2015 Heartland Big Country 3650 RL.

[maclaff]

I own a 2015 Heartland Big Country 3650 RL. I found the Owner's Manual online, but it does not include any information about the inverter or converter.
I am still learning and not sure how these work on my rig.

 

[wdk450]

A 1000 watt inverter is just enough to run a home type refrigerator; I am sure this is what the inverter is for (takes 12 volts DC and converts it electronically into 110 v AC sine wave power at an amps tradeoff of 10:1 - 10 amps 12 volts DC will give you about 1 amp 110 volts AC).
An RV converter (I like to more properly call this component a converter/battery charger) takes 110 volts AC from shorepower or generator and converts this into 12 volts DC for lights and other 12 volt DC needs along with safely charging the battery in a stepped voltage/current cycle. The current ratio here is 1 amp 110 v Ac into the converter yields about 10 amps 12 volts DC current.

Here are some documents from our forum library that might help you. See page 7 of this first guide to help you in understanding your home refrigerator setup:

https://manuals.heartlandowners.org/manuals/User%20Guides/Troubleshooting%20Guides%20and%20Tips/12V%20Block%20Diagram%20&%20Diagnostics%20V2.pdf

 

[maclaff]

Thanks. Learned quite a bit. Also found the owner's manuals for the inverter as well. Is it customary to leave the inverter on, even when on shore power? Would power from the inverter probably be available for any 120v use in the rig and I need to manage it by turning things off that are not a priority? Seems like some rigs have a subpanel with only the circuits powered by the inverter?

 

[jmarnell]

We leave our inverter on all the time. If we should lose shore power at the campground, the inverter would make sure the refrigerator keeps running. And as mentioned, the inverter as installed from the factory usually only powers the one outlet for the refrigerator. It does not proved 120v power to any other outlets.

 

[lynndiwagoner]

Sounds like you're figuring it out. I have the same model rig and think it is one of Heartland's better designs. I added an inverter for the fridge after pulling out that Nocold fridge and installing a Samsung RF18. I leave it on all of the time, except when I want to turn the fridge totally off, then I have to turn the inverter off.

 

[Rip]

Like WDK450 mentioned, the magnum inverter is strictly for your residential refrigerator. We too leave ours on Incase of a power outage.

 

[wdk450]

Remember to turn off DC power to your inverter when putting the rig in storage without shorepower connection to prevent discharging the battery.