We have just bought a Adria 23.5' van which will be towed behind a 2.9L Turbo Terracan.
So far we have added 2 80W solar panels, 1500w inverter, extra 100AH battery,satellite dish and replaced the battery charger with a Ctek xs1500 battery charger.
The original plan was to sell up and hit the road early November,however, the flat housing market has caused us to reconsider. So the new plan is leave mid January for 4 months (long service leave) and see what happens after that.
We have done a few weekend trips away to get used to things,being new to this that means, learn what everything does LOL.
Anyway looking forward to hitting the road and hope to meet some of you in our travels.

Picture of our rig is attached.

cheers

Gary

Welcome Garry & Kerry, your outfit looks good. Know how you feel about getting out there. We had 2 years roaming around and will be going again as soon as we can. Didn't sell the house - rented it for some extra income! Don't like the idea of
1. being out of the market
2. not having a place to run to if things go pear shaped (heaven forbid)
We too have had solar panels fitted to this van and they worked a treat on the shake down trip. Have always had the genny but a few of the NPs are starting to get a bit titchy if you use them and as we like to get into the quiet places had to look for alternate power. Our panels are actually still charging with the cover over the van - bonus.

Sincerely hope you don't intend to run anything over 200w on the 240v side on that ridiculously bizarre over-sized inverter. Also sincerely hope you know and realise the ramifications of putting more load than 200w on that inverter with that size battery.
If you don't you could end up with a fairly nasty explosion, fire or severe battery melt-down. I would suggest you get fitted by an auto-electrician a 25A MAXIMUM fuse on the battery side of that inverter so you cannot apply more 200w load.

Do you know what type of inverter this is - modified square wave or sine wave?
Do you know how to use this inverter?
How is the inverter wired in?
Are there separate power points for the inverter?

People who fit totally unsuitable equipment for needs and type and create these dangers most customers are not aware off should be trawled off to Consumer Affairs. Unfortunately there are no laws about fitting totally unsuitably matched and potentially dangerous equipment until after an accident has happened or the insurance company knocks back the claim.
I would go as far as to say the installation overall would not be done correctly as any fitter installing such a bizarre and potentially explosive setup would not know or care how the job was done.

Like I said I am new to this stuff and originally thought bigger was better. The inverter was fitted by an auto electrician (who also mentioned it was to big, although a bit more subtle))and has a 20A cct breaker on the battery side. It is wired to a separate power point, modified sine wave and will only be used for TV and DVD player.
When not in use the cct breaker will be tripped.
Thanks for the advice but I really think you are being a little harsh.

Re-reading my post I cannot believe I have been so restrained!

There is no such thing as 'modified sine wave'. It would require changing the laws of physics to modify a sine wave. What you have is a modified SQUARE wave. 'Modified sine wave' is only sales talk and cannot happen.

Using modified square wave inverter on those appliances, you will need to check the operating temperature on the power supplies while in use. You will generally find the power supplies run from normal operating temperature to melt down temperatures to catching fire to burning out the power supplies.
Modified square wave inverters should be restricted to incandescent light bulbs and heating elements.

The other major safety issue, the inverter you have fitted, is unlikely to be electrically isolated and they are dangerous to life threatening. In Victoria non-electrically isolated inverters are now banned in industrial, commercial and public places. Pity they did not ban all these rubbish unsafe non-electrically isolated inverters completely.

Gary do yourself a favour and dump your 1,000w modified SQUARE wave and install this 180w pure sine wave ELECTRICALLY ISOLATED inverter for $199.00 http://tinyurl.com/4mfms7
Make sure you get that exact model as they have a blue cased model that is the old model and not too good. I have not personally tested this new model, but I have a report from a reliable source I would trust.

Gary to fill you in a little on inverters, the Powertech I have recommended in my previous post is not at the top of the tree quality wise, but certainly up to the job you want, and 1,000% better than any modified square wave inverter.

Inverters like the Morningstar SureSine 300 inverter http://tinyurl.com/3o5cca
which are toroidal transformer inverters are at the top of the tree in performance and quality. This type of inverter are more efficient, have superior wave form, take less power to run themselves, have better motor starting and running characteristics, with low harmonics. If you were powering a Lemair washing machine, CPAP breathing device, fan the toroidal transformer inverter is well out in front, and can make a big difference in battery power consumption. When powered on batteries, these lower power use devices make a considerable difference over a number of hours use to battery life. Unfortunately these inverters come at a price of $435.00 but also have superior features like Sleep mode, remote on/off.

Hi Garry and Kerry,

I'm with you. I thought that Motoman was being a little harsh. But I think that he was having a go at the manufacturer/installer rather than the owner. Mind you he is right in what he says but when we discuss things on this forum, particularly with someone who by their own admittance has limited knowledge we need to be a little restrained.

My question is - why do you need an inverter? What do you propose to run from it?

Cheerio Tom

[quote="Tech Tom"]Hi Garry and Kerry,

I'm with you. I thought that Motoman was being a little harsh.

particularly with someone who by their own admittance has limited knowledge we need to be a little restrained.

G'day, I'm with you Tom, Motorman you may feel passionate about what you say and obviously know something about, but this forum has always been to help people, especially new members, not frighten them off, look forward to any info you have.

Only intend to run TV and Sat Decoder or DVD player when free camping.

My installer owns a caravan sales and repair buisness and is a qualified electrician and auto electrician. I bought the inverter elsewhere and he only installed, he stated that I really only needed 300W but as I had the larger size he would fit some extra protection so that I wouldn't overload and cause any damage to my batteries.

I am learning everyday by talking and listening to people and am open to constuctive criticism.

cheers