What converter make and model do you currently have in your rig? It may
already be 3-stage.

Ben

YES YES YES. That way your batteries will charge quickly and you will
be able to use your inverter frequently.
I accidently left my hot water tank and fridge on one night on the
inverter. The batteries only took 1 hour to come back up running the
generator. If you had the standard 12-15 amp charger it woul have taken
4 or 5 days of running the generator.

Hi,
Question why do you want a full house inverter?   If it's just for
TV/Stero/DVD player you don't need a full house inverter for them.  If
you plan on running a microwave off of one then 1800 watts isn't big
enough for most microwaves.  You only need an inverter if you plan on
using 120V items when not in a campground and you can't run your
generator.  Most RV's only have one or two circuits wired into the
inverter, usually one for a microwave and one for a coffee pot and
TV/Stero/DVD player.  1800 watts is 15 amps at 120 volts that's about
what a single circuit it a house is rated for.  So an 1800 watt inverter
probably won't work as a full house inverter.  Might be OK for one
circuit in the RV.

If you plan on using your inverter a lot then you are going to need a
bigger battery bank.  Something like 400 amps if you plan to run a
microwave off of it, which is 4 golf cart batteries.  If you get the
bigger batteries then you should take care of them because they will be
supplying power to the inverter, so you need a good battery charger. The
converter/charger that came with you coach probably isn't the best.
Something like the Xantrex Freedom 2000 or RV 2012 would be good.

To put bigger batteries in, take out the converter and replace it with
an inverter along with an automatic change over switch to switch from
generator power to shore power is not going to be cheap unless you do at
least some of it yourself.   It would have been better if you bought a
coach with this stuff already installed for sure.  That's why I asked
what are you going to use an inverter for.  If you don't really need one
you can save a lot of money by not having all these things installed as
aftermarket add ons.  There are cheaper ways of installing an inverter
to run just things like the TV/Stero then installing a whole house
system.  Of course if you are doing it because you just want to, then
that's OK too... :)

Take care and Happy Campin...

I see where "Rona" <ronao@cox.net> contributed:

Is anything spent (not "invested") on an RV "worth it"???   That's for
you to decide.

In hindsight, one of the best decisions we made when building our
class B was to include a pricey Heart Freedom inverter with a 3-stage
charger.   Not 'necessary' but very nice and we're glad we did it.

Will Sill
The Curmudgeon of Sill Hill

The auto switch to shore power sounds pretty good, but they
switch to inverter auto also. That will eat your batteries
up in a hurry. I do not like much auto stuff, I like to do
it myself. I have a checklist that I run which includes
turning the water heater to gas only and putting the frig on
gas as well. I also unplug my small electronics chargers,
I have 12VDC chargers for them if need be. I am currently
switching to a 1500watt Vector inverter. My 5er came with a
single gp24 battery, I added two Trojan 6vdc as a second
battery bank, manual switch over.
 The initial inverter I installed (Fuji) was not big enough
also proved to be un reliable. I also have the original
converter with single stage charger. Rather than upgrading,
I obtained a Vector 1097A Smart charger (3 Stage) that I can
manually charge up either battery bank as need be.
We had a lengthy discussion on sign wave that is produced by
 inverters like you are having installed, "Modified". I
have seen some inverters advertised indicating you should
check and see if your electronics are compatible with
modified sine wave power. But I have checked with all I can
and have not found any thing limiting the type sine wave. So
my upgrade is from a worthless true sine wave inverter to a
well respected name, modified one.
The only reason I want an inverter is to be able to watch
movies with my VCR and run an AC fan while boon docking. I
hate those DC fans, sounds like an airplane is trying to
take off and blows very little air.