Charging on the generator

[Geronimo John]

5 hours ago, jd1923 said:

With a 3KW inverter installed, generally all AC circuits run through the inverter including the A/C. This is also how I installed our Victron Multiplus 2.

it is my understanding that the A/C loads are run through a separate Auto Transfer Switch.  The ATS is then connected to the inverter.  The reason is to allow the A/C load to be powered up by either the ATS (On shore power) or to be powered up by the Inverter.  It would seem logical that regardless of how wonderful (Yes inverter envy) your inverter is , it would still be switching between an ATS or the Inverter power created by the Iithos to the inverter. 

Not having either a separate ATS or an Multiplus 2 (Inverter envy) would when running the A/c and microwave would over amp the OEM single  ATS.  It is for this reason that John Davies encouraged us to add a second ATS if going to battery powered A/C.    

5 hours ago, jd1923 said:

I see no reason to ever turn off our inverter, so we don't

That's a valid choice for your home area. But for others:

One reason to turn it off would be parasitic draw,  Over time even in standby mode, one ends up using a lot of power regardless if on shore power or not.  For some :  OK  for some Not.

A second is that all electronic components have a finite life span.  That life is generally determined by the number of hours it is turned on.   There is an exception to this concept and that is for folks in a high humidity areas.  Keeping the home fire burning to keep the electronics' dry works well for some.  But not everybody.

[jd1923]

43 minutes ago, Geronimo John said:

it is my understanding that the A/C loads are run through a separate Auto Transfer Switch.  The ATS is then connected to the inverter.

The Victron Multiplus II and many other capable inverter models have a built-in ATS. The 2KW Xantrex OTT originally installed in our hull had an external ATS and remote power switch. These are two different worlds.

44 minutes ago, Geronimo John said:

That's a valid choice for your home area. But for others:

One reason to turn it off would be parasitic draw,

True for those not connected to shore power, without rooftop solar and/or who store long-term indoors. If not, as in my case the solar produces 10x parasitic draw on a daily basis. In fact, I can be 60% SOC on 600Ah LiFePO4 batteries, running exterior courtesy lights and in a few days SOC is 100%. Even in winter sun in AZ, and yes as you wrote in our "home area."

However, I truly recommend those who have full inverter/charger capability, 3KW with built-in ATS, Xantrex or Victron, leave your inverters ON always when your Oliver is in use (I know some manufactures say not too, but I have trouble being told what to do without valid reason)! It protects against power outages, brown-outs, if Victron it provides power-assist and more.

Heck, I've been running our A/C one hour prior to arriving at a full hook-up site and when we get there the cabin is cool and no hurry plugging in unless SOC is near 20%. Of course, you must have viable Ah capacity in LiFePO4 to do so.

Use the technology that God and Mankind has provided us! It's wonderful and we finally had a wonderful 5-week trip to truly experience the amazing features, in all the upgrades I've made to our Oliver and tow vehicle! 😂

Edited yesterday at 06:11 AM by jd1923