Power inverter question?

[LaZyDayZ]

Power Inverter how to question.

In my fish house I have several 12 volt outlets and it is also wired for 110.

(3 double outlets & 2 lights 110)

I do not have an inverter at this time but want to add one.

My ideal choice would be to put the inverter inline with the existing 110 so all of my 110 outlets & lights would draw off of the inverter or external power auto switching to the available source.

I do have a built in charger and am thinking I would probably have to wire the inverter off of it and then break the direct 110 connection and rewire it all through the inverter.

I would prefer not to do this if you have any suggestions.

Edit: I like the auto switching idea as I often have my house plugged in directly over the summer as we use it as a camper running a/c, etc, and on the ice I often run a generator. Just seems like more wear & tear on the inverter to always have the dc converted to ac when it is already available.

[beer batter]

I'm a bit hazy on your situation. I'm guessing you want to be able to wire in your inverter along with your external 120 power source (generator or extension cord)? My initial thought would be to have the inverter plugged in via a double ended male plug.

Have the output of the inverter plug directly into one of your wall outlets via the double ended male plug to provide 120 v source when no other external source is connected. Unplug it when you want to run from a external source. Make sure both ends of the plug are 3 prong plug-ins to keep the constant ground source. Also make sure the prongs are connected to the same prongs across cords - ie. the shorter slotted prong (or hot prong) is connect to the wire of the shorter slotted prong on the other plug, and the taller slotted prong is connected to the wire of the taller slotted prong on the other plug.

I'm guessing you'd run into problems crossing circuits if running both the inverter and external power source at the same time. You wouldn't want to run the inverter and external source simultaneously anyways.

Just thinking as I type, so maybe this isn't the best route. Don't know of any auto-switching techniques to do this. Maybe someone else has better ideas...

[LaZyDayZ]

I like the double ended male plug idea, my fear is I will have it pluged in and running and someone will plug in the extension cord or fire up the generator while it is still connected.

I can only imagine my inverter would fry and I might end up with a minnimum of a worthless inverter and at worse a burned down shack.

[beer batter]

That's kind of what I was thinking. Only other option would be to have a single entry point for the 120 volt source. Plug in the inverter to the same source point as the generator. Unless somebody knows of a auto switch to turn off the inverter but I doubt it's something readily available.

[icegrogg]

Would you ice ponders be talking about something like whats in travel trailers? 110/generator in,12volt out,and when external power is cut the power from the battery(s)converts 12volt to 110?

[LaZyDayZ]

That sounds interesting. Do you have any more info on one or do I need to go to my local rv dealer?

[herdog]

There is a relay/switch available that will switch a system

from building 110 power to the inverter power if the building power goes out kind of like the UPS (Uninteruptible Power Supply) does for a computer or communication system. The cheapest thing would be to wire every thing to one big cord and just plug it into the inverter or the generator or the outside power. This would eliminate any chance of a crossfeeding power. Double male ended cords are dangerous.

[herdog]

LaZydayZ:

Heres a link to a unit that may work for you. They also have bigger units, I don't know the cost.

http://www.tripplite.com/products/product.cfm?productID=177

[LaZyDayZ]

Thanks guys, really appreciate all your help.

I have found a 1200 watt inverter I want to use.

On the outside of my shack is a male plug for 110 input.

I am going to wire a female right next to it and have the output of the inverter go to it.

I will then just use a short cord to cross the two.

If I plug in or use generator I would need to remove that short cord in order to hookup the external power source eliminating the chance of frying my inverter/house.

Im going to think a few more days on this but seems like the best plan thus far.

herdog- Thanks for link, I looked it up and its about $450

Looks like it would work but would require me to rewire my house or use additional outlets.

[beer batter]

You stated you were going to wire in a female outlet outside the shack, does that mean you are going to leave your inverter and battery sources outside as well?

May run into problems when it gets real cold keeping that stuff outside.

[LaZyDayZ]

No I planned on leaving the unit indoors running cables to the plugin on the exterior wall.

What do you think would be better: Have the inverter as close to the outlet as possible making the twelve volt cables longer or keeping the inverter close to the batteries making the 12 volt cables short and running the 110 wire to the outlet. It will be approx 5 feet from batteries to wall outlet.

[icegrogg]

No info on the unit itself,the one in my camper works great and was thinking of wireing one in my house when I build mine,I've gotten alot of great ideas from the posts here,

WHAT A GREAT SIGHT!!!

[herdog]

A 1200 watt inverter powered by 12 volts needs pretty big cables from the battery to the inverter, the further the bigger. Think like not quite as big as cheap jumper cables. What the heck, its not that many feet so be safe for a few bucks. 110 wires from the inverter, 14-2 or 12-2. The kithchen in your house probably has 12-2, other circuits are probably 14-2. Hope that puts it in some perspective.

[LaZyDayZ]

I went ahead and finished this project last night

I used the same gauge wire that is standard auto battery cable from batteries to inverter.

I mounted the inverter up in the V of the house added a female outdoor outlet next to the 110 male input outlet on the outside front of the house.

So when I want to run all the outlets/lights I just use a short cord to cross the 2 outlets.

Unforseen issue.

I have an onboard charger/12 volt converter I must unplug when I plug in the new inverter or it tries to charge the batteries off of the batteries. lol..

[beer batter]

I bet that on-board charger will be left plugged in at some point while running the inverter. Just like putting the plug in the boat, at some point it will be forgotten.

Do you typically leave the charger plugged in at all times? Might be best to leave it unplugged until you want to use it to avoid having a battery charge itself to death by using the inverter.

I like the idea you went with for the inverter. Nice to have a single point of entry for a power source. I'm going to be adding an inverter to my shack this year as well and may do something similar. Thanks for the info.

[LaZyDayZ]

Yes I usually leave it plugged in.

When you flip the switch to turn on the inverter it reads max output with charger on and there is not enough juice left to run much of anything.

I am thinking of putting the charger on a switch next to the inverter just making things a little neater and convienent.