Basic help please

[booster]

I like the tinned for the heavy, high amp cables, but don't worry about the rest. On the heavy cables, the resistance of the crimps in particular is very important, to prevent heating at the very high amps they will carry. A bit of oxidation could make a difference, as you can't get it all off before you make the connection. Heat will also cause more oxidation in the connector. Tinned connectors and cable takes care of it all as you won't have to remove the oxidation before crimping.

[tex4judy]

All of my time on salt water was based in Alaska, with trips to Seattle for shipyard. I also have had great experience with West Marine. And some of my best education has been on their website.

If the price difference isn't terrible, we'll be using marine wire - but it may be as much for old times sake as for quality. But it does seem there is a very good argument for using stranded wire.

[tex4judy]

Greetings;

At long last, here is the basic electrical schematic for our Sprinter van. We're about to start purchasing the elements soon and looking for the evaluations that were offered.

The gauge and type of wire connecting the components will be consistent with the load. I.e. Roadtrek runs 00 gauge wire from what I believe to be this same alternator to an 800 Ah Tesla Lithium battery bank on the E-Trek. We're prepared to do that if we need to.

Comments please. Thanks

[avanti]

A few thoughts:
1) Although I have no experience with the AIMS inverter/chargers, they do not seem to have a very good reputation. I notice that they spec the total harmonic distortion as <10%. That is pretty crappy power. Our Outback is spec'd at <2%. OTOH, the price is right. At minimum, you should check to be certain that they are configurable to properly charge your lithium batteries.
2) I would recommend circuit breakers on your shore power input. I would consider the Bluesea 8077
3) If you are using an RV compressor fridge, you should run it on 12VDC, not 120VAC.
4) You are going to want a main DC disconnect between your battery and the DC consumers. Recommend the Bluesea ML-RBS.
5) For the surge suppressor, consider using a residential unit, rather than the expensive RV ones. I used a Leviton part. Better specs and much cheaper than the RV units. The AC power analysis features of the RV units are usually redundant with checks the inverters do (not sure about the AIMS, though).

[tex4judy]

Thank you - great comments and info.

I was looking for an AIMS Inverter Converter because that's what I saw when I downloaded an E-Trek Owners Manual. What kind are you using?

[avanti]

Originally Posted by tex4judy

I was looking for an AIMS Inverter Converter because that's what I saw when I downloaded an E-Trek Owners Manual. What kind are you using?

We have the Outback VFX2812M. It is great. Going to cost twice as much as the AIMS, though.

Do you really need 4,000 watts?

[tex4judy]

What I need is the 7,560 watts needed to start the compressor on the A/C. The AIMS 4,000 Watt I/C will handle 12,000 Watts for 20 seconds.

On another note, I really did want the 12VDC Reefer with the Danfoos compressor. But price, availability, and finding the right size for our layout has been very challenging. We're about ready to give up and just buy a dormitory sized fridge. If we don't open it often......

[booster]

Originally Posted by tex4judy

What I need is the 7,560 watts needed to start the compressor on the A/C. The AIMS 4,000 Watt I/C will handle 12,000 Watts for 20 seconds.

On another note, I really did want the 12VDC Reefer with the Danfoos compressor. But price, availability, and finding the right size for our layout has been very challenging. We're about ready to give up and just buy a dormitory sized fridge. If we don't open it often......

What are you using for an air conditioner? We can start the 12K btu Dometic in our 07 Chevy Roadtrek with a 2000 watt PSW Magnum, off the batteries or engine. It doesn't really even strain.

[tex4judy]

Their specs claim it takes 63 Amps to start the compressor. Think that they're being a little conservative?

[avanti]

I'm with Booster. Our 2800 watt Outback starts our 11K Dometic without skipping a beat. I doubt very much that it would have any trouble starting a 13.5K. Most A/Cs have "soft start" options (I am not sure whether I have one or not). The AIMS unit may well be less robust, so if you decide to stay with it, the safety margin may be worth it. But, if you decide to go with a higher quality inverter, I am pretty sure you don't need anything like 4K watts.

[avanti]

Originally Posted by tex4judy

On another note, I really did want the 12VDC Reefer with the Danfoos compressor. But price, availability, and finding the right size for our layout has been very challenging. We're about ready to give up and just buy a dormitory sized fridge. If we don't open it often......

Just in case it helps, here's a link to the spec's for all the NovaKool fridges:

http://www.novakool.com/documents/sp...metric2014.pdf

We love ours.

[booster]

Originally Posted by tex4judy

What I need is the 7,560 watts needed to start the compressor on the A/C. The AIMS 4,000 Watt I/C will handle 12,000 Watts for 20 seconds.

On another note, I really did want the 12VDC Reefer with the Danfoos compressor. But price, availability, and finding the right size for our layout has been very challenging. We're about ready to give up and just buy a dormitory sized fridge. If we don't open it often......

What brands have you looked at? There are a lot of size variations between them and most folks have been able to find what they need.

[gregmchugh]

As a point of reference, In the Zion, Roadtrek uses the 2000 watt AIMS with a 11,000 BTU roof air conditioner with the engine generator option. The 2000w unit has a 6000w 20 sec surge capability.

The 3000 watt AIMS has a 9000 watt surge capability.

[wincrasher]

Maybe FitRV will chime in on what they are doing. I believe he's reported being able to run the 13.5K AC unit off their 2000 watt Magnum inverter/charger. Also that the stock alternator can keep ahead of the draw on the batteries whilst doing this.

[tex4judy]

Since you have posted, have looked at the AIMS, Magnum, and Outback specs more closely; and also some soft start add-ons for the A/C. Appreciate the quality of the Outback - just prefer that their surge capacity numbers match up with the LRCA of our compressor. Am just starting to study the soft start. Thanks again.

[tex4judy]

Gentlemen;
So, it's been 2 or 3 months since you guys gave me your great input. There has been a lot of research and conversations with Magnum, Outback, and Xantrex technicians. Also engineers connected with Lithium batteries - Sinopoly, BGS, and Lithionics. And Adam Nations at Nations Starter and Alternator.

So, after seriously considering a 24 VDC alternator, BGS 24 VDC Lithium batteries and a Magnum 24VDC inverter; we're still going with the 12VDC alternator, but with Lithionics batteries ( 2,000 Amp surge capacity) and a Xantrex inverter. Adam is arranging for Lithionics engineers to program the inverter and batteries to play well together. And we traded in the 13,500 BTU AC for an 11,000 BTU unit that only requires 45 LRAmps.

You guys stirred up quite the research project - and I thank you. I understand that Xantrex produced a respected inverter, and then there was concern that their quality sagged. It has been represented that the model we are considering is their effort to re-establish themselves.

The Sprinter comes out of the body shop soon with a new silver paint job and 8 more windows. I'll post a photo. Thanks again.

[Hein]

Dropping down to a 11K unit is a step in the right direction. We keep our well insulated Sprinter RV cool with a 9K Mach 8. It can start & run on our 2800watt Magnum inverter. The duty cycle is quite short so could probably get by with a 6K roof top AC if they were available. But we don't have 8 windows.

If you are building a DIY electrical system with shore power then you need to gain an understanding of neutral bonding.

[tex4judy]

Yes, I do. I've seen some posts regarding that; but I need to figure how if my inverter will need protection - some seem to be more vulnerable than others. There has to be a way to handle that with the onboard wiring so that it doesn't matter where my shore power cord is plugged in.

[Hein]

According to Magnum, their inverters that comply with UL458 have built in neutral bonding relays. It has nothing to do with protecting the inverter and everything to do with preventing an electrocution hazard.

[booster]

Originally Posted by tex4judy

Yes, I do. I've seen some posts regarding that; but I need to figure how if my inverter will need protection - some seem to be more vulnerable than others. There has to be a way to handle that with the onboard wiring so that it doesn't matter where my shore power cord is plugged in.

I don't think you will have an issue with where the cord is plugged in. I am assuming you are going to plug the shore cord into shore power (obviously), into the inverter, or into a generator? Or maybe all three. Nothing really changes with shore cord or van wiring. The van and cord wiring should have the neutral and ground unbonded. The power sources should all be bonded at the source. There should never be two bonds at the same time.

Shore power is always bonded if legal. On board generators like Onan's self bond when running. Portable generators like Hondas usually aren't bonded so that can be an issue. Inverters may or may not be bonded depending on the inverter model. Some also autobond when they don't see shore power and disconnect the bond when on shore power.

Bonding is one of the places where the combo inverter/chargers can give a pretty good convenience of wiring advantage. With a combo unit like a Magnum (only personal experience). It has autobonding and a built in transfer switch so it autobonds when the inverter is in use and unbonds when it is not. It also switches the van loads automatically when shore power comes on away from the inverter to isolate it from the AC shore power.