New Inverter and remote - Montana Owners Club

Ozz · 02-09-2011, 01:29 PM

We bought a better Inverter for the Trailer than the Coleman 3K unit, not a True-Sine, I did fix my Trace DR 2412 today, but it is a Modified sine, did a great job here at the house when I had it as emergency power. I think it has some sort of electronic 'noise' limiter, because the TV and everything worked well with it.
We figured we would get a new Inverter that will be powerful as we went to the 6 batteries. This is a Magnum, (A brand started by the engineers that designed the Trace. Trace was bought out by Xantrex, Xantrex was bought out by Snyder Electric.) I got a Magnum 2812, a 2800 Watt Pure sine model. We also got the Remote to go with it.
Beans and Franks for the Ozz household for the next 6 months.

http://www.donrowe.com/inverters/ms_series.html

Remote

Magnum 2812

Art-n-Marge · 02-09-2011, 01:37 PM

Beans and Franks? I love beans and franks? I can't tell if you are praising them or making fun of them.

SlickWillie · 02-09-2011, 01:41 PM

Just follow the link, then you'll understand the "beans and franks" better.

deadeye · 02-10-2011, 04:11 AM

OZZ:
If I went that way, I would have to go on the LO-CAL diet. Beans and a bucket of water....no franks...

..JB

Ozz · 02-10-2011, 06:27 AM

I have a case of Spam hid away from the Y2K deal... The cans haven't started to bulge at the seams, so I may go there.

WanderBC · 02-10-2011, 07:23 AM

Ozz

nice unit, I will will be interested in its performance, some day I want/need to replace my freedom 458-20, I will also be interested in how you wire it in. I like the remote it tells you a lot of info. 125 amp battery charger will charge the batteries quickly, less generator time.

martin

Ozz · 02-10-2011, 08:23 AM

Thanks martin
I really didn't know which one to get, I looked on the Internet for 2 days, printed out 1/4 ream of information on all types.
I wanted around a 3k Watt, Pure sine, UL approved for RV's. So many Inverters are not approved for RV's because of grounding issues, the Neutral and ground arrangement. There are so many 'shocks' because people have the wrong Inverter. I thought about an Inverter without charger, after all I have a good 3 stage charger in the converter, but to get all the features I wanted, I went with the Magnum.
The Trace DR series was one of the best ever made, I have had that in my home, it is a really good Inverter. They replaced it with another model, not as good. It is not a Pure sine unit.
I spoke with Randy at the Xantrex repair center in White House Tennessee for about 45 minutes. That tech knows his Inverters. He walked me through fixing my Trace DR2412.
I settled on the Magnum after studying it and finding out that the former Trace engineers designed it and started the Magnum brand. I will install everything if this Ice cube here in the Midwest ever thaws out.

RickW · 02-10-2011, 09:05 AM

Ozz, I have the same Inverter/Charger. Love it!

RickW · 02-10-2011, 09:15 AM

Martin,

I installed mine in the Generator Compartment. I wanted as short of a cable run as possible between the Inverter/Charger and the batteries. The other advantage is I do not hear the fan in the Invert/Charger when running 12v items in the coach.

I love the fact that when I turn the inverter on, everything in the coach has power. The charger/inverter is in the power line just after the PI Surge protector.

Ozz make sure you also get the sensor that monitors your battery temps. It will keep them from boiling under heavy charge. It is not standard (or at least was not when I ordered mine 2 years ago).

Ozz · 02-10-2011, 09:51 AM

Good tip Rick. Why did you choose the Magnum?

RickW · 02-10-2011, 12:18 PM

Basically the same reasons you did. When we first got the Monty the first thing I installed was the Progressive Industries EMS. A few weeks later I installed a transfer switch. I put the inverter I was using in my previous SOB on the generator side of the transfer switch. I forget the brand now but it was a 1500wt Pure Sine Wave unit also. But once I hooked it up my EMS will not allow power due to open ground. The more I look in to it the more I see that is a common problem. The more I looked for a better inverter the more it kept leading me to the Magnum. I also wanted a multi stage charger. So having both charger/inverter in 1 package was also very attractive.

I am also thinking of installing one in the Volvo for the fridge and stuff in the sleeper. I currently have my inverter in the truck hooked to the truck batteries but I have to make sure I shut it all down and hook to shore power when I get to my destination if I want to keep the fridge on. So I am thinking of installing a separate battery bank just for the sleeper. Then I don't have to worry about it dragging on the truck batteries. If I do, I think another Magnum will be in my future. I just won't tell mama .....

WanderBC · 02-10-2011, 01:59 PM

Rick

By generator compartment do you mean the front compartment where the hydraulics are? I was planning to put 4 CG batteries in there and run 2/0 welding cable through the bulkhead into the inverter installed on a shelf, and 10/3 cable to and from the distribution panel and ground the inverter as close as possible.

I showed my wife the picture of you rig and she said at least it was a Volvo, my Volvo would look nice where your Jeep is its a 69 122S.

Ozz

this is my control panel with room for a battery monitor someday

its going in the dead space above the microwave

I do a little bit each weekend,

martin

Ozz · 02-10-2011, 02:02 PM

That is going to be neat. I like the location.

WanderBC · 02-10-2011, 06:49 PM

I hope it all goes together as planned, I can run the wires from the solar panels down the fridge vent to solar controller then down to distribution panel and connect to the 6 gauge wires from the existing converter/battery charger that I'll unplug and leave in place just in case.

RickW · 02-11-2011, 05:27 AM

WanderBC, Yes I have it in the front compartment where the generator is designed to go if you install one. I replaced the original battery box with a BlueSea box and put in two 6v Batteries. I still have enough room to install another box and add 2 batteries. Have not done that yet, maybe this year. We do not boondock except for the occasional overnight in the parking lot of Wally World. The 2 batteries are enough for us to run the Microwave for dinner and the TV for a few hours and still have plenty of power for the night. I installed the monitor in the hallway right next to the Montana Control Panel.

When I was a kid we had a 122s Wagon. It was either a 69 or 70. I don't remember. My folks loved that car. The only reason my dad got rid of it was the road salt back east ate thru the floor pans. He had some old road signs on the floors to cover the holes. He was afraid of losing one of us kids going down the road.

What is funny is when car shopping for my wife back in 98 she did not know what she wanted to do. So I stopped at a Volvo dealership just to see what they had to offer. She wanted nothing to do with it. By the time we left she was comparing the S70 to all the other cars we had already looked at as well as all the others we also looked at after the Volvo. Needless to say she wound up with the S70. Drove it 12 years. When I finished the bed for the Volvo 780 I wanted to drive it up on the back and get a photo of the 2 Volvos. My ramps are too steep (Which was a bummer because I also wanted to put our Nissan 350Z on it for some trips). When we decided we wanted to go the HDT/Jeep route over a dually my wife set her sights on Volvo again. We finally replaced her S70 this year with a S80. She loves that car!

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