South Dear Airstream - inverter outlets

[PharmGeek]

Is it not possible to make the inverter run the same outlets you use for shore power?

Ie - when inverter is on but no shore power - no unplugging then replugging?

If so - maybe do that?

That is all.

[HiJoeSilver]

Is it possible? Sure, but would require some rewiring. Plus you'd have to be very careful with hidden parasitic loads, especially if you forget to put the fridge on gas, quick way to drain the batteries. Plus you'd have to be careful about forgetting to turn it off and reverse powering a shore supply down the road.

[lewster]

Originally Posted by PharmGeek

Is it not possible to make the inverter run the same outlets you use for shore power?

Ie - when inverter is on but no shore power - no unplugging then replugging?

If so - maybe do that?

That is all.

PG,

One of the limiting factors in accomplishing your query is the size of the inverter supplied by Airstream. Being only a 1000 watt unit, it does not have the capacity to energize every outlet in the trailer (8.3 amp max.)

Some of the new trainers like the 26U no longer have the redundant dual outlets like your unit has (with the blue stickers) as they have actually made use of the 120VAC pass-thru feature on the WFCO inverter so that a select number (4) 120VAC outlets are inverter powered when off grid and also shore powered when plugged in. This required adding a dedicated 120VAC input circuit in the vicinity of the inverter.

To enable the operation of every outlet in your trailer, you need:
• larger capacity battery bank
• 2000 watt minimum capacity inverter with integrated 120VAC pass-thru
• new split-bus breaker box for both the main and inverter circuits.

I do upgrades like the above to almost every installation that I perform. It's a great feature to have all of your outlets powered when off grid, but there definitely IS a price to pay........

[PharmGeek]

Originally Posted by lewster

PG,

One of the limiting factors in accomplishing your query is the size of the inverter supplied by Airstream. Being only a 1000 watt unit, it does not have the capacity to energize every outlet in the trailer (8.3 amp max.)

Some of the new trainers like the 26U no longer have the redundant dual outlets like your unit has (with the blue stickers) as they have actually made use of the 120VAC pass-thru feature on the WFCO inverter so that a select number (4) 120VAC outlets are inverter powered when off grid and also shore powered when plugged in. This required adding a dedicated 120VAC input circuit in the vicinity of the inverter.

To enable the operation of every outlet in your trailer, you need:
• larger capacity battery bank
• 2000 watt minimum capacity inverter with integrated 120VAC pass-thru
• new split-bus breaker box for both the main and inverter circuits.

I do upgrades like the above to almost every installation that I perform. It's a great feature to have all of your outlets powered when off grid, but there definitely IS a price to pay........

News to me!

I would only want this feature "badly" for 3 outlets - 2 TV's and the one that powers the blu ray and such....

[J-Dog]

Warning I may be incorrect in my thinking here, but after reading your first and second post here is my thought.

I am assuming you do not want to keep moving your TV and the DVD player plugs back and forth from the shore powered AC receptacles to the inverted AC receptacles, depending on if you are on shore power or battery power.

Now if I correctly understand the "Pass through" power feature on the inverter...

You would leave the TV's plugged into the "Blue tagged" inverter powered outlets.

After installing a 110 volt AC shore powered receptacle near your inverter and plugging in the "pass through" plug from the inverter to that newly installed receptacle. You could now have those blue stickered 110 Volt AC outlets powered on shore power with the inverter off, and when you are not on shore power you would turn your inverter on to supply the AC voltage for your entertainment system.
You would no longer need to switch the plugs back and forth.

Can anyone let me know if this would be a correct statement?

[PharmGeek]

Originally Posted by J-Dog

Warning I may be incorrect in my thinking here, but after reading your first and second post here is my thought.



I am assuming you do not want to keep moving your TV and the DVD player plugs back and forth from the shore powered AC receptacles to the inverted AC receptacles, depending on if you are on shore power or battery power.



Now if I correctly understand the "Pass through" power feature on the inverter...



You would leave the TV's plugged into the "Blue tagged" inverter powered outlets.



After installing a 110 volt AC shore powered receptacle near your inverter and plugging in the "pass through" plug from the inverter to that newly installed receptacle. You could now have those blue stickered 110 Volt AC outlets powered on shore power with the inverter off, and when you are not on shore power you would turn your inverter on to supply the AC voltage for your entertainment system.

You would no longer need to switch the plugs back and forth.



Can anyone let me know if this would be a correct statement?

You are correct about me not wanting to switch the TV plug ins - not at all sure about the specifics of your solution proposed.....

[HiJoeSilver]

Not all inverters are pass through, but if there is an outlet nearby that you could plug in a pass through inverter into, you could upgrade to one and leave the things plugged into the inverter outlets all the time, as mentioned by j-dog. Not sure what AS put in your rig.

[Troutboy]

I recently did a solar upgrade that involved a new 2400W inverter, and sub panels as Lewster mentions. It's great. Every outlet provides AC when on shore power and while boondocking with inverter on. It's really great. If you would like to see a. Wiring diagram PM me. To do the wiring and new inverter to make this work would cost between $1500-$2000 depending on the inverter you chose

[Rgentum]

I have this feature on my boat (but not trailer) with a 2.8K watt Magnum inverter/charger, but that unit alone on Amazon is $1,640, & there was a substantial amount of other equipment + wiring that was required.

https://www.amazon.com/Magnum-MS2812...verter+charger

[PharmGeek]

So basically, even to have a few of these types of dual outlets as such, it just means more $$....

I am not sure I want to drop 2K for such an upgrade...but maybe at some point...

I just wondered just how much AS had saved doing it with 2 sets of these outlets vs just making them dual use.

[lsbrodsky]

I am not sure that they would have saved any money. If they had used inverters with passthrough capability, and even the Chinese inverters have that, then one set of outlets at each location would have worked. It strikes me that they were trying to prevent overloading the puny 600w, then 1000w, inverters with non-entertainment system loads.

Larry

[Wayne&Sam]

I believe the 1000 watt stock inverter does allow for passthrough, the outlets just aren't wired for it. I say this because there is a button on my inverter and a label that says what position it needs to be in for passthrough.

[Troutboy]

Wayne/Sam,

You are correct. When I removed mine, it has the plug. You would have to wire an outlet near it from shore power and plug it in.

[Wayne&Sam]

Originally Posted by Troutboy

Wayne/Sam,

You are correct. When I removed mine, it has the plug. You would have to wire an outlet near it from shore power and plug it in.

I haven't looked lately, but it doesn't seem that adding an outlet near the inverter would be hard to do.

[RonaldC303]

Originally Posted by PharmGeek

Is it not possible to make the inverter run the same outlets you use for shore power?

Ie - when inverter is on but no shore power - no unplugging then replugging?

If so - maybe do that?

That is all.

The 2017 Classics have that feature for the entertainment outlets. When using the tv, there is no need to change outlets whether on shore power or inverter. So it can, and is being done by the factory to some extent.

Ron

[GMFL]

Originally Posted by Troutboy

Wayne/Sam,

You are correct. When I removed mine, it has the plug. You would have to wire an outlet near it from shore power and plug it in.

That's what I did with mine. Bought a WFCO 1000watt inverter out of a 2016 26U and wired plug for inverter pass through and it runs the TV plug, dinette plug and plug for DVD player. No need for second plug

[PharmGeek]

Originally Posted by RonaldC303

The 2017 Classics have that feature for the entertainment outlets. When using the tv, there is no need to change outlets whether on shore power or inverter. So it can, and is being done by the factory to some extent.



Ron

Oh ok - interesting - thanks.

[SCOTTinNJ]

My 30' has the 1000w inverter plug taped from the factory. If I plug that into a 120v outlet the inverter will pass power to my blue inverter outlets when on shore power? Seems easy enough to do. There is a 120v outlet nearby.

[Troutboy]

Originally Posted by SCOTTinNJ

My 30' has the 1000w inverter plug taped from the factory. If I plug that into a 120v outlet the inverter will pass power to my blue inverter outlets when on shore power? Seems easy enough to do. There is a 120v outlet nearby.

Yes, that should do it.

[McArthur]

It would take some rewiring but here is a simple way to handle the problem.

https://www.grainger.com/product/HUB...AS01?$smthumb$

It's a three way switch. You would connect the inverter to one side and the shore power to the other. The switch is then connected to the outlet circuit. Moving the switch to one side feeds the inverter output to the outlet circuit and moving it to the other side feeds the shore power to the outlet circuit.

I have a similar system, using a more robust switch, that switches one of the circuits in my house from mains power to generator power in the event of a power outage. I chose to go this route because of the cost of the automatic switches.

I have a 5000 watt modified sine wave inverter that I'm planning to use in my 34 footer and wire it up this way.