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Pop-Up Camper Inverter

Sure, it is great to daydream and think ahead :)

The exercise part is looking more like getting a dozer just to have one. Sure it is cool to have the thing, but without an ongoing need to use it, the hunk of metal turns into a maintenance hog as it is one more mechanism that needs attention in order to keep it reliable.

With that, freely admit that I bought one of my vehicles with the intent that it could provide power if necessary as I wanted to avoid the money outlay for a generator. Figured that since I already had a 30Amp / 120V inverter, why not use the truck's dual alternators for limited back-up power. And as detailed above, it did. Once. Have since moved-on to generator power as it is far less expensive to get 30Amp / 240V out of a portable generator than out of a 12v battery bank ;) I do still have the 30 Amp / 120V inverter lying around as it costs me nothing to maintain or store, but the generator will come out of the shed first rather than reflexively hook the inverter up to the truck.

So, for all those what-if's, scope the solution to the situation. Using the vehicle for power generation is a crude application and will lead to increased maintenance on the truck. Another thing to note is that diesels do not like to run without some load. I know of some corporate diesel generators (whole building size units) that were not happy as they did not have enough load and required extra maintenance.

To the daydreaming part, if the scenario is remote off-grid working, chances are good that four lithium batteries (Group 29 size equivalent), an inverter, a properly sized solar array, and a 2kW inverter (for backup purposes) will do the job. In this scenario, power loads are relatively light. Actually, chances are good that even the electronics are able to tap directly into the DC power with DC to DC converters which could eliminate the inverter. Even hot water creation is not a huge factor as there are solar units available. I would use the truck to fetch food and fuel for the generator.

If the goal is to run enough construction equipment to build a neighborhood, I'd get a properly sized generator. In that case, the truck would probably need an in-bed fuel transfer tank to supply the generator.

Notice how using the pickup is now among the last things I'd put into service for power generation ;)

In a commercial application such as powerline repair after storm damage, having a vehicle with PTO power generation might make sense. But then again chainsaws are still using gas and the boom needs PTO driven hydraulic power, so not much need for that PTO generator.
 
Yeah, in that case I agree with Jay. Already having the converter you have could be worth hanging onto. Get it packaged together as small as possible where extension cords can come into play with it.

Then just keep your eyes open for abandon rvs that get damaged and cost of repair exceeds value- which happens all the time. Talk to local towing companies as they generally get the call from the local PD or hiway patrol. I would suggest against buying them at auction with intent to strip down, I learned the hard way the amount you have to pay for industrial trash disposal gets pretty bad, and the amount of steel/ aluminum you recover won't offset half the trash fee. The way to deal with it is volunteer your disassembly services on their location. Drive out with the general tools and cordless tool kit for tearing apart and ripping up. Provided they have a large yard forklift you can use for placing the main parts into a roll off dumpster. Then you can salvage the inverters, converters, etc. In my case it was to salvage a good low mileage 454 and th400. it had a leaky water pump, and the repair cost on it was ridiculous because the mfr didn't make it able to be worked on in frame. so the front of the rv had to be chopped off, remove engine, change waterpump, reinstall, repair fiberglass, and repaint... yeah. The owner was so happy I hauled it off for free.

Keep an eye out for the suitcase sized honda eu2000i. Many people are switching to the new eu2200i because it can easily run a rv rooftop a/c by itself. You usually find them in the situation: hard to start and when it does start the idle is hunting up and down. rebuild the carburetor with all new jets and always drain the fuel from the carb after use. it dries out in the jets plugging them and they are made so precise that cleaning them out scratches them causing worse issue than the dried fuel.
 
Just to answer an earlier question about why does the system have both a converter and inverter on newer models, camper manufacturers are starting to accept that not everyone stays at campgrounds with power or want to hear a generator running all the time.

My toyhauler for example, its from the early 2000's and has a onboard 5kw generator along with a 30 amp input plug. A pair of 12v plugs inside but no way to run the 120v stuff without a external power source or the generator running. Only reason there is a 12v converter is to charge the batteries.
 
That’s a nice upgrade. That new model of motorhome has a converter and inverter which will address the needs of charging the batteries wherever you want.
To enhance the performance of the engine I would prefer to install solar panels because they will share the load and give better pick up while driving.
 
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