Power Station Plugged into your RV AC Outlet

[Thor Compass]

Not knowing what kind of RV you have and how its laid out, it is hard for me to say how to do it. Nor am I really sure that turning off your charger (converter) is a good idea either as it helps your rv 12v system work.

But if you plug in your power station and your batteries are charged, the charger should not take much power from your powerstation.

As far as protection, not sure how big your powerstation is. Maybe you can use a compartment? Or cover it with a tarp or tent?

Thanks, Rich,

At least you got my wheels turning thinking about it in a better light. If you are an above average RV electrical guy, maybe you can help me with just theory portion, minus exact layout. From what I understand the incoming shore power goes to an automatic switch that switches between sending Generator AC Or Shore Power AC to the RV AC supply bus (powers the Tvs, Microwave and AC Outlets, Water Heater, Air Conditioner Heater, and house battery charger inverter. The DC bus is always connected to the batteries that powers the DC Bus for the house led lights, fans, water pump, and 3-Mode Refrigerator. I would still like to figure out how to disconnect the batteries when the power station is providing the AC to the RV inverter for the RV DC Bus. Thank you.

 

[Richpatty]

I guess the simplest way would be to put a cutoff switch on the batteries.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07T288VN8/?tag=rvf01-20

But you don’t want to disconnect the batteries or you may have issues. Not sure the converter would be able to run your 12v functions without the batteries.

i guess one way to shut down the converter and run off batteries while running on the power station would be to pull the fuse or breaker for the converter. Not sure what ramifications there would be…depending on how long you want to run without it. And does it also serve an inverter function?

I still feel that there would not be much draw if the batteries were topped off….

Rich

 

[Thor Compass]

I guess the simplest way would be to put a cutoff switch on the batteries.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07T288VN8/?tag=rvf01-20

But you don’t want to disconnect the batteries or you may have issues. Not sure the converter would be able to run your 12v functions without the batteries.

i guess one way to shut down the converter and run off batteries while running on the power station would be to pull the fuse or breaker for the converter. Not sure what ramifications there would be…depending on how long you want to run without it. And does it also serve an inverter function?

I still feel that there would not be much draw if the batteries were topped off….

Rich

Finally got through to the THOR Motor Coach support electrician. He sent the attached electrical diagrams for my 2021 Thor Compass. A better picture to assist us. He also stated no issue plugging the power station into the wall outlet or shore power cable, but need to make sure the power station is capable of delivering 30amps. Also, there is a battery disconnect switch which allows the batteries not to be charged by shore power and only charged by the two solar panels.

 

[Thor Compass]

Rich,

Do you see any schematics that details the AC to DC converter circuit that supplies power to the house lights water pump, water heater, furnace, and fans? Thank you.

 

[Rich W.]

I havent read this whole thread yet, but my son just picked up a good used Mercedes (made by Tesla) battery for $3400. New it was 35.75 kwh. Currently hovering around 35.24, so over 98%. It‘s also liquid cooled, accounting for its longevity, and the configuration is usable just the way it is, and a cooling system can easily be fabricated and added to help maintain its useful live. Nissan Leaf batteries used to be the standard, but this thing is a significant improvement over them. I dont know what the 2kwh Li-ion power station mentioned above costs, but this thing is the best $/kwh I’ve ever seen - by far!

Also (on topic) I fully agree with others here that back-feeding a power source into an RV would be a mistake that could lead to some very serious consequences (do you have a 30amp outlet on the coach to back-feed it into?) and even wired correctly, it wouldn‘t be worth doing for 2Kwh.

 

[Rich W.]

Finally got through to the THOR Motor Coach support electrician. He sent the attached electrical diagrams for my 2021 Thor Compass. A better picture to assist us. He also stated no issue plugging the power station into the wall outlet or shore power cable, but need to make sure the power station is capable of delivering 30amps. Also, there is a battery disconnect switch which allows the batteries not to be charged by shore power and only charged by the two solar panels.

Plugged into shore power yes; into a wall outlet no. Your wall outlets are on 15amp circuits with 14ga wire so putting a bigger load on that type of circuit would be a mistake, and probably (hopefully) just trip the breaker anyway, regardless of what the guy at Thor said. I am not certain as I‘ve never tried to over-power a breaker by feeding excessive power backwards through it (might be a good experiment on someone else's panel) but it just sounds all wrong.

When I have back-fed a panel for a hillbilly generator hook-up, I’ve at least gone straight to the panel with an appropriately sized circuit (home run with the right size wire and outlet) and made sure no one else touched it. Can’t say I’ve never done the double male thing, but it is asking for trouble and with an RV (to me) its just not worth the risk. Seems pretty irresponsible for a tech at Thor to advocate this.

 

[Thor Compass]

I havent read this whole thread yet, but my son just picked up a good used Mercedes (made by Tesla) battery for $3400. New it was 35.75 kwh. Currently hovering around 35.24, so over 98%. It‘s also liquid cooled, accounting for its longevity, and the configuration is usable just the way it is, and a cooling system can easily be fabricated and added to help maintain its useful live. Nissan Leaf batteries used to be the standard, but this thing is a significant improvement over them. I dont know what the 2kwh Li-ion power station mentioned above costs, but this thing is the best $/kwh I’ve ever seen - by far!

Also (on topic) I fully agree with others here that back-feeding a power source into an RV would be a mistake that could lead to some very serious consequences (do you have a 30amp outlet on the coach to back-feed it into?) and even wired correctly, it wouldn‘t be worth doing for 2Kwh.

Rich W.,

Thanks, for reinforcing not to back-feed, as Rich Patty recommended, also. I'll stick with using the 30amp shore power circuit. Since, I'd like to keep the power station protected from the environment. I need to find the simplest way to install a 30amp receptacle on the inside of my RV house and plug it into the power station. Any ideas? Thank you.

 

[Rich W.]

Rich W.,

Thanks, for reinforcing not to back-feed, as Rich Patty recommended, also. I'll stick with using the 30amp shore power circuit. Since, I'd like to keep the power station protected from the environment. I need to find the simplest way to install a 30amp receptacle on the inside of my RV house and plug it into the power station. Any ideas? Thank you.

I’ve done a lot or this kind of work but without seeing it and being involved I really can’t make any reccomendations other than find someone with experience in this area who wont rob you. Pic is 2/3 of a Nissan Leaf batrery in my Bay Star that fed an inverter wired directly to my transfer switch. It would run an air conditioner for around 7 hours after the sun went down and solar stopped contributing, I had a similar arrangement in an older Thor Class C (with 1875w of solar) but had to add a transfer switch to the system.

 

[Thor Compass]

Rich W.,

I’ve done a lot or this kind of work but without seeing it and being involved I really can’t make any reccomendations other than find someone with experience in this area who wont rob you. Pic is 2/3 of a Nissan Leaf batrery in my Bay Star that fed an inverter wired directly to my transfer switch. It would run an air conditioner for around 7 hours after the sun went down and solar stopped contributing, I had a similar arrangement in an older Thor Class C (with 1875w of solar) but had to add a transfer switch to the system.View attachment 12835

Rich W.,

That's a nice setup with a 7-hour Airconditioner runtime. That would not fit in my 23ft Thor Compass. The battery storage is under my entry stairway. Only two 12v 60ah batteries (total - (120ah) will fit. Therefore, the power station will be small enough to put on the floor of the house. Just need to somehow get a shore power plug receptical installed in the house. This would only power your AC unit for 4-hours if you are pulling 500w/hr. Your battery setup is probably providing around 4000Wh. Thank you.

Specifications​

• PRODUCT WEIGHT: 38 LBS
• PRODUCT HEIGHT: 10.5 IN
• PRODUCT LENGTH: 15 IN
• PRODUCT WIDTH: 9 IN

 

[Richpatty]

Yea…wiring the power station from inside is out of my area of expertise as well. I still think the best way is to put it in a basement somewhere and run the shore cable over to it. You maybe need to have some way for it to breath as there may be some heat generated….need to look at the power station specs.

Rich