Inverter Questions

[Larry L-ESC]

We are debating whether or not to have Escape install its inverter when building our rv. Is it sufficient for tasks like tv, microwave, etc? Is it pure sine or modified? Will Escape prewire for an inverter so one can be easily installed at a later date?

Thanks. Larry L

 

[cpaharley2008]

Most televisions are DC voltage and the need for an inverter would only be for the microwave outlet if you purchased a 12v television, be sure and ask for 12v power supply for tv location. If you bring a tv from home and it is 120v then you will need to have all outlets on the inverter. Other than those two items everything else is 12v in the trailer, other than the a/c of course.

 

[John in Santa Cruz]

we have yet to use the microwave in our escape for anything other than tranasport storage for chips so they don't get crushed.

we use the oven all the time. our camping is about 2/3rds off grid.

 

[steve dunham]

We have a portable inverter and a permanent hardwired inverter in our trailer .
We have yet to use either inverter .
We have a microwave in our trailer which we use quite frequently .
.

 

[Brian B-P]

Is it sufficient for tasks like tv, microwave, etc?

It is rated for 1500 watts of output, which is enough for any single appliance (including the microwave) and reasonable combinations, but not everything at once.

While the factory-installed inverter is set up to power all accessible outlets, it does not provide power to components which should not be run from the battery, which means the

• converter/charger
• 120 V AC element of refrigerator
• air conditioner (if equipped with this option)
• electric element of water heater (if equipped with this option)

... so you don't need to worry whether the output of the inverter would be enough to run these.

Is it pure sine or modified?

Supplied components can change at any time without notice, but Escape-supplied units have included

• Samlex SSW-1500-12A (The Samlex SSW series are "pure" sine wave inverters)
• Go Power 1500 Watt HIGH SURGE Pure Sine Wave Inverter

While Escape replaced the Samlex with the Go Power, and this particular Go Power is no longer in production, I think it's safe to assume that whatever appears in the trailer will have a sine wave output.

Will Escape prewire for an inverter so one can be easily installed at a later date?

I haven't heard of that, and wouldn't expect it, but they might... you'll need to ask them.

 

[John in Santa Cruz]

remember, amps on 12VDC are 10X the amps on 120VAC at the same wattage, because wattage(power) = volts * amps. 1000 watts for your microwave oven will be drawing around 80 amps off your batteries, so a single 3 minute nuke will be pulling 4 amp*hours out of your batteries, about 5% of the usable charge capacity of a pair of 6V batts if you go by the 50% max discharge rule I follow.

 

[Ian and Sue]

We are debating whether or not to have Escape install its inverter when building our rv. Is it sufficient for tasks like tv, microwave, etc? Is it pure sine or modified? Will Escape prewire for an inverter so one can be easily installed at a later date?

Thanks. Larry L

I do use our inverter. I run a computer and sometimes use an ac phone charger as it is much faster than dc. I also like to make microwave popcorn or heat leftovers up with the microwave. I would not try to cook something that way but it is nice to warm things up or even defrost the meat you forgot to take out earlier!

 

[John in Santa Cruz]

you need a better DC charger for your phone then... I have several cigar plug chargers that are dual 2.1A USB, and others that are USB C 3 amp. these charge my Pixel just as fast as my wall plug chargers

I do carry a '400W' portable inverter that I try to never pull more than 200W out of, and have used it to charge computers and so forth that don't have 12V supplies, I try to only use it when the sun is shining, and most of those laptops have like 65-90W PSU's. this small inverter only draws max 10 watts more than the output load, so its quite efficient. I installed a 'powerpole' DC outlet fused at 30A to power this inverter (12V at 30A is 360 watts).

 

[rbryan4]

you need a better DC charger for your phone then... I have several cigar plug chargers that are dual 2.1A USB, and others that are USB C 3 amp. these charge my Pixel just as fast as my wall plug chargers.

Good point. The maximum amperage for a USB charger is 2.4 Amps, mainly because that's as fast a charge as your phone will allow. There are plenty of 12V 2.4A chargers out there. Just a cursory search on Amazon shows dozens.

 

[John in Santa Cruz]

Good point. The maximum amperage for a USB charger is 2.4 Amps, mainly because that's as fast a charge as your phone will allow. There are plenty of 12V 2.4A chargers out there. Just a cursory search on Amazon shows dozens.

depends on the phone. My Pixel uses USB C at 3 amps (15 watts). I have both AC and DC chargers for this.

original USB 1.x was 0.5 amps max per port.

iPod started using 2 amps (2.1, 2.4) which violated the USB spec. android followed suit after updating the USB spec to allow it, but the way they did it wasn't 100% compatible with Apple.

For USB C, the spec supports massive amps (my wife's high power engineering workstation grade work laptop uses USB C primary power at like 15 amps), but on phones/tablets that use USB C, 3 amps is typical. USB C uses a new connector thats only slightly larger than the ubiquitous MicroUSB plug, and is bidirectional, the same plug is used on both ends of a cable, and the ends of the cable can be plugged in either way (there is no upside down the way there is with USB A, B, mini, Micro)

there's also a completely different Qualcom 'quickcharge' spec, this raises the USB voltage from 5 to 9 or 12V on command, and totally violates the USB spec, these chargers have a USB "A" connector with a green tongue. Its safest if you DO NOT PLUG NON-QUICKCHARGE DEVICES INTO A QUICKCHARGE OUTLET.

 

[Fox hunt]

wow i do not understand any of that ! i do have a small inverter that i have used for the TV and a laptop.

 

[rbryan4]

Yep, fully aware of the USB-PD standard using USB-C John. Google says 15W/3A or 9W/2A. There's alot of hubbub about whether the phone ever charges at 3 amps however. Some folks at XDA tested and found the phone was capping the input and it never got above 2.4 amps. This is part of why I mentioned that 2.4 amps seems to be the highest number, even though USB-C can support much higher. My Galaxy Note 8 uses USB-C as well, but according to an app I use to monitor charging power, it never goes above 2.1 amps with the stock adapter. I can however get 2.4 amps with my aftermarket iclever adapter.

 

[civi]

wow i do not understand any of that ! i do have a small inverter that i have used for the TV and a laptop.

And I thought I was the only one. Carl

 

[padlin]

We are debating whether or not to have Escape install its inverter when building our rv. Is it sufficient for tasks like tv, microwave, etc? Is it pure sine or modified? Will Escape prewire for an inverter so one can be easily installed at a later date?

Thanks. Larry L

If ETI's inverter is 1500 watt or bigger, it can handle the MW, a 1000 watt will not, at least not the stock MW. If one runs the MW off the inverter you need to be careful keeping track of battery capacity. We use a toaster and once in a while a hair drier. If it's going to be overcast for days, meaning little solar output, we don't use the inverter.

As Brian mentioned, ETI has been using pure sine wave inverters for some time now, I would expect that to continue but it's something to check on before purchase.

I doubt ETI will prewire for an inverter, I'ver not heard of them doing it before. The wiring size, fuses, and such, depends on the inverter wattage, they don't know what you'd eventually install.

 

[Brian B-P]

If ETI's inverter is 1500 watt or bigger, it can handle the MW, a 1000 watt will not...

While there's no other detail listed about the inverter, the options list does specify "1500W".

 

[rbryan4]

While there's no other detail listed about the inverter, the options list does specify "1500W".

Ours is a Samlex SSW series with remote. I think that's the one they are installing currently, although at one time they switched to a GoPower/Carmanah. The Samlex has better output power.

 

[Upfisk]

When we put our boat together 20+ years ago I had to have a blender. A 12V version was, then, well over $100. A 120V blender is $35 today. Just for convenience of having some small appliances, charging the laptop, etc we opted for the Inverter and Transfer switch on the Escape. On the boat we have a 300W pure sine wave inverter for running small power tools (really, really small) and charging the computer. With the 1500W inverter we'll be able to run some medium size tools, like a vacuum? Just because we opted for the inverter and transfer switch doesn't mean we aren't counting amp use daily.

 

[Brian B-P]

With the 1500W inverter we'll be able to run some medium size tools, like a vacuum?

A "15 amp" circuit an handle about 12 amps continuously (or about 1500 watts), up to 15 amps more briefly, and a bit more for brief surges. A typical "1500 watt" inverter can handle 1500 watts continuously, and more in surges, roughly matching that capacity. Although the Escape "all outlets" installation is set up to power all of the outlets (except for some hidden ones, such as for the refrigerator), I think the idea of the choice of this size of inverter is to handle any one high-power appliance that you might plug into a regular outlet (such as a vacuum) when you need it (most commonly the microwave oven). My only concern would be that a vacuum has a motor, and motor starting load can be high and difficult for an inverter to handle... the same as with an air conditioner.

 

[Ian and Sue]

you need a better DC charger for your phone then... I have several cigar plug chargers that are dual 2.1A USB, and others that are USB C 3 amp. these charge my Pixel just as fast as my wall plug chargers

I do carry a '400W' portable inverter that I try to never pull more than 200W out of, and have used it to charge computers and so forth that don't have 12V supplies, I try to only use it when the sun is shining, and most of those laptops have like 65-90W PSU's. this small inverter only draws max 10 watts more than the output load, so its quite efficient. I installed a 'powerpole' DC outlet fused at 30A to power this inverter (12V at 30A is 360 watts).

The inverter came with the camper a new DC unit would cost $$, I will stick with what I have...

 

[azjack]

Inverter?

Larry, we are also in Tucson. We just brought our new 17 home after owning a 19 & a 21'. This is the first for us, a installed inverter and solar as we are looking forward to some boon docking without power and Nancy uses the micro at home a lot for veggies, dog food items and I use it to warm my coffee so we went for it and it seems to work for all we know. Call if you like and you could see our 17, it's actually a little 19. #7four nine-0909. Jack and Nancy