Looking at an XLII -- need advice

[davidbrady]

I agree, there are definitely some that are better than others.

Vantare may be unique in their use of stranded tinned 120VAC wiring. Not all converters do that, and Wanderlodge doesn't do that either. I've never seen 120VAC stranded wiring in a Wanderlodge, only romex. I guess that's my point when I said they're at least as good as Wanderlodge.

In my opinion Vantare electrics are above average even in the Prevost conversion world. Vantare began in the Yachting world. Mike Guth then decided to enter the luxury motorhome market. Many of the things that were second nature in the yachting world, like stranded and tinned 120VAC wiring, he carried over into his Vantare motorcoaches.

I wouldn't buy a coach that doesn't have all its loads wired to an inverter. After living with my coach, having loads on a separate panel in front of a separate transfer switch would drive me nuts. The Vantare way is the way any EE would lay it out. It just makes sense. It provides the maximum in flexibility using the least number of parts. I have one transfer switch and its inside my inverter where it belongs. Well, I have two, one in each inverter. Pure simplicity. The art of engineering: doing the most with the least.

Is it perfect? No. I wish I could power any load from any inverter. Instead, I'm constrained to power half the loads with one inverter and the other half with the other. It'd be better if there were a cross connect switch that allowed me to move loads from on inverter to the other. This would help when one inverter is oversubscribed while the other is undersubscribed. I could then move loads back and forth. A bank of DIN rail mount SPDT contactors would do it. Nevertheless, Vantare's implementation is heads and tails above the rest. Alas, most folks buy bling and turn a blind eye to the engineering.