Saturday, September 12, 2009

AC/DC Distribution Panel

Hello Everyone.

Last week’s project was installing a new AC/DC distribution panel and DC to AC converter with a built-in battery charger. For those of you not familiar with the terms AC is like the electricity in your house and DC is what you get from batteries. RV's have both types of electrical systems so if you are not somewhere where you can plug into house electrical (AC) you can use battery power (DC). Up to a point.

Some things you just still need AC for and that's where the DC to AC converter comes in. It takes
DC (battery power or 12 volts) and converts it to AC (house power or 110 volts) for those things
that you just have to have such as an electric coffee maker, hairdryer, etc.

As is typical with most projects it took longer than I anticipated. Whereas the new unit fit in the same place as the old one the mounting holes were different, the places in the housing where the wiring went through were in different places and I was reminded yet again that my memory isn't as sharp as it once was so that when I got to the last couple of wires I'm scratching my head wondering "now where did these go". A little further investigating and reading the installation guide and voila, it's all done.

Now for the moment of truth. Turn the battery shut off back on. So far so good. Now plug the AC 110 volt back in.......yes! it works!

Nothing blew, everything works as it did before. Sometimes I amaze even myself. Even after 30+ years of marriage Betsy is still amazed at times. Her father who was a doctor was challenged by your typical household maintenance problems and they always called a professional when anything went haywire so she still has that in the back of her mind when ever I say "I can do that myself and save us a bunch of money". Not that she hasn't had cause to roll her eyes a time or two, but that will have to be another story.

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