Hello to anyone who wouldn't mind giving me a hand. I am trying to convert a Ford E250 2006 into an ice cream truck. It'll be running 2 deep cool freezers, a small fridge, and a fan approximately. Now I have been reading up and know i'll be needing an isolator to run dual batteries and prevent my primary battery to drain. I believe the alternator is 130A and so ill need a 200A isolator but im having difficulty finding what size fuse and wires ill need. Also where to place them respectfully. So far ive assumed 80A fuse between the primary battery and isolator and second battery and isolator. I also have a 3000w inverter that I am not sure requires a fuse also? And ive heard it'll require thick heavy duty wires. I am a complete novice and would greatly appreciate all the help I could get.
Adding an Isolator and inverter to van
- Thread starter Jnxed
- Start date
DailyExpedition
Active member
Hmmm most of the ice cream truck I see are using a regular generator to run the freezers. I have a 200amp isolator in my rig and dual batteries as well as a 140amp alternator and I’m running 1/0 gauge ground and power cables, and I’m not sure I would want to put that big of a load on my system. Maybe check the freezers and see what their amperage draw is, and make sure the inverted is capable. My thinking would be if your amperage draw is less than half of your alternator output you should be ok. I say that because I have two efans that pull about 13amps each and I had them on one 30amp fuse and I partially melted the fuse holder and burnt up fuses. After putting each one on a 30amp fuse I haven’t popped any fuses. Don’t forget your van is going to pull quite a few amps itself just to power it’s different systems. If it were me, I would use an inverter generator, very quite, clean, small and not crazy expensive, and you don’t have to worry about burning down your van. Keep in mind too, I’m no electrician, and have no idea about running an inverter, and all the differences in amperage/voltage between AC/DC and running equipment that is normally in a home/business. So my opinion is purely on the side of spending $500 on a generator as opposed to $5,000+ for a new van/freezers etc.
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Hmm? That a really interesting way to think of it. Reason im thinking of using an inverter is that the old van we used was running on a second battery and also a 3000w inverter . We had a car accident when a guy ramed into us and totaled the ice cream truck. Now were stuck because we've never done this. We opted to go see if anyone could help us out but I wanted to see if I could any opinions. Its really difficult figuring this out. Plus I dont wanna cause an accident or destroy any components.
FlipperFla
Active member
First make sure your inverter is a pure sine wave or you are going to have issues with the freezer compressors running hot. 2nd look on the freezers UL plate and see what the ampere draw is and add all the electric appliances together to get a total amp load. At a full load you are going to be drawing over 250A. You will need 1/0 or 2/0 cable with a length of under 3’, I would suggest Blue Seas Systems for the fuses and mounts and other hardware. 250A is very serious business it can KILL you. Be sure to wear safety glasses and follow saftey procedures . The inverter will need to be fused and each end of your Automatic Charging Relay system. You are going to be well over $1000. It would be much more practical to run a generator. Any questions I will be glad to help.
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