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Topic Closedinstalling Inverter
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CharlieM View Drop Down
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Posts: 1797 		Direct Link To This Post Topic: installing Inverter
    Posted: 17 Jul 2016 at 7:20pm
Unfortunately FR uses white wire for the 12V DC negative connections as well as the 120V AC neutral. White is the common color for household 120V neutral, but the 12V negatives should have been black. The 12V DC negative bus is the one grounded to the frame and may also have many bare copper wires. The 120V neutral bus will also have many white wires, but no bare copper wires. DO NOT CONNECT 12V DC CIRCUITS TO THIS BUS. Only connect 12V negative wires to the frame grounded bus. Use black and red wiring for 12V circuits to avoid confusion. 
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bjk View Drop Down
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Posts: 65 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17 Jul 2016 at 6:38pm
At least in my 2016 179, you'll find that the bus bar mounted to the floor behind the inverter for the white wires actually also runs a line down through the floor and to the frame.
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WillThrill View Drop Down
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Posts: 298 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 Jul 2016 at 9:27pm
Originally posted by dherman201

For sure l turn off the ac power prior to wiring in the box. Do you normally unhook the battery or just remove the fuse for the circuit you are working on. Would be nice to install a battery on/ off switch.

Just to be sure, I would disconnect the battery, even though there's no possibility of the AC circuits being energized from it.

The battery switch is a very common mod, and it is cheap and easy to do.
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dherman201 View Drop Down
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Posts: 23 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 Jul 2016 at 8:47pm
For sure l turn off the ac power prior to wiring in the box. Do you normally unhook the battery or just remove the fuse for the circuit you are working on. Would be nice to install a battery on/ off switch.
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dherman201 View Drop Down
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Posts: 23 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 Jul 2016 at 2:34pm
Fantastic.  Now I can move ahead with confidence.

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WillThrill View Drop Down
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Posts: 298 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 Jul 2016 at 2:10pm
Everything looks perfect to me.

Ground is ground irrespective of whether it's used in an AC or DC appliance.  So yes, you can use the AC ground bus for the grounding of your inverter, though most people do not ground their inverters at all, and they work perfectly fine.  It's just something that makes it a tiny bit safer.
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dherman201 View Drop Down
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Posts: 23 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 Jul 2016 at 12:28pm
First let me thank everyone for all their help.  I need just a little more reassurance.  I'm including some pictures as it seems that different pods have different configurations.
First picture is my panel box.
Next is behind the panel box. 

First are my labels correct?  It seems the AC ground bus is inside the panel box along with the AC common bus.   The DC negative appears to be behind the box.  Checks out with volt meter as I get 12v between DC fuse positive connector and both DC negative bus and AC ground bus.

So my inverter has a positive a negative and a ground.  I'm thinking this... positive to DC panel fuse (20 amp)  Negative to DC bus behind the box.  Now I'm unclear on grounding DC circuits and the difference between a DC ground an DC negative.  But I was going to take a ground wire from the Inverter ground post to the AC ground bus.  Does this all seem correct.
Thanks so much.  I'm going to get this... eventually.  
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EddieC View Drop Down
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Posts: 7 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Jul 2016 at 12:23pm
Originally posted by dherman201

Thought it was kind of strange. It's not like it is going to protect the phone from a surge of any kind, right. . It also says it is a 2.1A plug. I would think if anything else shorts the plug the 15 A fuse would blow.
Just to be clear, the fuse is not there to protect the device. It's there to protect the wire. You can connect wire that is just large enough to easily carry 2 amps to a terminal that is fused for 15 amps as long as you include a 2 amp fuse.

If your 2 amp device fails and draws 14 amps, it will blow the 2 amp fuse but not the 15 amp fuse. If you do not include the 2 amp fuse, the wire will overheat to the point of catching on fire. Fire is bad.
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WillThrill View Drop Down
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Posts: 298 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Jul 2016 at 12:01pm
Originally posted by CharlieM

One correction. The bus bar attached to the frame or floor is the Ground, not Neutral. It is populated with bare wires, although it may have some white wires too. The bus connecting only white wires is the 120V AC neutral and should not be grounded or used for 12VDC grounds. This is a safety issue.

Yes, sorry for the mixup.  Thanks for the correction.
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CharlieM View Drop Down
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Posts: 1797 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Jul 2016 at 11:26am
Originally posted by dherman201

Charlie do you prefer the cigarette lighter socket and then use the USB adapter .  I bought a couple of USB sockets and thought I would just use them.  Guess the cigarette lighter socket gives some other options.


The USB 12V sockets with USB adapters are just a bit more versitile, and less expensive to replace if they fail, but the Blue Sea products are excellent and will serve very well. To your later post, the extra 2A fuse is not required. The fuse is to protect the wire, not the device. #12 wire protected by a 15A fuse is adequate. The USB adapters themselves would not require #12, smaller wire could be used since the total for two would only be 4A, but I would run #12 anyway. It's just as easy and you might want to change or add a socket someday.
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