If you're talking about what I said, I wasn't saying to connect the inverter to the trailor wiring. I said you could put batteries in the trailor and use the trailor wiring to keep them charged.

 

I am in the works of installing a 2000 watt power inverter 4000 watt surge under the front seat of my 99 ram or in the truck box in back . I want the power to be there when I need it. to back the inverter up with batterys I have Dual oddesy 2150's and I am thinking about putting a optima blue top right nexted to it. that I have sitting around. I am going to mount 2 , 2fraud capisiters nexted to the inverter. I will also be installing anderson quick conects such as this one http://www.delcity.net/delcity/servl...id=1043&page=1

in the box and on the front and rear bumper for other high amp use. jumper cables ,winch. I will also be installing a 200 amp manual resting fuse. just incase the cable shorts on some thing, 1/0 wire front to back of the truck, and the ability to put all 4000+ ca that my twin oddesys have to offer,would make one heck of a fire. and a high current starter solinoid bypass to the fuse, for jumping truck off the leads.

for the application you are going to do on your trailer I would sugest some thing like this conector on the back of the truck. http://www.delcity.net/delcity/servl...id=8595&page=1
to get you the power you need to the inverter, also Please Put a fuse on it. for reasons above.

 

That is what I was thinking. Not being an electrician, this seems like the easiest answer. These EU series Honda Gens are quiet.

http://www.hondapowerequipment.com/gensup.asp

Good luck with the inverter project.


You might also PM member XLR8R. He has a 5000 watt inverter hooked up to his truck with some massive cables on the batteries.

 

you know I see why all of you want him to go the gennerator way. But he wants the inverter, I like the idea off it. but I am mounting mine in the truck so I can power lights and what not. it comes in handy powering power tools and work lights. things out on the farm. night road side repairs. keeping gf entertained on long road trips , tv dvd. what ever. I even pluged a 1000 watt heater into mine to heat the cab I have even pluged the truck into it afew times. and on the generator asspect I carry a onan 1500 watt generator in the back of the truck. to be replaces with a honda when it die's lol an onan dieing thats funny hu. I will proabley replace the generator in back due to weight before it going bad.

 

I talked to a buddy who works at Dodge and he said best way to do it was with a battery (or two) mounted permantley in trailer to hook directly to inverter then to charge the batteries tru the trailer wiring --there is something ,i can't rememberwhat he called it, he said i could put into the charging circuit so it would prevent overcharging the batteries.
ANyhow, he said he would come over on a weekend and hook me up.

 

He is talking about the aux wire for charging the trailer batteries... That is how I have mind hooked up so the batt's are always charged and ready to go...
Oilguy

 

The only other consideration I can think of would be to have an isolator between the trailer battery charging wire and the batteries themselves so the inverter batteries can't draw on the truck batteries if/when they get low...unless the factory Dodge harness has already taken this into consideration.

 

You can definitely hook it up that way, but don't expect quick recovery of your batteries. When you pull 100's of amps from the batts and recharge through a 16ga wire it will be slow.

 

Yep, Isolater is what he said.

 

well we drive at least 11 hours everyday between use of the invertor--- think that will be time enough to do it ?

 

That's what I've been saying! hahaha

 

you da man

 

Herb . . what your friend at Dodge told you is how I would go for your application. I have two inverters in my truck and 2 guage cable isn't easy to work with. You also want to make sure you have a 200 amp fuse off of the battery if it is in your truck that you can turn off and on like a house breaker. Should leave it off when you are not going to use it. There have been cases where over time, the rubber wears off of the cable and shorts against the frame . . . . with 2 gauge cable . . you just made a portable welder. Even when you think you have the cable wrapped, over a couple of years and lots of bumps . . . . . . . anyone smell smoke? There's been a few trucks lost to fire that way.

Your plan will work fine. Good luck!

 

Herb,

Adding batteries to the trailer and charging with the wire from the trailer plug sounds like a plan, to me, too.

How long do you plan to run your inverter, and with what load?

With that information we could help figure out how many amp hours worth of battery capacity you might want in the trailer, and whether 10 hours or more of driving would be enough to bring them back to full charge...

As far as an isolator goes, you don't want to deep discharge the truck's batteries, since batteries designed for starting won't tolerate very many deep cycles, and also you want to make sure the starting batteries don't get drained to the point where you won't be able to crank over the truck. An isolator (or a cheap relay hooked to key power) can be installed, but personally I just unplug my 5th wheel when I arrive at camp...

 

What are you powering with the inverter?

I LOVE my inverter!!! I use it at the race track to power my lights and fan in the pit.... I park away from everyone else that is using generators becuase they are way too loud... They are great for power tools also!

OG