I set up our boat, to run without the need for a generator. The plan there, was to install a large bank of ' house' batteries to act as a source of power when needed.
Obviously, we cannot run air conditioning on the boat with battery power and the same is true in our motor home. On the boat, for air conditioning, we need to plug in to 120vac land power. The same is true in our motor home...A.C. requires lots of power, so we need to run the generator or plug in.
OTHER THAN THAT, we can get by with this extra set of Group 29 batteries, wired in parallel, to provide TV, coffee pot computer,or minimum microwave time and lighting. The original 'auxiliary' battery was tied in to these extra two with a cutoff switch. I usually keep the switch open so charging and discharge affects all 3 as a bank.
Nothing fancy, but installed( 2) Gr.29 deep cycle batteries ($70 ea. @ Walmart) + $7.50/plastic battery box for each.
Room was available in a space under the aft dinette seat. An outlet was installed on the forward face of lower section(leg area). The 1000 watt inverter ($100 @ Walmart) is inexpensive as it's a modified square wave unit, not sine wave but works fine for our applications. It was installed in the small space available just aft of this seat-under the refrigerator. This size is large enough to power our little microwave or coffee pot when needed and not extensively and our T.V. with DVD player/anytime.A 120 v.a.c. line run was run from the Inverter, forward to the outlet on forward face of aft dinette seat so a short 3' extension cord could be plugged in and allowed to rest near the window on the table, for computer and phone chargers. Another #12 AC line was led back under refrigerator section to next compartment(hanging locker and drawers), then under the floor in an existing run to the galley cabinets.
From there, up into the overhead microwave cabinet. Double outlets where installed in a box there strictly
for plugging in the TV and coffee pot/microwave and amplified RCA TV antenna. An 6 ga. tinned copper wire was run forward and hooked up the the aux. bat. for charging purposes. A time delay fuse installed at the forward/auxilary battery and switch installed between each(actually 'low' on the forward face for the forward dinette seat, where I can just reach down and turn it on or off while I drive, but usually just leave it 'on'.TV running off the Inverter and Batteries. Recieving about 20 HD channels using an RCA 806 amplified antenna installed in one of the aft overhead cabinets above the bed.
Had a friend of mine make a simple TV mount, that attaches near the roof/on the backside of the galley cabinet, and down on the backspash behind the sink. It is a tube within a tube, so the TV can slide up or down the 1" stainless steel pole(TV 5" x 1/8" flat plate is welded to a 13" piece of 1.25" stainless steel
tubing.) The main pole was drilled at 2 points to be able to insert a push pin. This allows the TV to be turned around for viewing in the aft bed and slid up out of the way, completely behind the cabinet.View looking forward // CLICK ON ANY PHOTO FOR ENLARGED UP CLOSE VIEWING.
For viewing TV while we are forward, we lower the TV and rotate it to face forward, then reinsert the pin. The TV can be left in either position. All works well.
Posts
