Vista 32YE 1000W inverter install

[John Locke]

After much shopping and research, I've ordered a Xantrex 1000W Freedom X inverter for my Vista. I've studied the AC wiring diagram for my 32YE and have concluded the sockets for the BRN circuit in the coach provide the best assortment of wall sockets to power with the inverter. The Xantrex Freedom X has BYPASS support, which is important to me. When connected to land power, the inverter is BYPASSED so the sockets are powered by land power. In this scenario the inverter goes into standby. So to install the inverter, there is an AC input, DC input, and AC output lines that must be connected, as well as the remote monitor which is only a phone wire RJ11 connection between the inverter and monitor.

After investigating, it appears the basement compartment next to the entry door on the left is the best location for mounting. The right wall of that compartment looks ideal to mount it sideways, on the wall. This location is next door to the battery tray (located under the steps), and right below the AC circuit breaker box, making it conveniently close to run the wires. Also, inside the RV, to the left of the entry steps where the circuit breaker door is located, there's a space to the right of that door to mount the remote monitor for the inverter. This monitor mounting area is also conveniently close for wiring. So that's my installation plan that I hope to execute over the holidays.

Has anyone else installed an inverter in a 32YE? If you have, any tips or suggestions are appreciated.

[powercat_ras]

Be sure to use an in-line 12 volt fuse of at least 100 amps and 12 volt cable that can handle that amount of current, 2 gauge or larger. The Xantrex 1000 control panel can be removed from the end of the inverter and located inside the RV, consult your Xantrex manual for details.

You may have part of the brown branch circuit romex looped thru the basement already, see the following drawing from Winnebagoind.com for details.

Body 120V Wiring Diagram

[John Locke]

Originally Posted by powercat_ras

Be sure to use an in-line 12 volt fuse of at least 100 amps and 12 volt cable that can handle that amount of current, 2 gauge or larger. The Xantrex 1000 control panel can be removed from the end of the inverter and located inside the RV, consult your Xantrex manual for details.

You may have part of the brown branch circuit romex looped thru the basement already, see the following drawing from Winnebagoind.com for details.

Body 120V Wiring Diagram

Thanks for the tip. That's correct, I was reading the Xantrex manual yesterday and saw they suggested 150A fuse (per below), as the peak surge output of 2000W for 2 seconds is supported by the inverter. I'm thinking of using a 150amp DC breaker, as shown below.

Yes, there is an AC socket in the basement right above where I plan to mount the inverter, and it's on the BRN circuit. However that BRN circuit must be disconnected at the beginning, at the circuit breaker, and that line must be reconnected to the AC OUTPUT of the Inverter. The BRN circuit breaker output runs then routes to the inverter AC INPUT, providing AC power to the inverter for BYPASS MODE.

[powercat_ras]

Some of those imported circuit breakers are notoriously un-reliable. You may want to consider:

150 Amp ANL Fuse and Holder

[John Locke]

Originally Posted by powercat_ras

Some of those imported circuit breakers are notoriously un-reliable. You may want to consider:

150 Amp ANL Fuse and Holder

Yeah, you're right! After reading all the reviews it doesn't appear reliable. Fuses are reliable, however I would be compelled to have fuse replacements. When I buy an extra fuse, I can never remember where I put it. I need a fuse holder that holds a spare too. Maybe duct tape would help keep one handy next to the fuse holder. Hah!

[John Locke]

Originally Posted by powercat_ras

You may have part of the brown branch circuit romex looped thru the basement already, see the following drawing from Winnebagoind.com for details.

Body 120V Wiring Diagram

Now that I think about it, you're right. Why didn't I think of that? LOL. All I would need to do is disconnect the BRN circuit at the breaker and terminate it with insulating nuts. Then just tap into the basement BRN socket to light up the entire BRN circuit. This saves running one set of AC wires from the inverter through the floor to the breaker box. All I have to do is run the AC from the BRN circuit breaker down to the inverter AC INPUT for BYPASS support. If I'm lucky that Basement box is the first box in a series of lines, like the schematic say. If that's the case I can use disconnect that basement socket AC feed line that comes from the breaker, and use that for AC INPUT to the inverter. Thanks!

[SLOweather]

I installed a 2kW Xantrex in our 2014 31' Sunstar On the left as you enter the door is a cabinet under the counter. I believe your sink is there. There was space on the inside wall behind the false cabinet back to mount the inverter on the inside of the outside wall.


That was very handy because all of the wiring is right there, under the bottom of the cabinet. I disconnected the 2 receptacle circuits and the microwave from the breaker panel, routed the AC input od the inverter to the microwave breaker, and made a 3 breaker box for the output of the inverter to the 3 circuits.

[John Locke]

UPDATE....
I'm pleasantly surprised with the job to install an inverter in my 32YE. It's as though the rig was designed to install an inverter DIY, inside the basement to the left of the entry door. The basement receptacle on the ceiling of that compartment is the FIRST receptacle in an string of receptacles on the BRN circuit of the RV, as shown in the schematic above in post #6. All I had to do is remove that receptacle from the string, cut the AC line that ran through the receptacle box, and run both lines to the inverter (one to the AC input for bypass support, one to the AC output to power the BRN circuit). The AC line from the breaker box even had extra AC wire above the floor that I could pull down into the basement for an easier install, I don't even have to buy AC wire, it's long enough as is! very thoughtful of Winnebago.

The DC lines are pretty straight-forward too, since the basement compartment is next to the battery tray. Finding the 2GA wire in black and red wasn't as easy as expected. PepBoys auto parts didn't have the black ground cable. For the red cable I had to buy a 4' replacement battery cable and cut off the big battery clamp on one end. Home Depot had the 2GA wire in Black, but they had no red 2GA wire. I had to buy the two cables from two places, really odd. For a rubber grommet to feed the 2GA wire through the sheet metal of the basement, I used 2 SMOG GROMMETS from PepBoys. I found one PN that was the right hole ID for the cables which were about 1/2" OD. The grommet fits into a 3/4" hole. I also had to buy some cable clamps to secure the wires from flopping around between the battery tray and the basement holes.

I haven't completed the job yet, but will share photos when done. It's really a slam dunk install, much easier than my last RV, which didn't have AC bypass support. This one has bypass support, which is great to support more power (>1000W), full 15Amps when connected to shore power.

[SLOweather]

For the record, for anyone else doing an installation like this, Harbor Freight has 2 ga inverter cables in 3' and 6' red and black pairs. $30 and $40.

[John Locke]

UPDATE:

Today I spent the afternoon working on relocating the DC circuit breakers to the left about 4", just to make room for the Xantrex remote monitor. This location wasn't the easiest to install, but it was very straight-forward with no surprises.

Since this Xantrex Freedom 1000 inverter unit has AC bypass, this turns off the inverter when connected to shore power, or generator is on. Because of that, I'll likely always leave the inverter turned on so we have a few sockets that work while traveling with generator off. I decided I didn't need the monitor to be visible all the time since I won't be turning it on and off very frequent. However it's pretty close and accessible if needed. It's also nice to know this inverter is programmable to turn off if the inverter is putting out less than 50W. You can program it to turn off from 1 to 25hrs is powering less than 50w. You can also lower that to 25W if desired.

Here's what my panel relocation looks like below. This took all afternoon to engineer. I'm not the fastest at scratch fabrication, I like taking my time to do a good job. This piece of wood was some 3/4" scrap hardwood I had left over from installing wall cabinets in my home office about 5yrs ago. I figured it was close enough match, since it's not visible behind the cabinet door.

[John Locke]

Here's before photos, and each step. When cutting out the added areas, I ran into some long nails when cutting the wood framing behind to thin wood fascia. A regular hack saw was needed to get past those nails in the wood.

[John Locke]

Here's a couple of photos of the unit mounted in the basement to the left of the entry door of my 32YE. It's important to carefully plan how to miss the frame member tube behind the wall of the basement, when boring the holes for the 2GA battery cables. Below shows approximately where a frame member is behind the sheet metal.

The goal was to mount the unit as high as possible on the basement wall because there is an AC socket on bottom of the inverter that I will need access to. This photo shows the highest position possible, due to a the frame tube behind the basement wall.

As mentioned earlier, the AC socket in this basement was re-purposed to feed AC power to the Inverter for bypass support, and to provide the AC circuit connection for about 6 sockets in the RV. The wired going into, and exiting the stock basement socket made this install much easier then originally anticipated. I didn't have to install any new AC lines, only the 2GA DC lines from the battery.

[John Locke]

My Xantrex Freedom X 1000W inverter install was a success. I'm pretty happy with how it all turned out. The quality of the Xantrex unit seems very good. We'll see how it operates over the next couple years.

My wife was hoping it would run a toaster. The preliminary testing I did with a 900W toaster from Amazon tested good, heating up the toaster elements for 2min with no error codes or audible alarms. I haven't actually toasted bread yet, so that's the next step. Hah!

Below are a couple photos showing my 2GA wire connections to the battery. Although working with 2GA wire isn't easy, my experience was straight forward. Tinning 2GA wire with solder to improve wire integrity was a bit tricky with the Weller soldering iron. The primary hot wire lug I had to use a torch to get enough heat. Then I covered up my ugly red wire burnt insulation with shrink wrap, so it looks pretty.

The 150A fuse unit I bought for the 2GA wire included a battery voltage meter, shown below. Although it's pretty nice having the meter, I really didn't need it because my remote monitor for the Xantrex inverter shows the same voltage numbers, and it's easier to access for reading behind the circuit breaker door, instead of under the stair. This meter in the battery area is turned off with a switch I installed in the stair well, seen in the lower left of the photo. I will leave this meter off most the time, since I really don't need it on.

The other photo below shows the handy ground connection available for the 2GA ground wire. Winnebago added this ground strip to the Ford chassis. Notice the metal is all rusted (time for Corrosion X HD) because Winnebago welded on bare metal for grounding purposes, hence leaving it bare metal, which easily rusts.

[FishBear]

Thanks for the detailed info... might take this one on in the new year

[John Locke]

Originally Posted by SLOweather

For the record, for anyone else doing an installation like this, Harbor Freight has 2 ga inverter cables in 3' and 6' red and black pairs. $30 and $40.

I was at Harbor Freight for their year end sale and saw their 2GA cable set. Had I only known before. Thanks.

[SLOweather]

Heh, I was there this morning at 8AM when they opened to get a 3 1/2 ft^3 concrete mixer for 25% off.


Yesterday the place was a zoo, and I didn't even go in the lot.

[Jim_SB]

Great installation thread with pics; thank you.

I’m planning on adding an Inverter to my 2018 Vista 31BE (bought last August). All I really want is the ability to brew a pot of coffee in the morning without having to run the generator. Running the microwave would be a bonus but not required.

Any recommendations? Anything you’d do differently with hindsight?

Thanks.

[Jim_SB]

I just learned that what I want to accomplish isn’t realistically feasible so instead I’m going to get a stove top percolator to quietly make coffee in the morning.