Another newbie, another question about electrical(long)

[Lbickham]

I don't have a bus yet, going to look at one this weekend. I am trying to figure out electrical before I buy. For months I have read, and read, and read some more info on here about electrical and am still confused. I would like to run off shore power, a generator, a battery bank, and possibly solar (in the future). I am going to do a more elaborate job in the future, but for now I'm just trying to get some things going for a family trip in late June (4 people). My main concern will be AC and a fridge, because I was burned real bad in 2011, and I have to stay around 74 degrees. I plan on hooking up to shore power whenever possible but run off batteries while driving 8-10 hours a day. My plan so far is: plug(50a) to gen. or shore, plug to prog. dynamics mighty mini dist. panel w/charger (3 n 1?)then to dual AC's(btu?), fridge,and outlets(2-3), then bus alt. to bus battery, then to isolator, then to battery bank, then to panel? Do I need an inverter? Also I don't know how to size AC's, gen, or battery bank. I would like to be able to sleep in bus eventually, but not necessary now. And eventually toilet and sink. Do I need a transfer switch, separate converter, inverter, and AC panel? Lights(led), pumps(black & gray water), bathroom fan all 12v dc. Is this feasible? My budget is reasonable since a handicaped RV is really expensive.

[Lbickham]

Ok, a less complex question. Do I need an inverter with this Proggressive dynamics distribution panel?

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002XRU6FM/...I2XG9A6IPEKYH0

[Robin97396]

Answers coming kind of slow? It's the time of day probably.

That's a very reasonable price on that panel. I need one of those too.

Sorry I'm not an electrical guy and obviously I understand this less than you do. I understood "refrigerator" and "78 degrees". To me the electrical descriptions sounds like seashell hammer toast frog chicken. I'm going to have to copy somebody's system at some point.

I don't put on a lot of miles but I am tired of my fridge automatically defrosting every time I drive to town. On the other hand previously I didn't defrost unless it was absolutely necessary. To be fair previously I didn't mop as much as when the fridge defrosts during trips to town either.

You're on the right track because, I do listen. It sounds like you're going for the house battery bank first with an inverter? While you're traveling your own alternator should be able to charge your house batteries, and there has been discussion about it also powering an inverter to run the fridge while in motion too. Sometimes a high output alternator upgrade might be necessary if you wanted to try to run a mini split system for heat/cooling. Those are more efficient than OEM vehicle air units.

I'm noticing that the more those electrical components that are combined to make smart systems (i.e. inverter, automatic charging systems from panels or shore power) the more they cost. The smart systems are obviously better, but wow. I might be looking at it wrong, but I believe I'm buying independent electrical components. It's the idea of replacing them individually at some point down the road rather than a large expensive unit that does it all.

So I need house batteries, an inverter and a smart charging system that can charge the house batteries from the alternator or from shore power. I don't know how to hook the house batteries up to the alternator for charging.
Are we in about the same boat?

[Lbickham]

Yes, similar I think. You can put an isolator between bus and "house" bank and charge from the alt. I'm pretty sure. I just need to know if I need a seperate invertor

[Robin97396]

To run the fridge, for sure. Most people choose about a 2000 watt pure sine wave invertor. Look for high efficiency.