What brand inverter did you install?

[Hawk-ination]

Looking to pick your brains on the brand and model for those who have upgraded. Pros and cons? Probably some discussion out there about it but now that more and more owners are upgrading to lithium and some of us have a bit of time under our belt, I figured it would be a good time to revisit the subject.

Hope to keep the discussion more on the Interstate side due to the space constraints and system differences from the trailers please.

[Rocinante]

Victron

[StogieMan]

We have and went with the Victron Multiplus 3000. Only con for us is the size and wish it had the slimmer profile as the Multi 2000 or Multi II 3000. Also would’ve been nice if it fit right where the original Magnum was under the jump seat.

Overall no issues with it handling our the AC heavy load side or have we run into any issues with it. Love the flexibility that it has, power assist function and how darn smart it is. We also love how all the Victron products that we have all work together flawlessly.

[Sailfast]

Originally Posted by Hawk-ination

Looking to pick your brains on the brand and model for those who have upgraded. Pros and cons? Probably some discussion out there about it but now that more and more owners are upgrading to lithium and some of us have a bit of time under our belt, I figured it would be a good time to revisit the subject.

Hope to keep the discussion more on the Interstate side due to the space constraints and system differences from the trailers please.

For those of you DIY'ers the KISAE SWXFR1230 is an excellent product (they make some MAGNUM models) Transfer Switch, safety features, remote panel, etc.
Charging would have to be a separate item, However that has advantages anyway (when inverter or charger goes kaput, you don't replace both) We use a 1220 (2000W) and run the microwave with it. It will operate the AC(w softstart), though the inverter is located under the rear seat (same place the magnum was) and on 90 degree days it is simply to hot under that seat and does not get fresh air for cooling. Hence the over temp feature will kick in and shut the power down. I shall replace it with a 1230

[2012FB]

The Multiplus II is an incredible system. Very happy with it.

[waninae39]

+1 on Victron Multiplus II

[Ephraim]

Mastervolt combimaster - because it is high quality and will talk to your Czone system.

[richard5933]

Are you looking for an inverter/charger like the Victron Multiplus series or a stand alone inverter which just provides 120v to outlets?

We've got a Samlex stand alone inverter which has been working flawlessly for a few years now, including the remote panel. Seems like a high quality option if you aren't looking for an inverter/charger system.

[Heckler56]

Xantrex XC Freedom 2000. Enough power, proven, zero power draw in sleep mode, 1/2 the price of a Magnum. Fits under the jump seat with some slight mod’s. 80A charging.

[InterBlog]

AIMS Power model PWRIG300024120S, which is 3,000 watts (24 volt) and sized for the trailer that we have under development, not our Interstate. A South Korean model. Mentioning the manufacturer, even if the specific unit would not fit your application. They also make 12 V models.

Draws 0.45 amps @ no load, which is why my husband chose it. Plus it has a remote on-off switch, so that it can be controlled by the BMS.

[oldenavy]

Originally Posted by Heckler56

Xantrex XC Freedom 2000. Enough power, proven, zero power draw in sleep mode, 1/2 the price of a Magnum. Fits under the jump seat with some slight mod’s. 80A charging.

I also installed the Xantrex 2000. I went with them because I had their inverters before on boats and they worked well in that environment. If I were to do it over again, I'd go with the Victron 3000. I Like the Xantrex and it works well but we have Victron battery monitor and solar controller and I very much like the way all the Victron stuff plays together. I'd also like additional headroom on the power of the inverter. The 2000 watt unit will make coffee when boondocking which is the spousal requirement but we need to be careful that nothing else is on.

[toskeysam]

We have the Magnum 3012 Hybrid inverter. (3000 watt). Took up a bit of space, but works very well. Paired up with 3-160 ahr lithium batteries. Runs everything except water heater.

[StogieMan]

Originally Posted by toskeysam

Runs everything except water heater.

toskeysam,

Just curious on why not the water heater? Your Magnum 3k is more than enough to run it. Is this by choice?

I prefer to use propane to heat it faster when boondocking and the electric side when at a campsite or tied to shore power.

This is where the power assist function of the Victron 3k kicks in and goes into assist mode. Allows us to run the AC, hot water heater and coffee maker all at the same time. It takes 30 amps from shore and the rest from the batteries to prevent any breakers from tripping. I’m so glad that I removed that Precision Circuits power management system. If still in place, it would’ve shed some loads to keep it at or under 30 amps not knowing that the inverter along with shore could handle it. Don’t miss it one bit.

You could also change the incoming to either 15 or 20 amps. Of course then you’ll have to pick which appliances to run.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Odo6LNSjykQ&vl=en-US

[toskeysam]

The "hybrid" Magnum inverter would allow battery assist function like your Victron. We elected to not incorporate the water heater. We felt it was a waste of battery power, especially since we had propane backup for the heater. We figured we could deal with cool water easier than a hot van, and focused on periodic use of the air conditioner.

[StogieMan]

Originally Posted by toskeysam

The "hybrid" Magnum inverter would allow battery assist function like your Victron. We elected to not incorporate the water heater. We felt it was a waste of battery power, especially since we had propane backup for the heater. We figured we could deal with cool water easier than a hot van, and focused on periodic use of the air conditioner.

Got it and makes sense. Hybrid is definitely the way to go especially if starting from scratch or replacing one IMHO. All three Victron, Magnum and Xantrex all have hybrid models and I don't think that you can go wrong with whatever one you choose.

[StogieMan]

Now this hybrid inverter discussion has got me thinking about the Precision Circuits Power Control System or Energy Management System in the newer AI’s and hybrid inverters. Has anyone that has installed a hybrid inverter with power assist or boost function have any trouble with it working properly with the PC power control system still installed when tied to shore power?

Its job is to shed loads as it approaches the 30 amps. The main electrical wire from the transfer switch that goes to the AC Breaker box is first routed through the PC module. So unless you disconnect it, I can’t see how the power assist function can work as it won’t allow the extra amps to come through. Am I missing something here or misunderstand it?

[Hawk-ination]

StogieMan, you have very valid questions on the power management system.

I took a deep dive and installed a Victron Multiplus 3000 in the dead of winter last year. We’ve had crazy situations happen, so I hadn’t had much time to deal with the Interstate since. (Derecho damage from 2020…)

To get to the point on the Precision Circuits conversation, I also did not throughly think through how the new inverter/charger integrates with the system. The inverter/charger is a monster and can handle so much, but still. I wish I could give you more info on it just because I’d like to know myself. My system is not finished though, and you can see why below.

I was trying to finish my install, meaning mounts and double checking my connections, systems, etc., when I started to have weird power issues. Things like my batteries would not seem to fully charge off shore power. Please remember, I’ve only been messing with the Interstate a little since I put the Victron in. Most noticeably, I was getting an audible alarm and a low battery light and alarm.

Reason I’m saying this is because I came across a post on a FB forum that spoke about a recall on some Battle Born batteries and it had similar issues that I was seeing. I won’t go into tons of details, but I can tell you that Battle Born has been beyond helpful and gracious to walk me through trouble shooting. They have FANTASTIC support. Beyond what I could wish for or expect, and I have high expectations and get disappointed often.

I would highly recommend purchasing your system through Battle Born if you do upgrade because they are phenomenal at trouble shooting and taking the time to walk through everything that might be causing an issue. I can’t say enough about the help they’ve been with my problem this week. Far beyond most, if not all companies I’ve ever dealt with.

We are to the point where we are narrowing the issues down, but I’ve learned a couple things if anyone is interested. The tech suspects that my Victron wall charger did not fully charge my one battery when I put it on the charger after winter. Even if your chargers shows it’s full, he told me that you should put a lithium battery on the charger for SIX full hours, then let it sit for 1/2 hour before reconnecting into your system. You need to do this individually for each lithium battery you own before reconnecting the system.

I believe I saw my battery being up to 13.6 volts and probably reconnected it, but he said it could not have been balanced or at the final state of charge if I didn’t let it go long enough. So there’s a lot of new information I certainly didn’t know.

Interestingly, he also said to use the regular battery setting on my Victron wall charger, too. Didn’t get a lot of reason why, but he said it works better.

I’m not sure if I’m the only one who didn’t understand this about lithium batteries either. You know how you see the 14.4 volts being at full charge on the charts? Well, the chargers usually charge to 14.2 but then step the voltage back to 13.6 volts at the end of the charge. Therefore, it’s confusing because you probably won’t see a 14.2 or 14.4 volts out of a lithium when they are fully charged, you should see a 13.6 volts when it is done being fully charged. Didn’t know that for sure until talking with them. Might have just been me that never came across that piece of information until now. Thought that was good to know for charging purposes or troubleshooting.

We’ll see if I just have an imbalanced and low battery compared to the others or if it’s bad in the end. Will be nice to have the system back up and functioning correctly, and I can’t want to get out of the what, 24” x 18” space in that corner!

Thanks for sharing the info on the inverter/chargers. I thought I might have to spring for a new one and I wasn’t sure I’d do the same thing if so. I hope you all keep discussing it though because it’s good to learn from each other as to what works and what doesn’t. Not an inexpensive upgrade, by far, but hopefully worth it.

[StogieMan]

Same here, we did ours in very cold February. We have LifeBlue batteries and the first thing that it said in the instructions was to fully charge them. I spoke with LifeBlue and Larry there said that it was fine to throw them in the rig to charge with the 30 amps shore power initially. I initially was going to throw them on a Lithium charger which would’ve of taken longer.

I initially removed the PC module as I thought that it was useless as I already knew that I could only run certain appliances and really wanted the space in the locker for the digital monitor and not because I thought of the power assist situation. So I’m glad that I did remove it as I don’t think that the power assist function would’ve worked if I kept it on. Our entire AC breaker box is tied to the Victron 3k and we can run everything without any issues. Heck, we just added an Induction cooktop and have a Blackstone electric griddle.

I too had some charging issues that we needed to work out. First one was that I inadvertently under fused the Victron inverter. It called for a 400 mega amp fuse at the Lynx Distributor box and I mistakenly installed a 100 mega amp fuse. We turned on the the microwave and blew the fuse. I didn’t know it as it was under the Lynx box and the inverter was not charging our batteries and I was getting the low battery alarm. Fixed that and haven’t had any more issues. Our battery bank also has a 400amp Class T fuse between the batteries and main cutoff switch.

I’m not sure how your setup is but check a few things such as some of the charger settings for some chargers etc. Attached is a diagram from AM Solar. We got our system from them and they were super helpful answering questions. Another thing is that you’ll want to purchase the batteries and inverter from the same company as they will set the Victron inverter with the proper specific battery manufacturer settings. If not, you’ll need a MK3- USB adapter so that you can change the settings via a laptop tied to the Victron 3k. You can find a lot of the settings on the web and how to bypass the password screen.

Lastly, make sure that your wire runs from the battery to include any fuses, switches etc. are identical so that the batteries drain and charge as evenly as possible.

Not much here but I hope this somewhat helps and that you soon figure out whatever is wrong. When you get a chance take look at the install video below as it explains a lot of the installation and very detailed. Pretty sure that it can help you somewhat troubleshoot it.



AM Solar DIY Diagrams and Install Videos.
https://amsolar.com/rv-solar/support


Explorist Life Full Lithium Install on Sprinter Van

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=01F4QDVJUq0

[Schmitte]

Originally Posted by Heckler56

Xantrex XC Freedom 2000. Enough power, proven, zero power draw in sleep mode, 1/2 the price of a Magnum. Fits under the jump seat with some slight mod’s. 80A charging.

+1 on the Xantrex. I think they now have a 3000 w that will fit under the jump seat

[Sailfast]

Originally Posted by Hawk-ination

StogieMan, you have very valid questions on the power management system.

.....

I’m not sure if I’m the only one who didn’t understand this about lithium batteries either. You know how you see the 14.4 volts being at full charge on the charts? Well, the chargers usually charge to 14.2 but then step the voltage back to 13.6 volts at the end of the charge. Therefore, it’s confusing because you probably won’t see a 14.2 or 14.4 volts out of a lithium when they are fully charged, you should see a 13.6 volts when it is done being fully charged. Didn’t know that for sure until talking with them. Might have just been me that never came across that piece of information until now. Thought that was good to know for charging purposes or troubleshooting.
.....

it.

There is charigng voltage and resting voltage. The 14.4 to 14.6V you will see while charging. Once charging stops the voltage will drop to somewhere from 13.3V to 13.4V, which is the resting voltage.

The most constant charging method on an RV is likely the solar power. It will or may charge the battery(its) wether you are present or not. Hence it is a good idea not to go to full charge. Any good solar charge / monitoring system would have the ability to randomly set charge shut-off. I think this setting should be around 14.0V which would result in a 90 to 95% SOC. You have the same charging routines with an EV 80 to 90% if you don't use it right after full charge. It prolongs battery life.

Alternator charging is a bit different, However once you are driving you likely have appliances that use coach battery power, like the fridge, perhaps the radio and other. Hence full charging is not critical.

Shore power charging is also not that critical unless you have the RV sitting in your drive way and keep it on charge, with little or no discharge. Not the best idea unless you can limit charging to about 14.0V

Anyway, these are just LFP battery do's and don'ts one learns with such systems. Unfortunately LFP battery technology is more complex that FLA or AGM. However the advantages overwhelm the few negatives.