Inverter (1 Viewer)

Feb 15, 2016
184
234
Lincoln
Funster No
41,684
MH
Hymer T class
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2018
Hi

We have two leisure batteries and having a solar panel fitted at the end of this month. Thinking about having an inverter fitted also, as planning on wild camping in UK and Europe
'Hymer' manual states not to have one fitted 'as they would not be liable for any damage' They indicate it produces a very high voltage and could damage the electrical system
Can anyone tell me if they are scaremongering or it is true?
As reading here on the forum many funsters have them fitted
 
Jan 8, 2013
8,478
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Dronfield - Derbyshire
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Burstner Lyseo 690G
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Thinking about having an inverter fitted also, as planning on wild camping in UK and Europe

I wouldn't be without one. I have a 1000w one connected to the batteries via an isolator switch. I only switch it on when we watch TV in the evenings.
I have wired two sockets directly to the inverter and completely separate from the Burstner 240v sockets and wiring.
They only produce 240V just like the EHU, so I'm confused with Hymers scaremongering.
 

funflair

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They produce 240volts and should be properly wired into the existing 240volt system, I assume you have a requirement for this whilst you are off grid/wild camping, they do consume a fair amount of battery power so you need to understand what you are taking out and how you are going to put it back in.

Martin

EDIT or wired separately as above post is fine.

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hilldweller

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Can anyone tell me if they are scaremongering or it is true?

Maybe something got lost in translation.

Yes they produce a ( relatively ) high voltage, 240V AC.
Yes they can damage your leisure battery by violently flattening it.

Mains device use 240V, your batteries are 12V so you hit the poor battery with 20 times the Amps the device takes. A 13A kettle would take 13 x 20 = 260 amp out of you leisure battery and kill in five minutes.
 

JeanLuc

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Nov 17, 2008
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Hymer are covering themselves. The voltage produced is of course 230v ac. The bigger issue is the potential for the inverter to draw a very high current and so it must be wired correctly to the batteries. Hymer fit Schaudt Elektroblocs (EBL) and Schaudt recommend that an inverter should be wired to a separate, dedicated battery. They produce add-on control modules to charge the dedicated battery.
In practice, most of us wire an inverter directly to the leisure batteries and it works perfectly well. Be aware though that the control panel and circuit that is part of the Schaudt system, will not be able to measure the current drawn by the inverter, since the measuring shunt is contained within the EBL and the inverter wiring will bypass this. The result can be confusion of the control panel causing it to shut down the 12v system if it detects an unexpected low voltage condition.
Before proceeding, check that you really need an inverter, or can you make do with 12v adapters for charging small items for example. Having said that, I have a small 150 watt pure sine wave inverter and it does come in useful for charging devices and running low wattage mains items.

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Jan 8, 2013
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Dronfield - Derbyshire
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My Schaudt Elektrobloc reads the battery voltage quite happily, you just need to get a feel for and keep an eye on it - when its going down to the 12.4v ish volts turn off the inverter. Although we easily watch 22"TV with a 50W sound bar and hard drive for 3 hours every night.
They are not recommended to replace the large loads of the EHU's
 

JeanLuc

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My Schaudt Elektrobloc reads the battery voltage quite happily, you just need to get a feel for and keep an eye on it - when its going down to the 12.4v ish volts turn off the inverter. Although we easily watch 22"TV with a 50W sound bar and hard drive for 3 hours every night.
They are not recommended to replace the large loads of the EHU's
Agreed, I do the same. I'm just warning the original poster that there can be a problem with the control panel. Mine is an old Schaudt panel with two needle meters showing voltage and current being drawn, but some of the more recent ones show charge remaining in the batteries and this can be inaccurate if an inverter is drawing current that the control panel cannot measure.
 

Lenny HB

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Not had any problems with an inverter in a Hymer.
They are on the Hymer options list so they obviously don't consider it a problem even if their book contradicts themselves.

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OP
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lamyj
Feb 15, 2016
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Many thanks for all your reply's - having solar panel fitted with Eddie at Vanbitz, so will tap into his knowledge and see what he thinks before we progress
Thanks again
 

jnn

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Oct 22, 2016
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One thing to be aware of, sounds as though you'll be getting it professionally fitted and so may not apply but: I've a 1500W peak 1000W inverter, it can't handle the start up current of even 600W devices and I suspect if I continued to try would damage the electrics as it's tripped a 20A fuse - it's internal trip is slower than the fuse blows. Goes without saying it's not in the van anymore, thankfully discovered this before going to any lengths to fit it permanently.
 

funflair

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One thing to be aware of, sounds as though you'll be getting it professionally fitted and so may not apply but: I've a 1500W peak 1000W inverter, it can't handle the start up current of even 600W devices and I suspect if I continued to try would damage the electrics as it's tripped a 20A fuse - it's internal trip is slower than the fuse blows. Goes without saying it's not in the van anymore, thankfully discovered this before going to any lengths to fit it permanently.
I would have thought it should handle 600W OK what sort of inverter.

You say it trips a 20amp fuse is that a 12volt circuit or 240volt, I could be wrong but thought 20amp on 240volt was a bit high.

Martin

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jnn

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I think it's a rubbish inverter, but the size of the start up spike on devices took me by surprise. There was (wrongly) a 20 amp fuse in the lighter socket of the van, I was testing what the inverter would handle and so hadn't wired it into the leisure batteries thankfully.
 

funflair

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I think it's a rubbish inverter, but the size of the start up spike on devices took me by surprise. There was (wrongly) a 20 amp fuse in the lighter socket of the van, I was testing what the inverter would handle and so hadn't wired it into the leisure batteries thankfully.
It certainly wouldn't run anything more than a couple of hundred watts off 20amps 12volt supply. A 1000watt inverter needs wiring straight to the batteries with cables close to the size of your little finger and about 150amp fuse.

Martin
 

jnn

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yeah I've just done the sums too, stoopidly i was using its supplied cables, that's my bad

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hilldweller

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There was (wrongly) a 20 amp fuse in the lighter socket of the van.

I don't think those sockets are rated at 20A, they are certainly useless for a serious inverter. Your 1500W peak represents 150A and even if not driving that it's substantial power input circuit will require a hefty start-up current.
 

jnn

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I don't think those sockets are rated at 20A, they are certainly useless for a serious inverter. Your 1500W peak represents 150A and even if not driving that it's substantial power input circuit will require a hefty start-up current.

yep, twas my bad I've done the sums since funflair asked. The 20 amp fuse should've been 15, but as you say it shoudln't be run from the socket with that sort of load - although it's destructions only mentioned the socket not direct wiring
 

hilldweller

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although it's destructions only mentioned the socket not direct wiring

That is seriously bad. Maybe one set of instructions they cut and paste for all models. But you know now and in fact if wired properly via a huge fuse and a huge isolation switch ( don't trust an internal switch there will still be an unwanted load ) it may well work fine.

I have a 300W pure sine wave inverter for charging things, it's all we've ever needed and in fact it's hardly ever used.

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DBK

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yep, twas my bad I've done the sums since funflair asked. The 20 amp fuse should've been 15, but as you say it shoudln't be run from the socket with that sort of load - although it's destructions only mentioned the socket not direct wiring
If it was meant to be run from a cigar socket it can't be 1500W, more likely 150W. :)
 

jnn

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Yep, I was thinking I'll not use it becuase it didn't seem to work - dunno why I hadn't actually done those simple sums because I have for everything 12v in the van! - but now the reality dawns I was using it wrong, I suspect we'll not need it ultimately
 

The Dotties

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You said you were getting the fitting at Vanbitz.
End of discussion :).

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Apr 9, 2014
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They produce add-on control modules to charge the dedicated battery.
Don't suppose you have any idea what these are called?

We have an inverter on a separate battery not connected to the van electrics, so only charged when on hook up. This works well and removes any concerns regarding the existing leisure batteries, so far charging not an issue as we only use it to run coffee machine. But this would be interesting:).
 

JeanLuc

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This is the entry in their 2014 English language catalogue (I cannot find a more recent one on their website at the moment).
upload_2017-1-7_14-41-24.png
 

icantremember

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Many thanks for all your reply's - having solar panel fitted with Eddie at Vanbitz, so will tap into his knowledge and see what he thinks before we progress
Thanks again
We have a 1800 W inverter with all the necessary fuses , trips & safety supplied and fitted by @eddievanbitz, which, if not on elh will supply all the mains socket in the moho and is controlled at the press of a remote button(y) ... well worth talking to Eddie.

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Jul 5, 2013
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Hymer say the same in my manual. But they are (or were) happy enough to include an inverter as standard in the Starline S. And in my manual they give me instructions on how one should be wired in when you have more than one battery.

We put a 2000W (4000W peak) inverter into our B678 without any problems. I had to rewire the 2nd battery to increase the thickness of the wires between batteries. The inverter already came with very thick leads. I took the 12V directly off the batteries, but is still goes through the 500A shunt on the negative side so the Voctron battery monitor can measure and record the current it is using.

I have wired one of the existing 240V sockets direct to the inverter. You can buy the 240V connectors that Hymer use on Ebay and then take the male plug for that socket out of the multiconnector near the EBL and plug it into the female connector you put on the wire coming from the inverter.

Having said that we only use the inverter about once every 2 of 3 days for my wife's hairdryer. We have managed to make all the other electrical stuff we use work on 12V.
 

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