T
Toby
Hello all,
I just purchased a Xantrex 1000W inverter for $69 at Costco. I did a
temporary install in my stepvan to test it, and I'm pleased so far. Now the
task of designing and building a more permant senerio. I have a space
approximately 40" wide x 24" deep x 6' height. I'd like to build this area
into a power/ office work space cabinet type thing My original thoughts
were to put the batteries on the floor, mount the inverter vertically on the
side wall above the batteries. Put a slide in shelf between the batteries
and the inverter. This gives me a large shelf above the batteries to keep my
printer, and above that at approx 40" height a countertop to house a
microwave and my laptop, above that another smaller shelf. I was going to
build this in the form of a floor to ceiling cabinet with double doors. I
live in the foothills nearly a mile off pavement and the amout of dust that
collects inside the van from driving is scary. I was hoping to seal out
alot of this dust from the computer and printer with the doors, and also to
prevent them from slideing off the shelf while driving. (the cd-rom drive on
my laptop no longer works properly because of this stupid oversight).
Until I started reading this newsgroup I would have never even thought about
any risks of fire due the batteries being in a closed cabinet with all the
other electrical equipment. I currently have 18" cables between the
batteries and the inverter, if I put the shelf in as described above and
leave the bottom section open without doors will I be OK for ventilation
purposes. The interior of the van is far from airtight so I'm not concerned
about gases building up inside the vehichle.
Next. I have not hooked up to the vehicles alternator for charging yet. My
thoughts are to use 8AWG braided copper to run from the batteries to the
alt. approx 7' run. Napa has a continual duty solenoid that closes when
enrgized that will be wired to the ignition switch to act as an isolater.
Does this sound ok so far?
Last night when I did my temporary install and test I noticed a very
distinct hum coming from the outlet receptical that my printer was plugged
into. My van is wired for A/C like a house with steel outlet boxes. I
currently use a 12AWG extension cord wired into one of the boxes which I
either plug into shore power or my generator. The printer and outlet were
silent when plugged into shore power, but the outlet hums when I plug into
the inverter. I can't hear myself think when I plug into the generator so I
don't know what happens under those conditions. Plugging the microwave into
the same outlet there was no noise. Plug the printer back in and it hums.
Any ideas?
Thanks in advance for any thoughts or advice.
Toby
I just purchased a Xantrex 1000W inverter for $69 at Costco. I did a
temporary install in my stepvan to test it, and I'm pleased so far. Now the
task of designing and building a more permant senerio. I have a space
approximately 40" wide x 24" deep x 6' height. I'd like to build this area
into a power/ office work space cabinet type thing My original thoughts
were to put the batteries on the floor, mount the inverter vertically on the
side wall above the batteries. Put a slide in shelf between the batteries
and the inverter. This gives me a large shelf above the batteries to keep my
printer, and above that at approx 40" height a countertop to house a
microwave and my laptop, above that another smaller shelf. I was going to
build this in the form of a floor to ceiling cabinet with double doors. I
live in the foothills nearly a mile off pavement and the amout of dust that
collects inside the van from driving is scary. I was hoping to seal out
alot of this dust from the computer and printer with the doors, and also to
prevent them from slideing off the shelf while driving. (the cd-rom drive on
my laptop no longer works properly because of this stupid oversight).
Until I started reading this newsgroup I would have never even thought about
any risks of fire due the batteries being in a closed cabinet with all the
other electrical equipment. I currently have 18" cables between the
batteries and the inverter, if I put the shelf in as described above and
leave the bottom section open without doors will I be OK for ventilation
purposes. The interior of the van is far from airtight so I'm not concerned
about gases building up inside the vehichle.
Next. I have not hooked up to the vehicles alternator for charging yet. My
thoughts are to use 8AWG braided copper to run from the batteries to the
alt. approx 7' run. Napa has a continual duty solenoid that closes when
enrgized that will be wired to the ignition switch to act as an isolater.
Does this sound ok so far?
Last night when I did my temporary install and test I noticed a very
distinct hum coming from the outlet receptical that my printer was plugged
into. My van is wired for A/C like a house with steel outlet boxes. I
currently use a 12AWG extension cord wired into one of the boxes which I
either plug into shore power or my generator. The printer and outlet were
silent when plugged into shore power, but the outlet hums when I plug into
the inverter. I can't hear myself think when I plug into the generator so I
don't know what happens under those conditions. Plugging the microwave into
the same outlet there was no noise. Plug the printer back in and it hums.
Any ideas?
Thanks in advance for any thoughts or advice.
Toby
