be helping produce sun power thru the solar panels, the issue is that most of the voltage drops overnight might mean not enough left in the morning for your 'coffee'... making you need the generator anyway.

A generator is not a bad usage of power, or power maker from fuel...but most don't like the noise associated with it, though it is a very powerful tool for the actual little fuel it needs - use it and enjoy... you may find that in your situation it is WAY more economical to use what you already have, than making big investments in solar panels, controllers, inverters, and more batteries.

[OldJeepGuy]

Thank you little harbor and ewarnerusa. I appreciate the quick response.

Looks like I'll keep it seperate and color coded.

[OldJeepGuy]

In concept, I'd say the dedicated and color-coded outlet is a good one and one I've seen described in use a lot on RV.net forums. But reality is that the electric coffee maker is probably a large electricity hog, like little harbor says. I make french press coffee and use camper propane stove to boil the water. Delicious and electricity-free.

On rv.net forums this type of question gets raised a lot about how to use an inverter to run the electric coffee pot, and it always devolves into suggestions on how to make coffee. I see I went and totally did that here, sorry to have gone there!

Thank you. I was on a RV.net forum but forgot password and can't get back in.

I click reset password and it says I don't have an account.
So I go to open a new account and it says I already have an account. Sheesh.

So I came here with my questions. The guys on here are more knowledgeable regarding solar anyway.

And we do use a coffee press if it's just the wife and I. With friends we use the electric coffee pot.

[OldJeepGuy]

The specs on my GC batteries:

Costco's Interstate 20190621_104957.jpg

[ewarnerusa]

In concept, I'd say the dedicated and color-coded outlet is a good one and one I've seen described in use a lot on RV.net forums. But reality is that the electric coffee maker is probably a large electricity hog, like little harbor says. I make french press coffee and use camper propane stove to boil the water. Delicious and electricity-free.

On rv.net forums this type of question gets raised a lot about how to use an inverter to run the electric coffee pot, and it always devolves into suggestions on how to make coffee. I see I went and totally did that here, sorry to have gone there!