hey guys welcome back to the channel my name's David and today i'm going to be
installing the Renogy inverter charger the 2000 watt model or the 3000 watt model
they have the same installation the only thing that differs is possibly
the cable size but i'm going to show you exactly how i installed mine
a while back i made a video reviewing this product and i got a lot of questions on how to install it
so that is what we are doing today if you guys are interested i've developed a simple solar
guide that i will link below in the description it covers everything from price and quantities to
component overviews and also a wiring schematic which is really useful so if you're a beginner or
you don't know much about solar components this is the perfect guide for you i will also link
below all the products that i've used on my solar install for this inverter if you want to check
those out head down into the description below and click on those alright let's get to the install
so first things first this is a big heavy component besides the battery this is going to be
your largest and heaviest component i decided to mount mine right above my battery because it fit
really well there although i did have to support it and i did that by mounting a 2x2 and then a
1x4 so a bit of a structural frame i also screwed it to the plywood that i have along the back of my
van so it is very secured on there um but yeah keep that in mind when you're doing your layout
really pay attention to the weight factor and also ventilation when you're maxing out these inverters
whether it's 2000 watts or 3000 watts i i have a water heater that gets up to about 1800 watts
of draw so i'm almost maxing out my inverter and you can hear that fan kicking on so you want to
make sure it's in a well ventilated spot and you don't want to cover it up too much as you can see
i've mounted mine yeah right above my battery and then i have a 1x4 that goes right from the roof
all the way into the floor which i've screwed on both sides and then also a
two by two going back to support it and then i've also screwed two screws in the top here
and then on that side underneath as well there's two brackets down there all right so we are gonna
start with the 12 volt battery connections so you can see right here i have my positive battery wire
going in here i know it's black it's a little confusing but that was the only thing that i
could find i couldn't find red unfortunately so this comes out goes directly to a 200 amp fuse
an a l fuse and then it goes down and connects to my positive bus bar my negative battery connection
comes out and goes to my negative bus bar these cables are two ought cables both of them
for 2000 watt inverter you want to use the two watt cable for the 3 000 watt you're going to
want to use the four ought battery cable so those are going to be big cables they're hard
to work with so try to make your runs as short as possible this is the 120 volt inlet and outlet
this comes right in from the shore power and this is 10 gauge three conductor wire
this is 12 gauge i would recommend that you use marine wire on both of these on all the
wire inside the camper van actually i would recommend using a marine grade wire they withstand
temperature change better they're more flexible more hardy and i didn't use them because i
couldn't get my hands on any um during like covet and everything that was going on there were
shortages and i wasn't able to order any in so i just went with this is just normal household 120
volt wire and it's worked just fine but i would recommend using marine grade stuff if you can
this small wire i have going out is just to the remote on off switch so that basically just
feeds up and then over and it's located inside underneath my bench so i don't have to come around
the back here to turn it on and off the 120 volt input comes in right here and i've snaked it up
so the 30 amp disconnect is just a bit of a safety feature just in case i plug in to
somewhere that's a little bit sketchy i don't know what kind of power is coming in if it's
grounded properly so this is kind of just in case i plug into somewhere that's bad it doesn't wreck
my inverter charger so yeah just a little bit of protection there i know that this has a built-in
fuse and protection system basically but i wanted to do this kind of just as a backup it's a
cheap kind of feature that i think is a good idea to install and i would recommend that you install
as well so um the wire goes basically into the disconnect and then out and then it goes around
and the wire actually comes right out here so this is my 30 amp inlet right there i usually
don't plug into a 30 amp system i'm usually to a 15 amp system which is why i have this guy right
here um but i really like this i got off amazon and i'll put the link in the description below
but there's a light on top to see if you power you can see that i have power right now
and then this handle is also really nice and then the fact that it just 90 straight down so it's
not jetting too far out of the side of the van that is my shore power connection point and then
we can go back inside the van you can actually hear that my inverter fan just kicked on there
that is the 120 volt inlet and then what i've done for my outlet is this 12 gauge wire
basically runs up and connects to this guy right here which is a small breaker box
designed for up to four breakers essentially so basically i have one breaker that is wiring my 120
volt outlets and then i have one breaker that's specifically installed for my hot water tank again
i know that the 30 amp disconnect and the breaker box is overkill because the inverter does have
internal protection but i wanted to install those things just for a little added cheap protection
it's a lot easier to flip a breaker or replace a fuse than it is to have to replace this inverter
possibly or go inside and replace internal fuses i would recommend that you do the same
they're really easy to install i know as long as you ground them properly run the positives and run
the negative it's pretty easy to do if you don't know how to do that i would recommend watching
some youtube videos on just basic electrical all of these wiring components come with schematic
diagrams that are really easy to follow including uh the 30 amp connection point on the outside
the 30 amp fuse disconnect and then the breaker box so it's really basic to install and easy for
anyone to do the fuse and the breakers also protect the wiring which is key because i
don't want to be feeding new wires through the van it would be a pain in the butt it would be doable
but a pain in the butt that i'd like to avoid if this video was confusing or there are things that
you don't understand i would recommend you buy the solar guide i'll link it up here and then also in
the description below the guide really helps you go through and you can take your time and really
absorb a lot of the information so i know this component can be a little bit tricky to install
it's easier to think about it if you break it down into two systems completely you have a 12 volt and
120 volt side and um the wiring is different the fusing is different like you need to use 120 volt
breakers instead of fuses i've seen people install 12 volt fuses in place for 120 volts and you don't
want to do that that's not that's not the way it's done you need to use uh proper breakers and
proper fuses as far as programming the inverter charger it is basic to do this inverter charger
works with lithium gel lead acid basically you select which battery you want to use and then it
will automatically adjust all the settings to work with a like a lithium ambassador battery
or a lead acid battery so that is simple and easy as far as adjusting the amperage for short power
i have set mine to only pulling 15 amps because i usually plug into houses or other places that
only have a 15 amp outlet a lot of campgrounds have a 30 amp outlet but i just don't need that
much amperage when i'm plugged in because we only have the two outlets and even with the hot water
tank we've never blown a breaker or a fuse so if you want to pull 30 amps it's really easy
to adjust one thing that i would recommend you do instead of having a 12 volt fuse panel and a
breaker box like i have you can actually order a distribution panel which has both of those things
in one component so that cuts down a lot of space i didn't do this during my install because last
year they were unavailable i couldn't order one in anywhere so i decided to go with just the breaker
box and the 12 volt fuse panel it's okay it takes up a little more space as you can see i had to
actually mount that breaker box underneath our bed like on the roof so that's not ideal but again
i don't use it a lot i don't touch it and the breakers have never gone off so that's okay but
the distribution panel i will link in the comments below if you want to check that out i would highly
recommend it i hope you guys enjoyed this video i hope it was helpful um if you liked it be sure
to like it subscribe to the channel there's lots more content on my channel regarding solar systems
and our campervan build so be sure to check those out and i'll see you in the next one