brucerhahn Posted April 21, 2018 Share Posted April 21, 2018 Hello, Anybody know what this is? (photo) Inside house battery compartment of 1992 Itasca Spirit. I replaced an existing older inverter with a new pure sine 1000 watt inverter in order to run an oxygen concentrator (420 watts) while driving. It worked perfectly for about 22 minutes. Then the inverter faulted and the concentrator ceased to function. We headed home instead of to the beach. Wife's birthday, not good. There was no DC power in the coach so I plugged it it to shore and the lights came on. Left it plugged for the night, pulled shore power in the morning and the lights go out. Started the engine, lights on. Got to fumbling around in the battery compartment and found the black box (photo) with 2 reset buttons, pushed the one labeled "rear pnl/conv 25". Lights on. (the other is labeled "battery charger 30"). I assume I tripped a 25 amp circuit breaker. My question is, What is this unit? is it possible to replace or upgrade without replacing the converter/charger? thank you Bruce Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WME Posted April 21, 2018 Share Posted April 21, 2018 (edited) Looks like a simple plastic box with 2 manual reset CB mounted in it. Looks like you are in for a bit of a rewire on the inverter. FWIW 420 watts works out that the inverter is drawing 40+ amps from the battery. So you are going to need a 100-200 amp FUSE on a special circuit to feed just the inverter...ugh why so big a fuse???? A 1000w inverter is uauslly rated as a 2000w start up current. It will draw over 200 amps from the battery during startup. So concentrator, plus startup surge, plus inverter loses. Edited April 21, 2018 by WME Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanAatTheCape Posted April 21, 2018 Share Posted April 21, 2018 (edited) wondering if you are not over engineering this thing... I have a 400 watt/ surge 800 cobra wired directly to battery (thru the a CB mounted right where yours is). I can plug in various appliances - usually laptop. I have run a hand blender etc. Indeed there are CB;s in that case - the little plastic nuts (around the push to reset buttons, are all that is holding the CB's in place). Should not be hard to test to see if the CB is popped or failed. Assuming that is ok then I would check power at your invertor. Also plug the cpap directly into a known good outlet in a building. You could have infant mortality on your cpap or your invertor. Also attached a couple of pics of my old and new cb's.... 2011-05-25-NAPA-circuitbreakers-receipt.pdf Edited April 21, 2018 by DanAatTheCape added pictures Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brucerhahn Posted April 28, 2018 Author Share Posted April 28, 2018 I apologize for the delayed response. Just returned from the beach. The information you've provided is greatly appreciated and very helpful. I've removed the CB and will replace as soon as I find one. Also I'm beginning to suspect the battery. It seems to be either not charging or not holding a charge. thank you very much Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brucerhahn Posted April 28, 2018 Author Share Posted April 28, 2018 I do have a clarification question regarding the inverter. Even though it's rated 1000/2000 watts, wouldn't it only pull from the battery what the device requires plus some overhead? Wouldn't a 420 watt device plugged into a 1000 watt inverter require maybe 1000 at startup then drop back to half of that for operation? thanks again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WME Posted April 28, 2018 Share Posted April 28, 2018 You have to remember that your going from 12v to 120v. So there is a factor of 10x. 420w is about 3 amps, so that means 30 amps from the battery. Throw in conversion losses, start up amps and pop goes the weasel and so does your new 30 amp circuit breaker You should fused the 12v into the inverter to protect the battery for Max rating of the inverter. I would say 100-150amp FUSE. You never what you may plug into the inverter in the future. The inverter should have it's own output fuses and the concentrater should have it's own fuses also Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brucerhahn Posted April 28, 2018 Author Share Posted April 28, 2018 Got it, thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanAatTheCape Posted May 24, 2018 Share Posted May 24, 2018 might want to look at your cpap machine to see what voltage it takes directly - some appliances are already running at low voltage and the 120vac charger includes a stepdown device. If that is the case, you are taking 12vdc, boosting it to 120vac then bringing it back down to whatever is needed. Based on what I have read so far in this thread, maybe you should consider a small generator - something like small & reliable - something that sips fuel -- maybe a honda 1000? If you are really drawing as much as mentioned, you will have to recharge your house battery every day anyway - and all those cycles will wear out a house battery quicker. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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