This blog post is going to teach you how to add an Inverter, Alternator charging via DC-DC Charger, and Solar charging to your OEM camper or RV that came factory installed with 50 amp shore power hookups.
This setup will allow for 120V appliances/devices to run on shore, generator, OR battery power. 240V appliances will run on Shore/Generator only (and will need a 120V/240V compatible breaker box (Not shown below).
This diagram features:
- 3000W Inverter Charger
- 400+ Amp Hours of Battery Storage Capacity
- 400W-1200W Solar Array Capacity
- Alternator Charging
- Shore Power Charging/Passthrough
Table of Contents
50 Amp OEM Camper Electrical Upgrade Wiring Diagram
CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE THE HI-RES PRINTABLE PDF OF THIS DIAGRAM
50A Camper – Inverter w/ Solar & Alternator Charging Upgrade Shopping List
The following list will show you 98% of the items you need to install this system on your camper. If you need clarification on where something goes, please refer to the ‘Detailed Parts List’ below this consolidated shopping list. Also, you will need to refer to the solar array wiring diagrams at the bottom to add the appropriate solar array parts to your system below.
A NOTE ABOUT QUANTITIES
For the ‘Quantities’ in the below shopping list, each singular component is listed a quanty per each, wire is listed a quantity of feet, and heat shrink is listed as qty 1 = 2.25″.
For Example:
Qty 1 – Inverter Charger means you need to purchase 1 Inverter Charger
Qty 3 – 4/0 Wire means you need 3 feet of 4/0 wire. This may mean you need to buy 5ft from the product page
Qty 5 heat shrink means you need 5 pieces of 2.25″ heat shrink. This means you’ll need 5 x 2.25″ pieces of heat shrink for a total of 11.25″ of heat shrink.
Qty 8 – 2/0 x 5/16″ Wire lugs means you need 8 wire lugs… not 8 packs of wire lugs.
50A Camper – Inverter w/ Solar & Alternator Charging Upgrade Parts Detail
Choosing your Solar Panels & Charge Controller
The following section provides you with several different options for solar charging. The above parts list can remain completely unchanged and the diagram above can remain mostly unchanged except for the alterations noted by the diagrams below, but whatever solar array setup you choose below for your needs, these parts will need to be added to your shopping list. These are broken up by total solar wattage. As a general rule, you want to have twice as many watts of solar as you do amp hours of batteries. So, 300Ah Batteries = 600W solar. 400Ah Batteries = 800W solar. 600Ah Batteries = 1200W of solar. This is just a rule of thumb. Not a law.
400 Watts – 4x100W Solar Panels – 12V Battery Bank (Click to Expand)
600 Watts – 6x100W Solar Panels – 12V Battery Bank (Click to Expand)
600 Watts – 3x200W Solar Panels- 12V Battery Bank (Click to Expand)
800 Watts – 4x200W Solar Panels- 12V Battery Bank (Click to Expand)
1000 Watts – 5x200W Solar Panels- 12V Battery Bank (Click to Expand)
1200 Watts – 4x300W Solar Panels- 12V Battery Bank (Click to Expand)
How to Integrate a DIY Camper Electrical Upgrade with the OEM Wiring
The following section of this blog post will teach you how to integrate the wiring diagram and parts list above with your RV’s OEM electrical system.
Here is how the typical camper with 50A shore power hookups is wired:
- The diagram above shows the typical bare-bones OEM RV/Camper with 50A shore power service.
- Shore power flows into the breaker box, powering the breaker box protected by a 50A breaker where 240v power is divided up into 2 legs of 120V power to power both sides of a breaker box
- One circuit is generally the Converter. The converter is usually built into the same enclosure that houses the breaker box (as shown) but is sometimes external. Either way, it’s wired in the same method.
- The converter converts the 120V AC power to 12V DC power which feeds the DC Fuse Block which powers the various DC devices around the camper (Lights, Fans, Etc..).
- From there, a positive and negative wire continues on to the house battery bank; usually two 12v batteries wired in parallel. These wires charge the batteries from shore power, and allow 12v devices to run when not connected to shore power.
- At the batteries, there are usually 2+ additional positive and negative wires heading off under the RV somewhere that are going to power additional DC circuits around the camper. These may be slide-outs, powered leveling jacks, and other ‘chassis’ items like that. These wires will likely have fuses in line to protect these wires coming from the battery.
- One of these wires is also likely the wire coming from the alternator to charge the house battery bank.
When the camper is NOT plugged in to shore power, all of the 12V DC appliances will run due to them still being connected to the batteries, but the 120V AC appliances will NOT operate because the converter is a one-way-street and will not convert 12V DC back to 120V AC. The charging from alternator is typically very slow (less than 10 amps) and should, generally, not be relied on to provide adequate power for recharging deeply depleted house battery banks.
In addition to wiring the components together, here is a breakdown of how the flow of power to the above diagram works.
WIRING THE INVERTER/CHARGER To Shore Power.
When connected to shore power or generator, power flows from shore power (or generator) to the inverter charger. This charges the batteries which feeds the DC fuse block and allows 50A shore power passthrough to power the 120v appliances. You will take the 6/4 wire that goes from the shore power inlet to the back of the AC distribution panel and instead, run that wire from the shore power inlet to the input of the Victron Multiplus.
Wiring the Inverter/Charger AC Distribution Panel
The 6/4 Wire from the AC Out of the Inverter/Charger will go to the same place that was just mentioned in the above step.
Wiring the Solar Panel Array to your Camper Electrical System
When charging from solar, the solar panels & charge controller charge the batteries. The batteries are connected to the DC fuse block allowing use of the 12v devices around the camper. The Inverter takes the 12V DC power stored in the batteries and converts it to 120V AC power to power the 120V AC items around the camper.
Replacing Stock Camper Batteries with Busbars
A positive and negative busbar take the place of the stock batteries in the stock battery location (assuming that upgrading batteries means you will not be able to store your new battery bank in the stock location). From the Lynx Distributor, power flows to these two busbars where power is then sent to all of the OEM installed components like the DC distribution block, power jacks, slides, etc.
50A Camper Converter
The OEM installed converter must be completely disconnected. It can remain installed, but the wires must be disconnected from both the AC and DC side of the power distribution center. These wires can usually be bundled up and stuffed next to the converter.
50A Camper Alternator Charging
You will likely have a wire charging your OEM batteries from the alternator. This wire will likely be somewhere in the 12 AWG range. This will either run directly from your starting battery isolator if this is a motorhome or from your 7-pin connector if this is a trailer. This needs to be disconnected completely. This diagram uses a 30A DC-DC Charger and the OEM installed wire will be too small. The 6 AWG wire in the diagram will take the place of the OEM wire you are to remove. In the case of a trailer, 6 AWG wire will need to be run all the way to the truck starting battery if alternator charging via DC-DC Charger is desired and disconnected by the hitch by means of an Anderson connector. If you do not wish to charge via the Alternator… this entire leg of charging can be omitted without ill effects.
Travis
Sunday 1st of May 2022
Hi Nate, I am in the middle of installing this 50 Amp system with all Victron components, including the Multiplus 2. I picked up an ANL fuse holder from your site. Thanks I couldn't find what I needed anywhere. My question has to do with my Grand Design Momentum. The 12v 6 Ga. positive wire for the DC distribution panel was ran from it's location inside the pantry to the front bay of my RV and landed on a bus bar that tied to the batteries. However the 12v negative line that would accompany the positive line is nowhere to be found. Any idea how Grand Design may be wiring this RV? I can run a new 6 ga. wire to the DC panel (not fun) but am curious why Grand Design didn't? The factory setup had the batteries connecting to a bus bar and that bus bar had a 6ga wire going to a chassis ground location. Is it possible they just tie the DC distribution panel to the chassis and utilize the chassis as the "wire"? Thanks in advance!
Nate Yarbrough
Sunday 15th of May 2022
I don't know where it goes, but it shouldn't matter. In this diagram, you're simply running power from the Lynx Distributor to the OEM battery location to supply power to all of the OEM equipment so we don't have to worry about 'how' Grand Design wired anything.
Jeff
Thursday 28th of April 2022
Hi Nate. This a great fit with my situation. My OEM (travel trailer) uses a positive bus bar and a chassis bus bar. Everything old and new within 3 feet of each other. Is there an advantage in using the OEM chassis bus bar for grounding from the Lynx 1000 over establishing a new chassis ground?
Nate Yarbrough
Sunday 15th of May 2022
That should be fine providing adequate wire size as shown in the diagram.
Spencer
Thursday 7th of April 2022
Hey Nate, So my question of which I’m sure will be many more is i have a transfer switch that one side has the input from my generator and the other side is for shore power . The shore power side has that little red jumper with to tell it if it full 50a or just one leg has power which I believe is 30a . Where am I connecting to my multiplus?
Randy
Tuesday 29th of March 2022
Nate, Great stuff. I am brand new to this and your attempts to make me smarter might be working! So I bought your plans for an install for a 50 Amp trailer install. I bought all the parts I thought I would need from battleborn and all the tools that you recommended. I am puzzled on the diagram I bought from you as you are asking for some 4/0 wire being used and BB and Victron are saying 2/0 which I bought. Not a problem for me to buy more wire or anything else for that matter. The big reason for me to do this project is I want to understand how it all works and the why. Thanks, Randy
Anthony
Saturday 26th of March 2022
I have the victron multi plus 12/3000/2x120 for the 50a shore power but never done shore power before. Can you answer one ? I have. is it a direct hook up with no box between inverter and the pedestal or do you still need some mcb type of box?