Xantrex RV 3012 M Inverter Installation, Reinventing the wheel!

[bumpersbird]

The two inveters arrived in new sealed boxes. The RV7/GS controlers
arrived in as new condition, but they were in non mfg packaging.

cost to date:

$1370.00 inverters.
$ 305.00 controls.
$ 100.00 Sheet metal and aluminum angle for lining bay.

I decided that I will move the inverters into bay 3, right side in
place of the electric grill, from the hot, dirty, and sometimes wet
inverter box in the engine compartment.

After the renovations I will convert the old inverter box to hold 2
more house batteries.

I have removed the grill and I have lined the area with sheet metal,
and framed the opening with aluminum angle. I also replaced the
small angle iron mounting peices with wider aluminun braces and ran
an angle support under the shelf to help support the 120+ lbs. of
weight, Overkill! When the tool box is under the shelf it does not
move or vibrate. I will post photos shortly.

There is the question of how large the wires have to be that connect
the invertes to the batteries. It will take appox. 115' of cable to
get the job done and if you have bought heavy copper cable of late
it's not cheep! It looks like around $10.00 a foot for 350 MCM
welding cable.

It is 0.970 in diameter So I am having a bit of trouble figuring out
how or where to run these cables. Idealy inside the frame rail would
be my first choice, but after spending a few hours under the coach,
poking around, this will be impossible without getting the coach on a
lift. Anybody know what size cable is used on the coaches that have
factory installed inverters in the bays?

Here is a responce from Xantrex about the cable size. YIKES!!!


Dear Kurt Horvath,

My wire size calculator says 1000 MCM, which I didn't even know
existed until just now. Is there any way you can shorten the run to
12 feet, which would allow you to use 500 MCM?

For all correspondence regarding this issue, please make sure to
leave the ID number [ref:00D3Wjr.500351Yfr:ref] in the subject line
or body of the email.

Allegra Sloman
Customer Service Operations
Xantrex Technology Inc.

Well there goes the farm 1000 MCM cable????

There are 2 large cables running along the top inside of the wheel
well from the engine compartment into the holding tank bay and
forwards from there. This looks like the easy way to run the cables
but it is exposed to a lot road damage and wear and tear, not to
mention a tire coming apart. So it's not really a good choice. Any
ideas on this option?

I am checking into STACKING the inverters. I really don't know much
about how this system works. Or what is required to change from the
two unit system to a STACKED system. I do know that it reduces the
required cable lenght in half. Any ideas here would be helpful.

I also have to run the control wires and 120v wires from the engine
bay to the new invert bay. The control wires are also a small problem
the origonal wires are 6 wire data lines and the new control wires
call for a 4 wire telephone line in place of the old data line. I'm
told that these can be used with a little effort. I haven't gotten
that far into the project yet. I hope that I don't have to re-run the
control lines through the whole coach.

One thing that bothers me is that the inverters are now surrounded by
water pipes and tanks. Water pumps on one side and a small water tank
on the other with plumbing going over the top. i guess I'll just have
to keep an eye out for leaks.

I am considering installing some small fans with snap thermostats to
control venting the compartment. Here again I'm asking for ideas. You
can vent out the back of the bay but it blows against the fuel tank.
That doesn't seem like a good idea. Or I could mount the fans on the
shelf and pipe it down through the bottom of the bay. But here again
hot air rises and this will be trying to draw it downwards. I'm not
even sure if this is needed. But it sounds like a lot of fun.


Kurt Horvath
95 PT-42 WLWB
Fayetteville TN



PS. After the e-mail from Xantrex I am considering putting the new
inveters back in the engine compartment. After all the old inverters
were there for 13 years?!?!?!?!?!?!? HELP!