Tripac with inverter/ charger question

The apu charges your batteries.
Your inverter drains them when using it, not by it self but when you use it to power up your coffee pot or microwave ect . ect.
Your apu should kick in and start up.

 

The model number you gave is the standard 1800 watt inverter only.

 

I know this is an old thread. I wanted to give a bit more info on the TK inverter 41-7784 (made by Ingersoll-Rand).

If your truck has the TK APU and all the other TK installed items, such as A/C, diesel fired bunk heater and the TK inverter, then the inverter is only an inverter. It is not a battery charger. It is also likely that the inverter does not have a remote control and you may have to open the jockey box or the workstation seat to turn the inverter on-off at the inverter unit.

I think TK calls this set up the Drivers Convenience Package. If so then the TK has a 120amp alternator vs the standard 65amp one. The larger alternator on the APU will charge the truck batteries much quicker than the standard alternator.

It is an oxy-moron to say this is the Driver Convenience package and then don't put an inverter remote off-on mounted on the sleeper wall to make it "Convenient" for the driver...I digress.

If you have your APU set on standby and set up properly, it should crank up every so often to keep the truck batteries charged. The inverter, itself, uses a few watts/amp hours of power just to stay on...even if you are not using any 120v current in the rig. You can keep the inverter on most of the time you are driving, idling, etc. It is really not going to hurt anything. If you are going to be away from the rig for a few days, may as well turn off the inverter.

If you have this type of set up and a 12v refrigerator, then the refer is using more watts/aHr than the inverter (when the inverter is just on and no appliances are using 120v current).

Lastly, the shore power cord (the one that you can plug a drop cord into the truck) serves no purpose in combination with this particular inverter. The shore power would be used to either (1) give you 120v current via the Cab Power module or (2) charge the truck batteries.

Most of the time the shore power plug is coming from the Cab Power module and has has been re-routed and plugged into the inverter as to supply 120v current to the 120v house receptacles in the sleeper.

This particular inverter is not a charger, it is ONLY an inverter. The APU is also a generator so it can charge the batteries, provide current to the inverter which then gives you 120v current in the cab/sleeper.

If you do have the TK set up as explained you probably do want to have the APU in standby mode to keep the batteries charged, especially if you also have the 12v refer and keep it on all the time, even when away from the truck for several days.

I have this set up in my 2020 VNL860. I do wish the inverter was also a charger as to keep the APU from running so much during down time. I could then plug into shore power to let the inverter/charger keep the batteries topped off. I may invest in a inverter/charger in the very near future. They are not terrible expensive off of Amazon.

Have a good day.

-JH