Inverter

[RTurnConn]

If I plan to do very little boon docking (the wife likes the creature comforts) do I really need an inverter? Even on those few occasions in the past when we did stay at sites with minimal services we limited our cooking to the use of gas stove or grill and read a book at night instead of TV. What are your experiences?

[arodriguez60]

On our Limited I have not installed an inverter. I have solar in it and have boondocked in it exclusively. For a TV I bought a 12 volt . We've had a great time, but I do have an inverter that I plan on installing.

[tpi]

My trailer has front couch and under it is a good location for inverter due to proximity to batteries. Short cable runs have low voltage drop.

I mounted a 300 watt sine wave inverter under couch I use for laptop, router, TV, charging phone and other small tasks. The smaller inverters have less overhead (loss) than bigger ones so if you're doing small loads, its best not to grossly oversize the inverter.

[AirsDream]

No, you don't. If you don't boondock, you don't need one at all, and for "very little" boondocking, you can almost certainly get by. I almost exclusively boondock, and I've only recently acquired a small inverter for the likes of small chargers that for one reason or another won't work off of 12 volt. You will be surprised by how self-sufficient these trailers are!

Now, if you just can't get by without a hair dryer, electric coffee pot, microwave, vacuum cleaner, etc. for just a few days, then and only then had you better stay where there is shore power or carry a generator ... or maybe a much expanded battery bank and an inverter.

[handn]

I think tpi is on the right path giving you advice about limiting yourself to a small 300 watt inverter for low amperage tasks such as computers, battery charging and possibly a television.
Unless you want to double your battery capacity, you don't have enough battery capacity to run a big inverter (1000 watt+) which is what you need for hair driers, coffee makers, microwaves and heat producing appliances.
We have a small inverter which we never use because we are boondocking off the grid to get away from email and computer tasks and we run the generator to power heat producing appliances.