Supply for 60 amp shore power connection

Lumisol

BB. said:

A GFI outlet is a good safety measure--If you have a MSW (modified square/sine wave AC inverter), it is possible that you will get false trips with a GFI (the MSW waveform can cause the false trip of the GFI).

I went with a pure sine wave inverter for better compatibility with any device I may want to use later.
All outlets run through the panel in the RV and all go through breakers there, I suppose I could replace the breaker in the outlet (general) branch to be a GFCI breaker and all outlets will then be GFCI by default. The bathroom outlet is GFCI so I could put that first in the line I suppose.

One GFI outlet can be wired directly to the inverter output/first outlet on the branch circuit, and you can connect the wiring from that GFI output terminals to the rest of the outlets and you will get GFI protection on all of those downstream outlets too.

I suggest you do not use one GFI outlet (or GFI breaker) to protect all AC wiring if you have AC lights and outlets. If you trip the one GFI, it will plunge you into darkness. Two GFI circuits, one for outlet(s), and a second for AC lighting, will leave the lights on if an outlet trips.

The lighting is all on the DC side of the panel and all bulbs have been switched over to LEDs.

The Wizbang Jr. shunt, as far as I know, is designed to integrate only with some Midnite solar charge controllers. The Wizbang has a digital data output and (at the present time?) does not integrate into any stand alone battery monitors/other brands of charge controllers (the shunt is a standard unit--It is the analog to digital converter board that makes it a Midnite only device).

I am wondering if I could run the signal through a raspberry pi to get the data to be useful to other types of meters. Might be worth playing with.

Regarding the 70 amp breaker--Looks like it will be fine. As always, read the instructions/specifications for the breaker. Sometimes they have limitations (must mount on vertical surface) or other requirements that you can trip across.

Thanks

-Bill

BB.

I guess that this is a one wire bus:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1-Wire

You might try contacting Midnite or go on their forum to see if they have open source documentation or not.

http://midniteftp.com/forum/

Of course, you can just use an ADC (analog to digital converter) on the Pi or one of the add-on boards. They use a 500 Amp 50 mVolt shunt.

-Bill

Lumisol

The Tristar arrived and it apearantly comes with the battery data interface.

Lumisol

> @mcgivor said:
> The inverter would be a good choice in leu of spending 3 times as much or more for the best money can buy.

Which is 5he best money can buy and what will I do this one won't?
I am still open to buying a different one and keeping this as a backup.

Photowhit

This one being COTEK ST2000-148

First UL-1741 for home installations, good if you have to pass inspections or have insurance. Cotek is UL-458 for mobile installations. Magnum and Outback are, Exeltech is likely mobile, I think they are actually some telecommunications UL rating I read something on their site about.

Many other options, but buy what you need, things that other inverters have that this one doesn't.

Wider range of input voltages this one only goes to 60 volts before shutting down. Most high end charge controllers will go to 63-64 volts, so the inverter will not shut down when equalizing FLA batteries. If you stick to your planned agm batteries this shouldn't be a problem.

Lower 'no load' energy draw, this uses .70 amps at 48 volts or 33 watts, Exeltech's uses 12 watts, Outback (3600 watt) uses 34 watt, but has a sleep mode at 9 watts, Magnum (4000 watt) uses 25 watts and has a sleep mode of 8 watts.

Efficiency in power conversion, Cotek 92%, Magnum 94%, Outback 95%, Exeltech 89% at 1/3rd power (they don't give an overall peak)

I believe both the Outback and Magnum have adjustable low voltage shut down points.

They will also handle more humidity, likely a coating on electronics, 93% with the Exeltech at 95% Cotek 90%, Important for unheated and cooled locations/boxes outside.

Also longer warranties for Magnum and Outback (3 and 5 years) and while Exeltech only has a 1 year warranty, they still claim a MTBF(mean time between failure) in excess of 20 years. and offered (as of a year or 2 ago, can't confirm) a $100 flat rate rebuild of any of their consumer inverters, if repairable.

Lumisol

Oh. Then from what you say, it looks like I got the best one for my application. Sleep mode is a non issue as this one has a remote on off so it will draw no power at all when not in use. Thanks for the info.

Lumisol

Photowhit said:

This one being COTEK ST2000-148

First UL-1741 for home installations, good if you have to pass inspections or have insurance. Cotek is UL-458 for mobile installations. Magnum and Outback are, Exeltech is likely mobile, I think they are actually some telecommunications UL rating I read something on their site about.

Many other options, but buy what you need, things that other inverters have that this one doesn't.

Wider range of input voltages this one only goes to 60 volts before shutting down. Most high end charge controllers will go to 63-64 volts, so the inverter will not shut down when equalizing FLA batteries. If you stick to your planned agm batteries this shouldn't be a problem.

Lower 'no load' energy draw, this uses .70 amps at 48 volts or 33 watts, Exeltech's uses 12 watts, Outback (3600 watt) uses 34 watt, but has a sleep mode at 9 watts, Magnum (4000 watt) uses 25 watts and has a sleep mode of 8 watts.

Efficiency in power conversion, Cotek 92%, Magnum 94%, Outback 95%, Exeltech 89% at 1/3rd power (they don't give an overall peak)

I believe both the Outback and Magnum have adjustable low voltage shut down points.

They will also handle more humidity, likely a coating on electronics, 93% with the Exeltech at 95% Cotek 90%, Important for unheated and cooled locations/boxes outside.

Also longer warranties for Magnum and Outback (3 and 5 years) and while Exeltech only has a 1 year warranty, they still claim a MTBF(mean time between failure) in excess of 20 years. and offered (as of a year or 2 ago, can't confirm) a $100 flat rate rebuild of any of their consumer inverters, if repairable.

I noticed in the manual that came with the Cotek, it has a standby power draw of 9 watts. The 33 watts is a no load draw. I am not sure why you didn't notice that.
My batteries will only take 56.4 volts max. when charging and 54.48 max in float so I cannot use any higher voltages than that in my system.

Lumisol

Based on the stats, it appears this one is pretty much the same as the Outback or Magnum, better in some areas and not quite as good in other areas, but comparable in all. When price is factored in, it looks like the Cotek is the obvious winner.
I'll be keeping the one I got and not looking to improve as it doesn't look to be possible at this time.