How many actually use 120VAC when off-grid?

[bshinn]

Hi all,

New guy here, wondering how many people regularly use 120 VAC when you're off-grid?

New owner of a Crux 1610 and after getting it home and playing with it for a bit, I am not happy with the electrical system and am making a few changes. One of the major ones is deleting the inverter.

I can't see any reason I would need it on the type of trips I take here in the east. I'm not retired, and don't make a living on YouTube unfortunately, so my trips will be in the 3-4 day range (If I'm lucky). Other than maybe recharging a laptop ( I'm going off grid to get away from the damn thing) I don't see a need. If I do need one the small 400W version I currently use for work would be sufficient. I could charge in the Jeep without losing space on the trailer.

What am I missing? The supplied 2K watt inverter takes a ton of valuable space and if I ditch it it will clean up some of the sub-par wiring.

Thanks.

Bob

 

[DiploStrat]

I use 120v for:
-- Induction cooktop
-- Coffee maker
-- Toaster
-- Microwave
-- Charging vacuum and various batteries

But then our truck does not have propane.

Went some 18 months without shore power as a test. Once I proved the point, i confess I have been less dogmatic. For example, I plug in when the truck is in the driveway during cloudy weather.

Our normal trips are six weeks to three months.

 

[bshinn]

DAMN! my 1st reply is from a Frenchman, and helpful. Guess I need to re-evaluate my attitude! ?

Thanks for the input, 90% sure it's gone just looking for some differing opinions to possibly talk me out of it.

Peace

 

[bshinn]

I use 120v for:
-- Induction cooktop
-- Coffee maker
-- Toaster
-- Microwave
-- Charging vacuum and various batteries

But then our truck does not have propane.

Went some 18 months without shore power as a test. Once I proved the point, i confess I have been less dogmatic. For example, I plug in when the truck is in the driveway during cloudy weather.

Our normal trips are six weeks to three months.

Not considering deleting shore power. I'll use that to power the NOCO charger and cool the fridge the night before a trip. Cooking will be propane or over the fire and I'll power the water heater with propane. All electrical will be 12v or USB powered LED's.

Thanks!

 

[DiploStrat]

Not considering deleting shore power. I'll use that to power the NOCO charger and cool the fridge the night before a trip. Cooking will be propane or over the fire and I'll power the water heater with propane. All electrical will be 12v or USB powered LED's.

Thanks!

Worth noting that Beloved Spouse and I drove all over Africa and South America for over 30 years without even a second battery. (https://www.pbase.com/diplostrat)

But we are older and uglier now and do love our diesel heat!

We are not arguing one way or another, but you asked. In our case, part of the heavy electrical use was to avoid the pain of propane in various countries.

 

[bshinn]

While we're probably not as old and ugly as you (yet?), my better half agrees with me on this. Just looking for somebody to ease my fears.

 

[DiploStrat]

OK, this did not get added to my last post.

We are talking about the difference between:

And this:

And between this:

And this:

Heat and indoor plumbing have much to recommend them!

We overland, we don't "wheel" or camp.

 

[bshinn]

Yeah, the old K5 is more my style! We'll base camp for a day or three, but def don't need the Taj Mahal.

 

[craig333]

I run my microwave and a tiny little vacuum and the coffee grinder.

 

[john61ct]

Some hate propane, want microwave, induction stove & full oven for baking, washer drier dishwasher, the lot.

Not my style, but your rig your choice.

 

[Ozrockrat]

Nespresso machine multiple times per day. Induction cooktop for cooking inside. Ice machine because having known quality ice makes the margaritas a lot tastier. We also have a microwave and it is great for storing stuff in but we very rarely use it.

But the missus is considering using our sous vide while we are traveling or when we have enough solar to basically precook our meats.

But we do have 840w of solar and a 290amp alternator to feed the beast.

 

[hemifoot]

we used to use our 1000 watt inverter to charge the truck camper batteries while on our longer trips,but now that we have our portable solar we rarely use it.i don't think we used it once last 2 years but we still carry it and a long extension cord jic. we do use the trucks factory built in inverter to fast charge while we're moving from place to place.

 

[zelseman]

With the information provided it sounds like it needs to go. We are full time so our mileage is different, obviously. Charging laptops, drill, wife's nutri-bullit thing are about the only 120 uses we have.

 

[dwh]

I use a 400w modified square wave inverter mostly for laptop charging. I went through quite a few 12v-19v laptop power adapters, from cheap to expensive...they all eventually failed (usually melted).

 

[john61ct]

Really want PSW for electronics, may work but wasting lots of energy.

But again, DC-DC conversion is best, not at all rocket science, of course lots of rubbish out there, especially in the cheap Chinese arena.