Powering All AC Circuits with Inverter

[Tyboo]

Hey there! First post here. Hopefully I'm doing this right. If not, please be gentle. I just picked up our new 2022 GD reflection 28BH with inverter prep and solar. This is my first GD so I've been living on these forums for the past week. HUGE help, thank you. We really only dry camp so ive been beefing up the off grid power. I understand the inverter prep wiring and how it powers a few circuits in the coach. I need to be able to power the whole rig on the Victron MultiPlus II 12/3000/120-50 2-120v. I can think of a dozen ways to do it but I thought surely there is a standard that I have yet to discover. Just looking for the path of least resistance.

Other upgrades in this project:
- 800 Watts of solar
- 810 ah BB LiFePO4
- lynx distributor
- A/C Soft starts

I need to be able to run a 13,500 btu A/C for about an hour per day during nap time when we're in the national parks that don't allow generator use.

Thanks for your help! -Tyler

[Country Campers]

Welcome Tyler glad to have you join us here.

The easiest way to power the whole rig from the Multiplus 2 is to remove the shore power cord from the back of the power panel and connect it to the input side of the Multiplus 2 and then add another set of 6 ga wires from the output of the Multiplus 2 to the power panel where you removed the shore power cord connection. If you are interested or plan to install an EMS you could install that between the shore power and the Multiplus 2.

Brian

[Tyboo]

Great point to add internal EMS. Thanks for your help!

[Country Campers]

When adding the EMS in line what I did was remove the shore power from the power panel and insert that into the EMS. Then purchased 6-3 wire with ground, I actually used a 50 amp shore power cord, and went from the EMS to the Multiplus 2. If the system ever needs to be returned to factory it is easy to remove and just plug the factory shore power cord back in to the power panel.

Here is my thread Victron Multiplus II 2x120v 3kva install Reflection 29RS - Grand Design Owners Forums (gdrvowners.com) when I did my install there are a few others that have done the Multiplus 2.

Brian

[Tyboo]

Beautiful build, thanks for sharing. Ill be following your lead on this one.

[ncitro]

Tyboo I did this recently with WondersAwait on his 303. We did as Brian suggested and then jumpered his panel over to the sub panel (essentially removing the orange romex inverter prep loop) so all the circuits were on the main panel which ran through the inverter. He has a write up on his upgrade here:

https://gdrvowners.com/forum/operati...mods#post92547

[acoleman43]

Hey there! First post here. Hopefully I'm doing this right. If not, please be gentle. I just picked up our new 2022 GD reflection 28BH with inverter prep and solar. This is my first GD so I've been living on these forums for the past week. HUGE help, thank you. We really only dry camp so ive been beefing up the off grid power. I understand the inverter prep wiring and how it powers a few circuits in the coach. I need to be able to power the whole rig on the Victron MultiPlus II 12/3000/120-50 2-120v. I can think of a dozen ways to do it but I thought surely there is a standard that I have yet to discover. Just looking for the path of least resistance.

Other upgrades in this project:
- 800 Watts of solar
- 810 ah BB LiFePO4
- lynx distributor
- A/C Soft starts

I need to be able to run a 13,500 btu A/C for about an hour per day during nap time when we're in the national parks that don't allow generator use.

Thanks for your help! -Tyler

We did the same thing to our trailer. It is a tremendous help while boondocking. Based on my experience I will say 800W solar may not be sufficient depending on how/what you use.

We are currently boondocking and watching our batteries SOC slowly head to 0% and we have 1200W of solar. Problem: overcast skies for 2 weeks, camping under trees. Today we will finally have to run the generator to give the batteries a boost.

I did install a separate MPPT charge controller for portable panels to assist in situation like this (up to 400W additional), but don't have any portable panels :(

Our energy audit shows we will use between 2500W and 3000W of power per day. If your needs are similar and you may be camping under clouds or trees, have a backup plan

[Tyboo]

Thanks everyone for your thoughts and experiences. The hope, for now, is that we can make it out 4ish days with some options to keep the rig comfortable enough for my young kids to nap. I realize it will be a game of chicken in watching the batteries die. Just trying to slow it down. Time will tell and worst case I just add a lot more, haha. I like the aux solar rig acoleman43, I'll look into that as well.

[Tyboo]

We did the same thing to our trailer. It is a tremendous help while boondocking. Based on my experience I will say 800W solar may not be sufficient depending on how/what you use.

We are currently boondocking and watching our batteries SOC slowly head to 0% and we have 1200W of solar. Problem: overcast skies for 2 weeks, camping under trees. Today we will finally have to run the generator to give the batteries a boost.

I did install a separate MPPT charge controller for portable panels to assist in situation like this (up to 400W additional), but don't have any portable panels :(

Our energy audit shows we will use between 2500W and 3000W of power per day. If your needs are similar and you may be camping under clouds or trees, have a backup plan

As I thought about this more you got me thinking 1,100 instead of 800 of solar. Thanks for the real life stuff to inform my theoretical musings.

[acoleman43]

As I thought about this more you got me thinking 1,100 instead of 800 of solar. Thanks for the real life stuff to inform my theoretical musings.

I will say, when we have full sun, the 1200W does very well. We went 10 days in Big Bend without any shore power or generator. Lowest the battery bank showed was about 60% when we used the AC for 4 or 5 hours.

Energy issues arise when you have multiple days of cloud cover or are camping under trees.

[howson]

I will say, when we have full sun, the 1200W does very well. We went 10 days in Big Bend without any shore power or generator. Lowest the battery bank showed was about 60% when we used the AC for 4 or 5 hours.

Energy issues arise when you have multiple days of cloud cover or are camping under trees.

Also my experience for a full week in Jasper, Canada. 1200W was more than sufficient, even charged my buddy's camper! Of course, the A/C was not needed.

[bellis]

I am powering all circuits in a 2400BH with a Victron. Check out my build here:

https://gdrvowners.com/forum/operati...ions#post53784

I have since jumped into GPS, ultrasonic tank monitoring, and more through the Cerbo GX. My biggest regret was not opting for the Lynx Distributor from Victron. If I did it over, I might have also considered 2 smaller MPPT's from Victron instead of the one large one (but not 100% sure on that one; 2 smaller may have taken up less space, but would have additional switching). I have 1260W of solar on top.

I am about to post about my latest jump into Bluetooth sensors attached to the Cerbo GX. If you have any questions, tag me and I will do what I can to help.