First off, let me state I am not electrically qualified in any way, nor am I saying what other people do is wrong.

I would seriously question running any devise on 240 volt whilst driving without some sort of very clever failsafe electrical switch off devise.

Once the tree has been hit or the van has rolled over the inverter will still be putting out 240 volts and if the wiring insulation has been compromised the potential for electrocution to ones self or emergency workers could be possible.

As I said, I am not electrically qualified but it seems possible. At least it is worth looking into the safety aspects.

KAYOS wrote:

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First off, let me state I am not electrically qualified in any way, nor am I saying what other people do is wrong.

I would seriously question running any devise on 240 volt whilst driving without some sort of very clever failsafe electrical switch off devise.

Once the tree has been hit or the van has rolled over the inverter will still be putting out 240 volts and if the wiring insulation has been compromised the potential for electrocution to ones self or emergency workers could be possible.

As I said, I am not electrically qualified but it seems possible. At least it is worth looking into the safety aspects.

 

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This is a common mis-conception that often comes up in these type of forum threads so I'll try to explain why such a problem can not occur.

If one wire from an inverter is in contact with the metal body work it is no different to when the RV is connected to mains power because there one wire is connect to the earth wire back at the switch board and that earth wire is connected to the metal body work, that then makes that wire the neutral.

If 2 wires come in contact with the metal body work it becomes a short circuit and will trip a circuit breaker or simply over load the inverter and it will shut down. If some one touches a bared section of each wire yet it has not touched the metal body work to cause the circuit to trip, then and only then could there be a risk of electrocution.

For this reason it is always advisable to use an RVD on an inverter power supply because any contact from either wire will trip the RVD faster than an RCD would trip so even less bite would be felt. The alternative is to wire the inverter as a earth/neutral system and then the RCD already wired in the van will trip if the active wire comes into contact with the metal body. The problem with this option is the inverter supply must be switch via a double pole break before make type switch so the mains supply with its own earth /neutral link does not see a second earth neutral link and see it as a fault and trip the mains supply.

Needless to say, all this type of work should be carried out by an electrically knowledgeable person and they would already understand the principles involved. 

T1 Terry 

Warren-Pat_01 wrote:

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Paul, how far are you travelling each day?

When we had the Eagle, we used to cool it down before leaving home, pack two or three of frozen water bottles in the bottom section with frozen food in the freezer section & close the door. It was a 90L fridge & acted well as a big esky.

This way we could drive to either Rockhampton or Emerald from Townsville & still have a cold fridge.

With our Discovery, we cool it down first & use the 12v feed as it is a bigger fridge. I reckon if we got stuck, we could revert to the "Esky" again.

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 Hi Warren, the question was asked out of curiosity. I always cool the fridge before we leave home.

Aussie Paul. 

oldtrack123 wrote:

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 Hi Paul 

You are loosing power , "efficiency losses ," every time you convert ,so why not run on 12V with adequate sized wiring

And the Dc/DC charger  may not have much left over to charge the house batteries

What Size DC/Dc charger?

What  Brand & model number is the fridge?

 

-- Edited by oldtrack123 on Wednesday 14th of February 2018 11:55:27 PM

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Hi Peter, I was really asking out of curiosity. My 12v fridge situation is working well since I double the wire size to fridge. I think the dc to dc is 20 amp. After I asked the question the icecream disaster happened. The fridge is Dometic RM 2554. Ordered the element so I can fix it next week.

Aussie Paul. 

aussie_paul wrote:

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I ran the fridge through the inverter as we came home. The house batteries were down to 12.3!!!!! That answers that then. 

Aussie Paul. 

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 Proof of the pudding ,so to speak

aussie_paul wrote:

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I ran the fridge through the inverter as we came home. The house batteries were down to 12.3!!!!! That answers that then. 

Aussie Paul. 

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Did you have a DC to DC charger operating at the same time? If yes then I'd be double checking the DC to DC operations, if not it does show just how much charging happens via a direct connection and no DC to DC charger eh

T1 Terry 

aussie_paul wrote:

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T1 Terry wrote:

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Did you have a DC to DC charger operating at the same time? If yes then I'd be double checking the DC to DC operations, if not it does show just how much charging happens via a direct connection and no DC to DC charger eh

 

T1 Terry 

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 Actually I did not check the DC to DC was working Terry. I am still connected so will have a look.

Aussie Paul. 

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What did you find Paul? Can't remember just which DC to DC unit you have so can you refresh my failing memory please

T1 Terry

Ah, orange light is multi colour LED that turns green when it senses fully charged, I mistook that for an orange fault light. What voltage did the battery reach before it dropped into float when the unit determined fully charged was reached? Because these units do not have separate voltage sensing leads, often a battery type with a higher end of absorption stage voltage needs to be selected so the battery does actually get closer to fully charged.

T1 Terry