[VACList] Inverter after Sarasota

[Terry Tyler <tylerbears@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Gang,

Last week I wrote about having solar panels installed and mentioned needing
a wire clamp before I could hook up our old inverter.

It's now three hardware stores and a week later. The elusive clamp was
finally found at the Lowe's in Stuart, FL (east coast - north of Miami and
West Palm Beach). 

For those who randomly add items to their "stash box," this copper connector
was made by Gardner Bender of Milwaukee, WI 53209, is catalog # GSBC-2 and
is labeled on the package as a split bolt. Cost was $10 for two of them. I
planned to use one in this Airstream and the other in our '67 22' Safari
next month when I connect our second Inverter.

By using this product, I was able to clamp the inverter's negative wire (#2
size) to the black ground wire from one of our two deep cycle marine
batteries WITHOUT cutting the battery cable.

In my earlier thinking, I considered connecting the ground wire to the
ground post on the battery, but that would have meant making a hole in the
perfectly good battery box and then stuffing sufficient cable inside the box
so when routine maintenance was needed, I could get the battery out far
enough for easy access. That didn't seem like a long term practical solution
so I discarded that idea.  The clamping idea seemed more reasonable.

Once the ground wire was taken care of, it was time to route the hot wire. I
used the Kill Switch post (behind the couch) as the power source and then
routed the hot wire to a big fat catastrophe fuse before connecting it to
our Inverter.  Incidentally, the Kill Switch was in the "off" position.

The Inverter and fuse are under the couch where there's plenty of room.
While the couch was propped up, I realized I had to use the Inverter's
remote capability. This meant wiring a seperate line for a remote switch.
Once done, the switch was fastened to the table's support leg and positioned
far enough toward the wall so it would be convenient to reach while sitting
on the couch, yet not noticeable to a casual observer.

Next was getting power to a convenient location after the couch was closed.
In my stash box was a left over outlet strip with a long lead from a prior
application. That was ideal for plugging into the Inverter's 110 volt outlet
and then routing the outlet strip's cord along the outside wall's edge to
the table's support leg where I installed it vertically - under the remote
switch.  Both switches are easily reachable.

After that, it was a matter of replacing the couch arm rests and wooden
support trim pieces and then vacuuming the carpet (vacuum was powered
through the Inverter).

- Am I satisfied with how the job turned out? Yes.
- Is Sandie pleased that our TV, DVD player, VCR and satellite receiver can
now do their thing with clean power and no surge protector while we're
parked anywhere on the continent? Double Yes.
- Does she like the idea that her morning coffee beans can now be freshly
ground by our little 110v coffee grinder? Need I ask?
- Am I happy to have my Mac laptop and printer usable anywhere we happen to
stop?  <big grin> 
- Do our Makita and cell phone batteries like being recharged as soon as
they need it? Duh! 
- Will our bread maker have sufficient power for 2+ hours to bake a loaf of
bread if we start before noon on a sunny day? "Oh yes, and the aroma."
- Does it tickle my fancy that our solar panels have sufficient capability
to use even the slightest amount of morning daylight to quickly and fully
recharge our batteries? Three guesses.

As an example, last night our TV, cell phone and computer were plugged into
the Inverter for four hours. This morning (10am now) has been heavy overcast
with no sunlight, yet our panels have recharged the batteries to the point
where the solar gauge is showing 13.99 volts. If 12.70 volts represents
fully charged batteries, then the panels are collecting power without direct
sunlight. 

Do I mind that this little job took the better part of an entire day to
accomplish? Not really.  For someone who is not an electrician, who has
never done this job by himself before and who read and learned a lot of
stuff that was both exciting and dull, I'm sure my second Inverter will be
installed in considerably less time (providing I remember everything).

Today has been a good day,

Terry