Inverter for 2007 Hobby Main Motorhome

[jille67]

I wonder if anyone can help!
we have just fitted a solar panel to our 2007 Hobby Main motorhome and now need to buy an inverter we have discovered that the motorhome (we think) had an originl factory fitted inverter under the passenger seat. To avoid having to do a lot of rewiring we want to see if we can find an inverter that fits the plugins that are already there.

look forward to hearing from anyone with advice

Jill

 

[Lenny HB]

Some photos would help.
What are you looking to power with the inverter and how much battery capacity do you have.?

 

[MR BLO]

Hello jille67
Same questions as Lenny - he knows his solar onions.
Also, if you have found an inverter does it work ?
Steve from Blackwells End

 

[funflair]

Just found where the inverter was, not is I believe MR BLO , jille67 what do you want the inverter to run and what do you have in the way of batteries? and as Lenny says, a photo of the space would be great.

 

[Hoovie]

And a key point that hasn't been mentioned from what I can see ... What size inverter was 'factory fitted'? That would have determined the size of cables used originally. If the inverter you want to use is bigger (in wattage), you would need fatter cables - you can't just assume what is there is suitable for reuse.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[jille67]

Some photos would help.
What are you looking to power with the inverter and how much battery capacity do you have.

Hi Lenny
Sorry haven't replied before now, had to find the time to get in the camper and remove the seat.
The battery is 110amp.
Kettle - only if no gas
Dyson Hairdryer - only occasionally
Nutribullet (smoothie maker) - every day
Laptop Charger - Occasionally
Dyson Hair Tongs Charger - Only occasionally
TV - every day
DVD Player - occasionally

I've attached some photos my husband has taken, if you need any more info, please let me know.

Thanks for replying

 

[jille67]

Just found where the inverter was, not is I believe MR BLO , jille67 what do you want the inverter to run and what do you have in the way of batteries? and as Lenny says, a photo of the space would be great.

The battery is 110amp.
Kettle - only if no gas
Dyson Hairdryer - only occasionally
Nutribullet (smoothie maker) - every day
Laptop Charger - Occasionally
Dyson Hair Tongs Charger - Only occasionally
TV - every day
DVD Player - occasionally

I've attached some photos my husband has taken, if you need any more info, please let me know.

Thanks for replying

 

[jille67]

And a key point that hasn't been mentioned from what I can see ... What size inverter was 'factory fitted'? That would have determined the size of cables used originally. If the inverter you want to use is bigger (in wattage), you would need fatter cables - you can't just assume what is there is suitable for reuse.

Hi Hoovie
Here are some photos, don't know if you can tell much from these. we are hoping to be able to use these connections again, instead of rewiring everything

Thanks
Jill

 

[funflair]

The battery is 110amp.
Kettle - only if no gas
Dyson Hairdryer - only occasionally
Nutribullet (smoothie maker) - every day
Laptop Charger - Occasionally
Dyson Hair Tongs Charger - Only occasionally
TV - every day
DVD Player - occasionally

I've attached some photos my husband has taken, if you need any more info, please let me know.

Thanks for replying

View attachment 730118 View attachment 730119

One 110ah lead acid battery, it isn"'t going to run an inverter for most of the things you mention, and secondly the connections are not for an inverter sorry.

And just to add whilst I commend you for having a fire extinguisher fitted I would question whether it is in an accessible place if you needed it, especially a battery related fire.

 

[jille67]

One 110ah lead acid battery, it isn"'t going to run an inverter for most of the things you mention, and secondly the connections are not for an inverter sorry.

And just to add whilst I commend you for having a fire extinguisher fitted I would question whether it is in an accessible place if you needed it, especially a battery related fire.

The fire extinguisher was just what we found in there when we took the seat off, we haven’t had the camper that long. Ok thanks about the inverter, be interesting to know what it is for !

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Lenny HB]

Hi Lenny
Sorry haven't replied before now, had to find the time to get in the camper and remove the seat.
The battery is 110amp.
Kettle - only if no gas
Dyson Hairdryer - only occasionally
Nutribullet (smoothie maker) - every day
Laptop Charger - Occasionally
Dyson Hair Tongs Charger - Only occasionally
TV - every day
DVD Player - occasionally

I've attached some photos my husband has taken, if you need any more info, please let me know.

Thanks for replying

View attachment 730115 View attachment 730116

With just a single 110 ah battery forget about an inverter.
To run you hair dryer on the lowest setting you would need to fit another two batteries same goes for a low power 800 watt kettle.

You shouldn't discharge lead acid batteries at more than the C5 rate which is 22 amps for a 110 ah battery.
Your hair dryer on low is 800 watts plus you need to allow 10% for inverter inefficency so that would draw 73 amps at 12v. At full power 1600 Watts it would be 146 amps.

Your best option would be to fit 200 ah of Lithium batteries that would also involve fitting a B2B charger a new mains charger, and possibly a new solar controller and preferably more solar panels. Probable cost £1500 - £2000 plus the inverter.

 

[jille67]

With just a single 110 ah battery forget about an inverter.
To run you hair dryer on the lowest setting you would need to fit another two batteries same goes for a low power 800 watt kettle.

You shouldn't discharge lead acid batteries at more than the C20 rate which is 22 amps for a 110 ah battery.
Your hair dryer on low is 800 watts plus you need to allow 10% for inverter inefficency so that would draw 73 amps at 12v. At full power 1600 Watts it would be 146 amps.

Your best option would be to fit 200 ah of Lithium batteries that would also involve fitting a B2B charger a new mains charger, and possibly a new solar controller and preferably more solar panels. Probable cost £1500 - £2000 plus the inverter.

Hi Lenny
thanks for reply, ok so forget about hairdryer and tong charger, kettle not a big issue as we have one for the gas. So main items would be TV and DVD player, occasionally, but smoothie maker essential every day.
We have just fitted one of Falcon 120w rigid solar panels with 25a mppt dual output regulator.

 

[funflair]

The fire extinguisher was just what we found in there when we took the seat off, we haven’t had the camper that long. Ok thanks about the inverter, be interesting to know what it is for !

My guess is that it is Ford wiring for something that was never fitted.

 

[jille67]

My guess is that it is Ford wiring for something that was never fitted.

Ok thanks

 

[jille67]

Hi Lenny
thanks for reply, ok so forget about hairdryer and tong charger, kettle not a big issue as we have one for the gas. So main items would be TV and DVD player, occasionally, but smoothie maker essential every day.
We have just fitted one of Falcon 120w rigid solar panels with 25a mppt dual output regulator.

Sorry Lenny, I should of added, what inverter would you recommend

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Manic]

For the TV most small ones would work of 12 volt and as for the smoothie maker, do you have do that fresh or could you pre make you smoothie.
ps I nothing about Smoothies

 

[Hoovie]

My guess is that it is Ford wiring for something that was never fitted.

The multitude of wiring, size of wires and cable connector style I would say it was likely Audio equipment such as a CD Changer or suchlike.
Vehicle from 2007 would still have that in the options list.

 

[Hoovie]

With just a single 110 ah battery forget about an inverter.
To run you hair dryer on the lowest setting you would need to fit another two batteries same goes for a low power 800 watt kettle.

You shouldn't discharge lead acid batteries at more than the C20 rate which is 22 amps for a 110 ah battery.
Your hair dryer on low is 800 watts plus you need to allow 10% for inverter inefficency so that would draw 73 amps at 12v. At full power 1600 Watts it would be 146 amps.

Your best option would be to fit 200 ah of Lithium batteries that would also involve fitting a B2B charger a new mains charger, and possibly a new solar controller and preferably more solar panels. Probable cost £1500 - £2000 plus the inverter.

Hey Lenny, just to be pendatic, when you said C20, I think you meant C5

 

[Lenny HB]

Hey Lenny, just to be pendatic, when you said C20, I think you meant C5

Edited, a bit early in the day for me.

 

[headlight]

How many watts is the smoothie maker and how long does it run for ?
I have a small inverter, 300 watts continuous 600 watts peak, to run a 24' mains powered TV.
It uses about 4 amps an hour to run my TV.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Lenny HB]

Hi Lenny
thanks for reply, ok so forget about hairdryer and tong charger, kettle not a big issue as we have one for the gas. So main items would be TV and DVD player, occasionally, but smoothie maker essential every day.
We have just fitted one of Falcon 120w rigid solar panels with 25a mppt dual output regulator.

Afraid the smoothie maker is out as well just checked ours, it's 900 watts.
As for the best to get a TV that runs from 12v there are specialist ones for motorhomes and also a lot of the small TV run from a separate 12v supply and a lot with built in DVD players far more efficient to run directly from 12v.
You can get 12v laptop chargers for under 20 quid again more efficient.

Even reducing you load on the batteries if you want to spend more than the odd night off grid you will need to fit a second battery & if the exising one more than a year old you would need to replace that at the same time as it will drag down the new one. Also I would fit another solar panel.

 

[jille67]

For the TV most small ones would work of 12 volt and as for the smoothie maker, do you have do that fresh or could you pre make you smoothie.
ps I nothing about Smoothies

Lol yes it’s to make fruit smoothies each day from fresh fruit. Smoothie maker is 600w.

we’re new to motorhoming but I especially want to be able to go to camp sites and not have to use electric hook ups and want to go touring off grid. So many inverters out there, just want to make sure we get a decent one, that we can rely on.

 

[bigtwin]

Lol yes it’s to make fruit smoothies each day from fresh fruit. Smoothie maker is 600w.

we’re new to motorhoming but I especially want to be able to go to camp sites and not have to use electric hook ups and want to go touring off grid. So many inverters out there, just want to make sure we get a decent one, that we can rely on.

As already indicated, as soon as you start to look at inverters you also need to look at adding additional batteries. Inverters draw a prolific amount of current/power from your batteries. A single battery will not cut it.

In rough terms, if you divide the ac Wattage rating (e.g. 1000W), of the device you wish to run, by 10 that will tell you how much the inverter will take from your battery. For a 1000W load, the battery will have to provide 1000/10 = 100A. This is a significant consumption.

Ian

 

[jille67]

Afraid the smoothie maker is out as well just checked ours, it's 900 watts.
As for the best to get a TV that runs from 12v there are specialist ones for motorhomes and also a lot of the small TV run from a separate 12v supply and a lot with built in DVD players far more efficient to run directly from 12v.
You can get 12v laptop chargers for under 20 quid again more efficient.

Even reducing you load on the batteries if you want to spend more than the odd night off grid you will need to fit a second battery & if the exising one more than a year old you would need to replace that at the same time as it will drag down the new one. Also I would fit another solar panel.

Smoothie maker is 600w.
I totally do not understand about the batteries and inverter, I need a dummies guide.
The camper has a normal battery and a new leisure battery. Do we need more batteries than that. Would like to go off grid for a weeks holiday.

 

[jille67]

As already indicated, as soon as you start to look at inverters you also need to look at adding additional batteries. Inverters draw a prolific amount of current/power from your batteries. A single battery will not cut it.

In rough terms, if you divide the ac Wattage rating (e.g. 1000W), of the device you wish to run, by 10 that will tell you how much the inverter will take from your battery. For a 1000W load, the battery will have to provide 1000/10 = 100A. This is a significant consumption.

Ian

We’ve got a normal battery and a new leisure battery

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[bigtwin]

We’ve got a normal battery and a new leisure battery

Won’t cut it if you are looking to fit an inverter to power any worthwhile load.

Ian.

 

[jille67]

Won’t cut it if you are looking to fit an inverter to power any worthwhile load.

Ian.

So what would we need.

Jill

 

[Lenny HB]

Lol yes it’s to make fruit smoothies each day from fresh fruit. Smoothie maker is 600w.

we’re new to motorhoming but I especially want to be able to go to camp sites and not have to use electric hook ups and want to go touring off grid. So many inverters out there, just want to make sure we get a decent one, that we can rely on.

You really need to look seriously at your electrical system and be prepared to spend some money on it.
a 600 watt smoothie will still take around 55 amps out of the batteries, you could just get away with 2 batteries but 3 would be kinder to the batteries.
Some of the best inverters are made by Victron but they are not cheap, a 1200va (1000 watt) is getting on for £400.

I'm afraid you have fallen into the trap of a lot of new owners, you spend thousands on a Motorhome and think it is just going to work and do everything you want it to, unfortunately, it doesn't work like that.

 

[funflair]

Lol yes it’s to make fruit smoothies each day from fresh fruit. Smoothie maker is 600w.

we’re new to motorhoming but I especially want to be able to go to camp sites and not have to use electric hook ups and want to go touring off grid. So many inverters out there, just want to make sure we get a decent one, that we can rely on.

Good luck with not using electric on campsites as I find that most that have the infrastructure installed don't/won't give you the option of not paying for it even when you neither want or need it, we are fully self sufficient in terms of power if not a bit OTT and I wouldn't suggest that you need the 640ah of Lithium that we have but I would suggest that you need at least 300ah if you stay with lead acid or the 200ah of Lithium that Lenny suggested would be good, ultimately though it comes down to a lot of variables but at a basic level it's what you take out vs what you can put back in and when you can do that ie, driving, solar, or charging at home, remember solar in the winter months is next to useless.

Start with batteries, then the charging and only then can you fit and use the inverter.

 

[bigtwin]

So what would we need.

Jill

See Lenny HB’s and funflair ’s responses above.

Ian

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}