Inverter wired to Giggy Box

BankerCamper

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Joined
May 3, 2016
Messages
13
Has anyone wired an inverter directly to the Giggy Box vs direct to the battery? Obviously would install an inline fuse in the positive cable.
 
Welcome to the forum :wlcm:

How big inverter? Why not go directly to the battery(s)
 
I plan to get a 2000 watt Renogy that has the pass through and auto transfer. Just thought it would be cleaner to go to the box.
 
Depending on how far away the inverter is, the gauge of wire needed may be too big for the giggy box
 
On a 2000 watt inverter, you're looking at battery cables in the 1/0 or 2/0 size, depending on the distance from the battery to the inverter. There's NO WAY you can squeeze that size cable into the Giggy box. Plus, you'll need a fuse/DC breaker in the 250 amp range. As with the cable size, a breaker that large won't fit in the Giggy box.

If you're not familiar with an inverter installation, to compare, the battery cables on your trailer are probably 6 ga or 4 ga. The 1/0 cable will be at least 2 to 4 times bigger than the current battery cables and the 2/0 is more than double the size of the 1/0 cable.
 

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I plan to get a 2000 watt Renogy that has the pass through and auto transfer. Just thought it would be cleaner to go to the box.

Be aware that although Renogy does have an inverter with auto-transfer and passthrough, the design is such that the inverter must be on all the time in order for the passthrough function to work. In other words, if the inverter is off, the outlets fed from that inverter will be dead, even if you are on shore power. The primary design was engineered to act as a UPS (uninterruptable Power Supply), not as an occasional-use off-grid RV power inverter. Additionally, the Renogy has a very specific mounting orientation and limitations (for one, it cannot be mounted upside down on the ceiling of my compartment where the factory mounting plate is located). These things may or may not be an issue for you, but it was enough of one for me that I did not buy the Renogy 2,000w inverter.

As for cable size, you need to consider the total length of each of the positive and negative cables from the battery posts, to the battery box lid, from the battery box lid to the Giggy box, and from the Giggy box to the ground for negative and through the inverter disconnect and fuse/breaker, for the positive and then both positive and negative to the inverter. If the run of each leg is less than 3 feet in total wire length from the battery to the inverter, you can do it with 1/0 cable, but anything longer will require 2/0 cable. I think that if you look at the size of the wires and ring terminals you will be using, and compare them to the miniscule size of the mounting posts in the Giggy box, you will want to bypass the Giggy box altogether.
 
Last edited:
Inverter

I’m guessing you don’t have the pre wired loop? I do and I’m going to try putting on in with an auto transfer switch.
Good luck! BTW i would connect directly to the battery!
 
I installed an Aims 2000 watt inverter with builtin automatic transfer switch in a previous camper. It does not need to be turned on to power up the outlets unless boondocking.
 

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