Chinook RV

We just purchased a 2005 Chinook Concourse and it has a Tripp-Lite Inverter/Charger, RV612 model. We downloaded the manual for this, but it is not very specific as to how and when to use it. We called the company, but it is an older model so much of what the tech person told us was "just guessing" based on newer models.
If any other Chinook owners have one of these, or a similar model, we would appreciate more info on its use.
Thanks!
Linda

Typically, an inverter charger doesn't have a specific "time to use it," but rather you go about your daily life and when it needs to be used, it will do it on its own. As you can probably tell by the name, it is a combination of an inverter and a charger. If you already know this, then nevermind, but here is what each of those things does:

1) Charger
The charger takes 110 AC volts (typical houshold power) and uses it to charge your batteries, which are a 12-volt DC system (typical car/RV power). This only happens when you are "feeding it" 110 volts AC. There are two ways to do this. One is to plug in to a power pedestal (wall of your house, RV park, etc.). The other is to run your generator. Either of those things will give the charger 110 volt AC "juice" which it will use to charge your 12 volt DC batteries and/or run DC things while you are charging/plugged in.

2) Inverter
An inverter takes power from your batteries (DC/12 volts) and makes it into 110 volt power. This makes it so that you can run 110 volt things (household sockets) in your RV even when you are not plugged in. However, note that many of these things are VERY power hungry, and will either deplete your batteries very quickly or else may not run at all. It just depends on how much power they draw. There is also a bit of power used just in running the inverter even if it's not doing anything. For example, on my buddies 2000 watt inverter/charger, it is using 5 amps DC (that's a fair bit) just being turned on. That's added to any power it's actually making available to run things.

But some things don't take a lot of power (but you still have to add the standby power to them). One example of something I charge this way (although I use a tiny 75 watt inverter) is an electric toothbrush. It uses 110 to charge and doesn't need very much.

But, if you are "off grid" (not plugged in), anything you can run natively on 12 volts DC will be more efficient (many of these things have "cigarette lighter" plugs on them).

*****
So to summarize, when your inverter/charger is turned on (likely via the breaker) it will do its thing automatically. When you are plugged in or running the generator, you needn't worry and can just use things (well, except for if there are people within a mile or so who may not like to listen to generators...).

When you are "off grid" and not plugged in or running the generator, you can still use the inverter, but will need to be careful as it is very easy to run down your batteries (which can permanently damage them). And since it draws a fair amount just sitting there "on," I would turn it off whenever you are boondocking, and only turn it on when you specifically need it. In other words, when you are plugged in all is fair game and you can just use your 110 outlets and such as you see fit. You are rolling in power clover. When on generator, the same applies except that you and anyone within a mile or so will have to listen to the generator. When you are not plugged in or on generator, then it's all about power management of your battery bank (which unless you have a pretty large bank, will only be able to support minimal use of an inverter charger).

Thanks for all of the info! We had figured some of this out from the manual and just what we already knew. The thing that surprised us initially was that if we are plugged in, the house batteries do not get charged unless the inverter/charger is turned on. We will do some experimenting when we start using it, but we are assuming that when driving, the alternator will charge the batteries and the inverter/charger should be off. We have never had one of these installed and hardly see the point except for charging low watt items. I had a little 200w inverter I sometimes used for this. This model does have a surge protector as part of the unit, which is good, but not sure how powerful or viable it actually is. Unless we had lots more solar power, it really doesn't make much sense to have this. Since it is part of the system, we will use it.

Based on what we had already found out and what you added:
1. When plugged in, we have the inverter/charger on. It is a better, more efficient charger than the typical converter that comes with RVs, so that's a good thing.It's really quite a complex system, both the unit itself and the way it is integrated into the whole electrical system.
2. When boondocking or driving, we have it turned off.
3. If we want to charge something while boondocking, we either turn the inverter on and watch the power meters, or turn the generator on and charge things with that.

Also, we are assuming that when we are getting solar energy, batteries will be getting some charge even if the inverter/charger is off. We will watch that. When plugged in, we have to have it on or the batteries don't get charged; the fan for the unit is on all of the time.

We are curious if this was installed by Chinook or after market. We have seen a couple of others in Chinooks listed online for sale, so perhaps it was a Chinook option for 2005.

This is our second Chinook Concourse and it is a gem. Only 9,000 miles on it and it drives like it was new. We are happy campers!
Thanks again!

Hi Linda,

You sound like you have the concepts down.

I'm not sure whether you can activate the charger without the inverter, but in any case the charger will not work unless you are either plugged in to shore power, or running the generator. The charger needs 110 volts AC to work, and only shorepower or the generator provide that.

You could use the inverter part when not plugged in, but as mentioned before (and as you have figured out), it's a "big hammer" if you only want to charge small items. It likely has a relatively hefty "tare load" (in other words, amount of battery power it uses by just being turned on, to which you have to add any draw from what you are actually charging for the grand total). If I were you, I would just carry a small plug-in inverter if you have small things to charge and will be unplugged when doing so. Much less tare load. Even better, try to just use 12 volts/DC when you can (12-volt direct computer charger plug in, 12-volt plug in rechargeable AA battery charger, etc.). I even have a 12-volt charger for my Ryobi tools

Your alternator will charge *somewhat* when you are driving. Reason I say only somewhat is that there are several ways in which it is not ideal.

1) Unless retrofitted with a heftier cable, there is some voltage drop in the line.
2) The alternator is totally not a "smart" charger. You just get whatever voltage it decides to put out and there are no "stages." Hence it may not ever get your batteries up to 100% (it will bulk charge them up to 85% though).

As you noted, your inverter/charger is probably a "smart" charger, with three or four stages. Hopefully it also has the ability to program or select voltages that match your batteries' charge parameters (I have not read the manual). If it has temperature compensation that is also very good. I would guess that it is better than the "converter" upgrades. I don't have one of those (I instead fitted a marine type DC charger that is programmable and has temp comp, but no whole house inverter as I don't need one), but when I looked they didn't have temp comp and weren't able to be set to the voltages my batteries want. But typically a whole-house inverter charger is pretty decent, so I'd think you'd be able to make those settings. You are right in that it is a bit complex. Large cables are needed as the inverter can pull high amps from the battery at low voltages (recipe for large cables), plus the AC/DC systems meet, etc. But presuming it is installed correctly, you likely have a very good charger, and the inverter can be used or not used as you see fit. (But you can also carry a smaller inverter that you can plug in to a cigarette lighter for smaller things - say 150 watts or so.)

How fun that you are "back" to your second Concourse!

BG