When things go wrong with your RV electrical system fixing it is no joke. As we made ready to return to our full-time travels we knew the first thing we had to do, that everything else was banking on, was to fix our faulty wiring.
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During our first year on the road with our current rig we had installed a couple solar panels with a solar charge controller and in inverter. The inverter we chose required a transfer switch to be installed so the system could automatically transfer between battery power and generator or shore power (that’s the power you get from the electrical grid) without having to remember to turn the inverter on or off first.
Little did we know that would cause huge issues for the next three years. We ended up burning, literally, through two transfer switches, thankfully catching the damage both times before they set fire to our entire trailer. So when we decided to purchase a home base and settle back in one spot for a few years we knew we’d have to take the time to fix our electrical system before heading back out.
My first call was to our friend Ben at Catalyst Connected Living to help us design a new system that would work with our current lithium battery and solar panels. We decided to go with equipment from Victron Energy that included a new Multiplus (an inverter/charger combo unit), solar charge controller, and battery shunt, among other things. The Multiplus allows us to completely bypass the original RV converter, replacing it and the inverter we had originally installed, to make everything operate seamlessly between battery and generator or shore power.
With an Amazon order full of new tools and wiring, my son and I got to work putting everything together, with a lot of question and answer conversations with Ben. Several weeks later, with a few hiccups along the way (nothing says something was wired wrong like smoke coming from your battery!), we finally got everything working again, just in time for an August test trip to visit my parents. We now have steady power from the battery and from our newly installed 50amp service at our garage.
Interested in what exactly we installed? Here’s a list of the major componts:
- Victron Energy Multiplus Pure Sine Wave Inverter/Charger
- Victron Energy SmartSolar MPPT Solar Charge Controller
- Victron Energy SmartShunt Battery Monitor
- Victron Energy Cerbo-S GX
- Victron Energy VE.Direct Cable
- BlueSea Systems M-series Battery Switch
- Solar Disconnect Switch
- BlueSea System Fuse Block
We also found these two tools quite handy:
Only time will tell if our electrical issues have truly been solved with this upgrade, but I’m confident we’ve done the best we can.
Have you ever had issues with your RV electrical system? I’d love to hear your story in the comments below! You can also find us on Instagram and Facebook @simplejoyfuljourney, or email me at alicia@simplejoyfuljourney.com. And don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter at the bottom of the page before you go. Have a great week!
Check out our other RV renovation posts!