| After installing the residential refrigerator I needed to upgrade my inverter. The Phaeton came with the Xantrex RV2012GS with the RV Series remote Control/Automatic Generator Start, which is a modified sine wave inverter. I did not want to run the new refrigerator on a modified sine wave inverter so I purchased a Magnum 2812 pure sine wave inverter with the advance remote control and network version of the automatic generator start module. Not only is the new inverter a pure sine wave inverter it is also a larger inverter at 2800 watts. | |
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| I first turned off the inverter. But since the charger part of the Xantrex stays on even when the inverter is turned off I removed all 120 volt connections (shore power) from the motorhome. I did this to make sure that the the charger was not on. I then turned the big 12 volt switch by the battery bank to the off position to turn off 12 volts to the inverter. I checked the voltage at the connections and I still had 12 volts there. Well since that didn’t remove 12 volts, I decided to just remove the positive cable from the battery to the inverter first and tape it up real good. I then removed negative cable from the battery to the inverter and taped it up real good. Now the inverter had no DC or AC voltage on it. | |
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| I then removed the access panel and took a photo of the wires. I then marked the wires with some wire marker labels I had and then wrote down what each wire marker was on a piece of paper. This particular inverter has 2 circuits in and 2 circuits out. So the labels are AC In 1, AC in 2 AC in Neutral, AC out 1, AC out 2 and AC out Neutral. All the bare ground wires were connected to a ground lug on the case inside the access cover. I then removed all the wire connections and pulled the wires out of the inverter. The remote control and the remote battery temperature cable are plugged in the front of the inverter with a rj11 connection (telephone connection – landline, remember those? ?) | |
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| Since the inverter weighs about 48 lbs I decided to get my bottle jack and a wooden jack pad I had to assist me with lowering the inverter. I put an old t-shirt rag over the wooden jack pad and then adjusted the bottle jack under the inverter. I then removed the 4 bolts that held the inverter to the bracket at the top of the bay. I then lowered the bottle jack and then slid the inverter off the jack and wooden jack pad. | |
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| The remote battery temperature wire runs through the wire loom that goes through the middle of the motorhome and I wanted to save it to sell with the Xantrex. But the remote temperature wire takes such an around about way to get to the battery compartment, I decided to just cut it off. I then rearranged some of the wires to make it easier to route to the new inverter. On the Xantrex inverter the wires came in the front of the inverter whereas the Magnum inverter the wires come in on the side. | |
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| I then got the new Magnum inverter ready to install. I positioned the bottle jack and wooden jack pad so I could slide the inverter on to it. The first problem was that the new Magnum inverter is slanted on the top (It is installed upside down) and not flat like the Xantrex, so it was a trick to balance it on the bottle jack. ? Once I get it balanced I jacked the Magnum inverter into position and bolted one side of the inverter to the bracket since the bolt holes were the same as the Xantrex. Now the width of the inverter is different, so I needed to drill new mounting holes in the bracket. I drilled 2 holes and then bolted up the other side of the inverter to the bracket. I then lowered the bottle jack and got all of that out of the way. I had to reroute the AC wiring into and out of the inverter since the new inverter all the wires connections come in the side of the inverter rather than coming in the front on each side like the Xantrex inverter. | |
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| After rerouting the cables I connected them up to the new inverter, which wasn’t too hard. The inverter has 2 input circuits and 2 output circuits to be wired. The installation instructions indicated the correct way to connect this to the new inverter. The installation manual showed how to connect up the inverter in various ways (1 input, 1 output; 1 input 2 output,etc.) | |
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| The hardest part of the upgrade was the next step where I had to route the new remote battery temperature to the battery compartment. Since I had already undone the wire loom trying to remove the old remote battery temperature I used it to route the cable to the battery compartment. I could not use the same access hole through the bulk head because it was so heavily caulked. I found that the access hole through the bulk head that the battery cables used had room for me to run the remote battery temperature wire. I then routed the cable through to the battery compartment. I connected the remote battery temperature sensor to the negative connection on the battery bank. While I was in the battery compartment I noticed a lot of corrosion around the batteries and the hold down brackets. Looks like I have another job to do soon! ? | |
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| The next step was to go inside the motorhome and remove the Xantrex remote control module. I unscrewed the 4 screws that were holding the module and removed it from the cabinet. The data cable (4 wire phone cable) was plugged in the back of the module. I then plugged the cable into the new Magnum remote control module. | |
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| I will have to remove some of the wood in the cabinet to mount the new remote control module because it is a little wider than the old module. Unfortunately the new module is also smaller in the length than the old module so I will have to fill that void with something. Another Project! :0 | |
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| I then went back down to the Magnum inverter and connected up the positive and negative battery cables, the remote control module and tied up the loose cables with tie wraps. There is a test procedure in the installation manual for the inverter. I did the test and everything worked like it was supposed to work. Mission Accomplished!!!!!! | |
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| The company I purchased the Magnum inverter, remote control and automatic generator start from sent me the wrong automatic generator start. They sent me one for a stand-alone generator (no inverter) and I needed the network version (for use with an inverter). When it came in I mounted the module on the frame next to the inverter but on the opposite side. In other words in the next bay where my slide out tray is located. | |
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| I ran the wires to the inverter through the hole in the frame and connected the 12 volt wires to the positive and negative connections on the inverter. | |
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| There is a test button on the automatic generator start module, so I turned the breaker off on the generator (since I was still connected to power pedestal) and the test worked perfect. I then turned the breaker back on and now I will be ready to program the automatic generator start. | |
| Contact email: mdidelot@didelot.com |