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Carado uses Ford Transit base, so the van battery is installed under the drivers seat. Also the leisure battery is located in the same place. The battery in front is the leisure one. Before I started the installation process I disconnected the leisure battery from the 12 V wiring. This can be done via the rocker switch found from the Electroblock unit. It is located under the passenger’s seat.

The driver’s seat was easy to remove with the rotating base. There were 4 torx screws and one regular bolt. The front right corner of the rotating base had the bolt. Other corners had torx screws. I did not find any reason why there was the bolt in one corner.

Place for the inverter

I need the inverter produced electricity near the table and also inside the wardrobe where I will install an antenna amplifier. I decided that the perfect place for the inverter is under the table. I attached the unit on the narrow and thick wall that is against the cockpit. This location ensures that the inverter is well ventilated and the 12 V supply leads are short.

Careful cabling

The length of the 12 V supply leads is important due to high currents although the unit is rated only at 300 W. The longer the cable the thicker it must be. I had 8 mm2 cable available from the previous installations that was suitable for this project.

The inverter was supplied with cables of 60 cm in length (approx 24 inches) and they had small clamps. Their thickness was #10 AWG, which equals to 5.3 mm2. The inverter chassis needs a ground cable, which was not included with the unit. The recommended thickness for it is #8 AWG (8.35 mm2).

Making the connections

The leisure battery provided good posts to attach the 12 V supply leads. I used proper ring terminals to get permanent connection. The provided clamps should not be used, since they are not reliable. The inverter chassis needs to be grounded to the Ford’s chassis. The ground cable from the van battery goes under a big torx screw next to the driver’s seat. The leisure battery’s minus terminal is grounded to the van battery’s minus terminal. So the inverter can be grounded under the torx screw or the van battery’s minus terminal as I did.

There is a hole in the side of the battery space with approx. 3 cm diameter (1.5 inches). I used the hole to route the leads out of the battery space. I used cable ties to fix the leads in place under the driver’s seat to get a clean installation and to prevent the leads to rub against any object.

Fuse

Although the leads are short it is a good idea to protect the installation with a fuse. 350 W with 12 V voltage and 85 % efficiency gives approximately 34 A current. A suitable fuse is then for example 40 A or 50 A. The inverter has an internal fuse, so this additional fuse protects against malfunction in the inverter itself and damaged 12 V supply leads. A good place for the fuse box is right next to the driver’s seat where the leads are visible. Thus it allows easy fuse change without removing the seat. It is always advisable to place the fuse as close to the battery as possible.

When I connected the supply leads to the inverter first time I saw some sparks. This is normal and is caused by internal capacitors that take in a current surge.

Related

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Nordic Power 300 W inverter
Using the inverter

Warning! It is always good to leave the electrical installations for the professionals if you are not really sure what you are doing. CaravaPress.com does not take any responsibility of the installations performed using this article as a guide.