28BH Inverter Install

[allenrude]

Hi All,

Phase 1 of my modest solar project is wrapping up.

Here is what i have done so far:
Added 3 170 Watt panels to the 165 Watt already on the roof. Wired series for the 2 panel arrays and parallel to the solar controller.
Changed roof entry gland to accept MC4 standard connectors.
Pulled out the Furrion MPPT/50 solar controller and replaced with Victron 100/30. NICE
Added the Victron Smart Battery Shunt.
Added Raspberry Pie connectivity to the Victron Remote Management cloud. Also NICE.

Phase 2 will be add a decent Lithium battery and an inverter which brings me to my current question. While i have 2 breakers in the AC panel for an inverter with wires attached, i have no idea where they go. Clearly they do NOT go into the front battery bay as i have seen pictures from others rigs with the inverter prep and I have spent a lot of time now in the front bay and there are no inverter prep wires there. I have traced the wires from the breaker panel and looks like they head down into the frame area, but then its anyone's guess. My guess is that they were just left lying in the underbelly, but would like to hear from anyone with a 28BH that may have found theirs.

Additionally once i find them, not sure what to do with them. I want to add an inverter that feeds a couple of outlets in the coach but now quite sure how to do that given the factory installed inverter prep. Happy to get others feedback on appropriate next steps.

thanks
Al

[howson]

allenrude -- if no one knows you're best option is to give Customer Service a call to find out where the wires are (and then tell us!).

[Country Campers]

I think you will need to drop the front corner of the coroplast and see if the inverter wire is laying there. You might also pull out the power distribution panel or at least the cover to see if the inverter breakers are actually wired and what color the wire is.

On your smart shunt , Why is there 2 wires on the right side and only one on the left? The right side looks like the bottom wire is from the battery, no other wires should be connected here in order to get the proper readings on the shunt.

Brian

[allenrude]

Hi Brian,

I dug into the back of the breaker panel and in fact both breakers labeled for the inverter are connected and drop into the under belly so agree that i will have to drop a cornet to see where they ended up. UGH

As related to the shunt, the left side actually is the direct connect to the battery. the right side is connected to the charge controller and the cable that is heading down is actually connected to everything else that was connected to the battery prior to the install of the shunt. I was very careful to get this sorted properly as it appears that wiring incorrectly is not hard to do so wanted to make sure that i did it as prescribed.

Thanks for keeping me honest. Always appreciate folks that try to keep me out of trouble..

Thanks
Al

[Country Campers]

Al,

Another thought is the spray foam in the lower right where all of the wires come and go, this may be hiding the inverter wires but I am not sure. You will also find in that foam a bunch of white ground wires tied together with a wire nut, Yoda found that on his and I found the same on mine. I added a ground buss bar and tied all of the grounds that would reach to that bar and eliminated the wire nut, they do not belong in an RV anyhow. The spray foam does cover a hole that goes into the underbelly so you will have to close that up after you are done. If the inverter wires are not there but below in the underbelly this might be a good place to bring them into the front compartment.

Brian

[allenrude]

Hi Brian,

looks like i will have to go into the underbelly to solve the mystery. Question however, i am still not clear on the wiring of the inverter once i find the wires. What i want to end up with is a couple of the 120V outlets working off the inverter. Thats it. I am not clear on how 2 wires attached to 2 30 AMP breakers in the AC panel helps me with that? Sure that GD had a scenario in mind when they installed this, not sure I get it or am I trying to make simple to hard?

Thanks
Al

[acoleman43]

Hi Brian,

looks like i will have to go into the underbelly to solve the mystery. Question however, i am still not clear on the wiring of the inverter once i find the wires. What i want to end up with is a couple of the 120V outlets working off the inverter. Thats it. I am not clear on how 2 wires attached to 2 30 AMP breakers in the AC panel helps me with that? Sure that GD had a scenario in mind when they installed this, not sure I get it or am I trying to make simple to hard?

Thanks
Al

Regarding mystery wires...if it were me, and you're NOT me, I would just give them a good pull. If they're loose, they should come right up

Inverter question....it depends on what you want to power with the inverter.

[allenrude]

Thanks Ac for the suggestion. When i pulled the panel to add an EMS, i traced the 2 wires and they headed south down into the underbelly. Just have never been able to see them come back up.. As related to what i want with an inverter, pretty basic, just get power to a couple of the outlets in the coach.

thanks
Al

[acoleman43]

allenrude if you want just a couple outlets powered by an inverter the diagram below might be helpful.

You will need a DC wired connection from the batteries to the inverter, and an AC wired connection from the main AC panel to the transfer switch. From the transfer switch you will need an AC wired connection into a subpanel. You will connect the outlets you want with inverted power into the subpanel.

Some inverters come with built in transfer switches, so a separate transfer switch is not required.

The transfer switch is important because it will allow those outlets to be powered by the inverter (when shore power is unavailable), or by shore power. If the switch detects shore power, it will bypass the inverter and power the subpanel with shore power. If the switch does not detect shore power, it will allow the power to come from the inverter.








Another method is to create a wired connection between the batter and inverter. add an exterior AC outlet to the trailer. Connect this outlet to the AC out of the inverter (or transfer switch). When inverted power is desired, simply plug your shore power line (with a 110/115v adapter) into the exterior outlet you added (connected to the AC out of the inverter or transfer switch) and you will have inverted power for the entire RV. Keep in mind it will only produce the wattage of the inverter....if it's a 1000W inverter it will produce a maximum 1000W. Not enough for AC, probably not enough for microwave. But enough for a number of outlets and fridge (AC fridge). Size your inverter appropriately.

Also you will only have power until your batteries (or batteries) are drained. Your battery bank will determine the duration of the power provided through the inverter.

I hope this helps.

[ncitro]

allenrude Another option on top of what ACColeman suggested is to take those outlets you want on the inverter and wire them straight to the inverter. These outlets would become "inverter only". This greatly simplifies the wiring, but keep in mind when on shore power they will still be running off the inverter, essentially drawing from the batteries and your converter would be charging them back up (hopefully faster than you discharge them). This will add wear and tear on your batteries and I would only do it if they were going to be small loads (cell phone chargers etc), or if you were going to mark those outlets to be inverter only and not use them when on shore power.

[allenrude]

Thanks guys, will need to think thru a little more before this gets added. Question is, in either of the configurations mentioned, where do the (2) 30 Amp connections to the AC panel actually fit into the picture? Neil, this would not enter into the plan in your scenario, and AC in your drawing above, assume that for a 50AMP coach the 2 wires that are currently in the main AC breaker box marked as Inverter prep would be then going to the transfer switch. Does that sound right?

thanks
Al

[ncitro]

allenrude Honestly I am not sure why the inverter prep wires would be going to the main panel. We (the moderators) are headed to Grand Design next week to undergo some training on features that have been added recently, and the solar and inverter prep is high on our list of things to go over. I am going to tag in Howard, one of the other mods to see if he is more familiar with the wiring.

howson Any thoughts on the inverter prep wires?

[allenrude]

Assume that they had a reason to do what they did. Love to know the reasoning. Would be nice if they did what Keystone did and use best in class solar products and then leveraged their offering as a competitive differentiator. Rather than as throw ins that many have pulled out a replaced. Like me... Thanks, Al

Here is my AC panel from my 2022 28BH.

[acoleman43]

Thanks guys, will need to think thru a little more before this gets added. Question is, in either of the configurations mentioned, where do the (2) 30 Amp connections to the AC panel actually fit into the picture? Neil, this would not enter into the plan in your scenario, and AC in your drawing above, assume that for a 50AMP coach the 2 wires that are currently in the main AC breaker box marked as Inverter prep would be then going to the transfer switch. Does that sound right?

thanks
Al

This will probably be no help at all....but, here it goes.

I'm no professional, but I'll share what I do know. My trailer is a 30 amp system. Panel and subpanel picture is below. If you have a 50 amp system, you will have 2 sides of the AC panel.....I just have one side.

The inverter is connected to AC through the transfer switch which is connected to the inverter breaker on the main panel. You will have one wire for that (I am assuming).

The sub panel is connected to the inverter through the transfer switch. I don't know if you have a sub panel or not. Perhaps the second wire is for a sub panel?? You would disconnect from the main panel and remove the breaker?? Perhaps you have a 50 amp system and there is a breaker for the inverter on both sides of the AC panel?? Somebody smarter than me should answer this.







Also, you might have an issue with the MPPT charger. I don't know which 170W panels you have...but if we take four 165W Furrion panels, wire each pair in series, then the 2 pairs in parallel, you get more current than the 100/30 is rated.






Those numbers are based on freezing (32 degrees) as the coldest temp you will see. If it gets colder, you will see slightly more current. Looks like you probably need a 100/70 MPPT charger.

[acoleman43]

Assume that they had a reason to do what they did. Love to know the reasoning. Would be nice if they did what Keystone did and use best in class solar products and then leveraged their offering as a competitive differentiator. Rather than as throw ins that many have pulled out a replaced. Like me... Thanks, Al

Here is my AC panel from my 2022 28BH.

Oh. I think this makes more sense. Looks like you have 2 AC's which means you have a 50 amp unit (you should have 2 "main" breakers as well). You have 2 sides of AC. You probably have one inverter breaker for one side and another inverter breaker for the other side. If you have just one inverter, it will just power one side of the AC panel. To power both you will need 2 inverters....or the right inverter taht is made for a split phase system.

Victron sells the Multiplus II 2X120V inverter made for split phase systems. It has two AC line inputs (one for each phase). It's expensive (about $1500 to $1600) but will handle the 50 amp split phase system.