TrippLite
Remote Control
We have a 2006 210 Popular that came equipped with an inverter. Shortly after we got it home we discovered that the house batteries would drain fairly quickly with no apparent load. It took us some time to discover that the inverter was always on and draining the batteries. The only way to turn off the inverter was to get under the right rear side of the bed and flipping a switch on the inverter control box. Turning it on again involved a similar inconvenience.
In their infinite wisdom Roadtrek didn't provide an inverter remote control although TrippLite does make one. Newer Roadtrek models now have a remote control.
The TrippLite solution is a APSRM4 and it costs about $110 retail. It has a 50' cable that plugs into the inverter, a switch to turn the inverter on and off, and indicator lights to show the state of the battery, load, and inverter. This is what we needed but it was (1) expensive and (2) a bit too big for the Roadtrek.
I decided to build my own control box and tried to get some technical information from TrippLite. They gave me a polite "no", saying that the "information was not available." It was a nice way to say that the wire assignments were proprietary. I can't really blame them but I didn't give up. Roadtrek was equally unhelpful. Some nosing around on the 'net did turn up some useful information.
Go to http://www.classbforum.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=20 to see the connections that Markopolo discovered. Pretty cool! I based my solution on his research.
Stan Edwards, a very persistent and clever person, came up with the function of all of the wires and built his own box that has all the functionality of the APSRM4. A fantastic job and the result of very tenacious work. Here is the link to his projects:
https://picasaweb.google.com/107988220989352352060
To build your own remote control, get yourself some CAT5 network cable with an RJ-45 plug on one end. Cut the cable on the other end and attach a switch to pins 1 and 7. Shorting pins 1 and 7 of the RJ-45 plug cause the inverter to be switched OFF. Leaving them open causes the inverter to go ON into standby mode. Sort of counterintuitive. His post is excellent and covers all the technical details. I won't repeat them here.
My junk box yielded most of the necessary parts and the total out-of-pocket cost was about $2.50 for a little plastic box from Radio Shack. I terminated all 8 wires of the cable in the box even though I planned to use only pins 1 and 7. (Later on I discovered that pin 6 provides an on/off indicator.)
I used a Radio Shack box but you may be able to find a suitable box from Amazon or just use a little scrap plastic enclosure from your local dollar store. The box attaches flat to the bulkhead with double sided tape. The cable was dressed to the bulkhead with adhesive pads and cable ties. The cable was run for a short distance under the bed and through the finger hole into the inverter compartment. No holes had to be drilled. Excess cable was coiled and secured with cable ties.
Updated 12/22/19