Electrical and Systems
RV Inverter and Inverter Charger Replacement and Upgrade
Typical range
$750 to $4,500
Shop hours
3 to 14
Labor rate
$260/hr
The short answer
Inverter and charger replacement covers failed units, capacity upgrades, and modified sine to pure sine conversions, including transfer relay and sub-panel wiring. Work runs $750 to $4,500, or 3 to 14 hours at $260 per hour plus equipment. Estimates are $150, refundable against an authorized repair.
01
What this work actually involves
An inverter charger is two devices in one enclosure and they fail independently. The inverter side stops making 120V AC and the owner notices immediately. The charger side degrades quietly, dropping absorption voltage or shortening the absorption stage, and the first symptom is a battery bank that dies two years early. We test both halves separately, because replacing a bank that was killed by a weak charger just kills the next bank too.
Heat kills inverters faster than age does. These units are usually mounted in a sealed basement bay or under a bed, and they need real airflow to run at rated output. A 3000 watt unit in an unventilated compartment in Palm Springs or Coachella will thermally fold back to a fraction of its rating on a July afternoon, and the owner reads that as a defective inverter. Half the failed units we pull are surrounded by stored gear that blocked every intake vent.
Wiring is where the upgrades go wrong. Going from a 1000 watt inverter to a 3000 watt unit roughly triples DC input current, so the existing 4 AWG run and its fuse are no longer adequate. It also usually means adding an AC sub-panel so you choose which circuits the inverter feeds, rather than back-feeding the whole coach and running the air conditioner off the battery bank by accident. We size the DC side to the real load and build the AC side so the split is deliberate.
Systems and brands we work on: Magnum, Xantrex, Victron, Progressive Dynamics, WFCO.
Location: All work is performed at our Yorba Linda facility. We do not offer mobile, roadside, or fleet route service.
02
What the job includes
- Separate testing of inverter output and charger output before replacement
- Pure sine and modified sine inverter replacement and capacity upgrade
- Inverter charger replacement with charge profile set to bank chemistry
- DC input cable resizing and Class T fusing at the correct current
- AC sub-panel installation so inverter-fed circuits are chosen deliberately
- Internal transfer relay testing and pass-through verification
- Remote panel and monitoring display installation
- Ventilation correction and relocation where the bay runs hot
- Neutral to ground bonding verification in inverter mode
- Load bank verification of full rated output before delivery
03
When you need this service
- No 120V at the inverter-fed outlets while shore power works normally
- Inverter shuts down after a few minutes under load and restarts when it cools
- Battery bank never reaches full charge even on long shore power stays
- Audible buzz or hum from the unit that was not there before
- A fault or overload code on the remote panel with a modest load connected
- Electronics or a residential refrigerator misbehaving on a modified sine unit
04
How we do it, step by step
- 01
Test both halves
Inverter output measured under load and charger output measured through a full bulk and absorption cycle. They fail independently and the fix differs completely.
- 02
Thermal and mounting review
Bay temperature, intake clearance, and exhaust path checked. A thermally folded-back inverter behaves exactly like a failing one and gets replaced unnecessarily all the time.
- 03
Load and capacity sizing
We total what you actually intend to run on inverter power, then size the unit to that instead of to the largest number in the catalog.
- 04
DC and AC infrastructure
DC cable resized and fused at the battery post, and an AC sub-panel added where needed so high draw circuits stay off the inverter.
- 05
Installation and programming
Unit mounted with real airflow, charge profile set to the installed battery chemistry, and transfer behavior verified moving between shore, generator, and battery.
- 06
Load verification
Full rated output confirmed under load, neutral to ground bonding checked in inverter mode, and the remote panel programmed before the coach leaves.
05
Pricing and posted rates
| Item | Rate or range | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Typical job range | $750 to $4,500 | Varies with extent of damage and parts availability |
| Shop hours | 3 to 14 | Quoted after teardown, not before |
| Mechanical and electrical labor | $260 per hour | 2026 posted rate |
| Parts | 100% markup under $100, 35% over | Special order parts require a non refundable deposit at order |
| Deposit | 50% at authorization over $2,000 | Additional 25% when parts arrive on jobs over $10,000 |
| Sales tax | 7.75% on parts and materials | Labor is not taxed |
Insurance billed jobs may be billed at carrier negotiated labor rates that differ from the posted retail rates above. See all posted rates.
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Vehicles we do this work on
Vehicle
Class A Diesel Pusher Motorhomes
A diesel pusher carries a rear-mounted diesel on a raised-rail air ride chassis, usually 34 to 45 feet with full-body paint and pa
Vehicle
Class B Camper Vans
A Class B is a camper built inside a factory van shell, usually a Sprinter, Transit, ProMaster, or Chevy chassis. Because the stee
Vehicle
Class C Motorhomes
A Class C is a coach body built onto a cutaway van chassis with a sleeping or storage cabover extending above the factory cab. Tha
Vehicle
Super C Motorhomes
A Super C is a full coach body mounted on a medium duty truck chassis such as a Freightliner M2, International, or Kenworth, with
Vehicle
Standard Fifth Wheels
A fifth wheel couples to a hitch in the truck bed through a kingpin and pin box, with a raised forward bedroom over the truck. The
Vehicle
Camper Van Conversions
Camper van conversions are Sprinter, Transit, or ProMaster chassis with windows cut into the sidewalls, a roof full of penetration
Vehicle
Bus Conversions, Prevost and Marathon
A Prevost, MCI, or Van Hool conversion is a commercial motorcoach shell finished by a second-stage builder such as Marathon, Feath
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Questions about inverter and charger replacement
Frequently asked questions
How much does inverter replacement cost?
Work runs $750 to $4,500, or 3 to 14 hours at $260 per hour plus equipment. A straight like-for-like swap of a 1000 watt unit in an accessible bay is at the low end. A 3000 watt inverter charger upgrade with new DC cable, Class T fusing, an AC sub-panel, and a remote display is at the high end.
Do I need pure sine or is modified sine fine?
Modified sine runs resistive loads such as heaters and incandescent lights acceptably. It causes buzzing, heat, and premature failure in anything with a motor, a switching supply, or a microprocessor, which now includes residential refrigerators, CPAP machines, televisions, and most laptop chargers. On any modern coach we specify pure sine.
My inverter shuts off after ten minutes. Is it dead?
Often not. That pattern is thermal fold-back, and it is usually caused by a blocked intake, a bay full of stored gear, or ambient heat in the low desert. We check bay temperature and clearance before condemning the unit. If it does the same thing on a bench with full airflow, then it is the unit.
Can I run my rooftop air conditioner from an inverter?
Only with a large lithium bank, a soft start module on the compressor, and an inverter sized for the surge. Even then you are looking at a couple of hours of runtime per air conditioner on a substantial bank. We will tell you honestly whether your bank supports it before you buy the inverter.
What brands do you install?
We work on Magnum, Xantrex, and Victron most often, and we service the Progressive Dynamics and WFCO power centers that feed them. Selection is driven by the bank chemistry, the physical bay space, and whether you want the unit on a monitoring network, not by whatever is on the shelf.
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Ready to move on inverter and charger replacement? Bring it to Yorba Linda.