RV Electronics

[BombardierBratz]

I have a question, was wondering if anyone could point me in the right direction.

I have a Fleetwood Gearbox with the built in generator, inverter and a converter. When the gennie is off, are my plug-ins supposed to be pulling power from the inverter powered to the batteries through the converter? I guess what I'm asking: with the gennie off, is there a way to run 120v (ie dad's sleep apnoea machine) throughout the night without having to run the generator untill morning?

Another question: there are recepticals for what looks like power points (Like in a vehicle), but they seem too small for anything to plug into them. There is a tiny LED light that turns on when you flick a little switch under it. Is this a 12v plug and where would I find an inverter to plug into these (if possible)?

 

[teeroy]

the plug ins will only have power when the genny is running. the power points are 12v plug ins, on mine there are switches on those plugs that changes your cable tv outlets to antenna or cable input. the red light comes on when I switch to antenna. you could power a small inverter from them but if your appliance draws a lot of power it would be best to run a separate inverter from your batteries to power your device.

 

[tex78]

As far as how the inverter is wired is is if it powers all the plugs ( house plugs )

The 12 volt plugs like a car has is for 12 volt stuff like t/v ' s ect...

When the light is on its boosting the t/v antenna

sent from my htc

 

[DaveB]

If your rig has an inverter, you just turn it on and it powers up the 110 circuitry. Most (like mine) only power up certain 110 circuits....just the TV's and entertainment centers and one other plug. A big inverter will power up all 110 circuits allowing you to run the microwave and the fridge off of 110, but you REALLY need a battery bank to pull this off.

With the genny off, the converter does nothing. The converter is there to supply 12v and charge the 12v batteries when there is a 110 source available....genny or 30/50 amp shore power.

I would find what circuits are live with the inverter on (no genny, no shore power) and run an extension cord for Pop's machine.

Like Tex and Tee said, the plug with the light is a 12v receptacle and the roof antenna connection. I can tell you from experience that the wire used to feed that 12v receptacle is too small to power even a small inverter.

 

[toysplus]

If your rig has an inverter, you just turn it on and it powers up the 110 circuitry. Most (like mine) only power up certain 110 circuits....just the TV's and entertainment centers and one other plug. A big inverter will power up all 110 circuits allowing you to run the microwave and the fridge off of 110, but you REALLY need a battery bank to pull this off.

With the genny off, the converter does nothing. The converter is there to supply 12v and charge the 12v batteries when there is a 110 source available....genny or 30/50 amp shore power.

I would find what circuits are live with the inverter on (no genny, no shore power) and run an extension cord for Pop's machine.

Like Tex and Tee said, the plug with the light is a 12v receptacle and the roof antenna connection. I can tell you from experience that the wire used to feed that 12v receptacle is too small to power even a small inverter.

Could not have said it any better.

 

[BombardierBratz]

You guys rock! Thats why I use this site for every question! I'm slowly starting to get it. Most of the time I learn something when I wreck something, you guys save me lots of money! Thanks again!

 

[kbrunlees]

I have a little quiet honda generator that i use for running my CPAP machine, you could use a 1000 watt unit if you dont want to run the large generator. If he has a heated hose like mine it runs on 24 volts, but if he is using a 12 volt unit then you can use the 12 volt batteries to run the machine. Check the CPAP power supply and see if it 12 volt or 24 volt. If it is 24 volt it probably uses up to 3 amps of power. Sucks the life out of a regular 12 volt battery in a heartbeat when you convert it it to 110 so you can convert it to 24 vdc.

 

[LID]

Why is the 12v plug-in at my TV undersized? You can almost jam a regular 12v accessory plug in but it's about 1mm too small. (I never had the TV when I bought the trailer)

 

[Beels]

I was just at our cabin in Northern Sask and one of my dad's friends was there with a CPAP machine. He was using one of these Black & Decker Tools | Electromate® 400 AC/DC Portable Power Station /Jump-Starter /Compressor VEC026BD to power it at night when the generator was off. It seemed to charge up fast enough in the 2 or 3 hours we ran the generator during the day. He was getting 7 hours out of a charge on his machine.

 

[OnlyPolaris]

The 12v plug in on the tv connection is for plugging in a 12v tv. there are some tv's that you can get that will work and plug into 12v with the right cord. the button just boosts the antenna recpetion. the light is on when the booster is on.

 

[DaveB]

Why is the 12v plug-in at my TV undersized? You can almost jam a regular 12v accessory plug in but it's about 1mm too small. (I never had the TV when I bought the trailer)

The plug itself is a standard 12v accessory plug....maybe it feels a bit snug with different plugs, but it should be the same as the one in your car/truck. The wire feeding it is small....a very light gauge wire. If you plug an inverter of any size into it, the wire can not feed enough amps to the inverter. The same inverter clamped directly to the battery (s) will work. AC can travel long distances through thin wires. DC needs huge wires to carry voltage over any distance. (this is why the original DC electricity power introduced to cities/houses by Tesla was replaced by Edison's AC power...a good Google read BTW)

 

[imdoo'n]

good info dave,

 

[LID]

The plug itself is a standard 12v accessory plug....maybe it feels a bit snug with different plugs, but it should be the same as the one in your car/truck. The wire feeding it is small....a very light gauge wire. If you plug an inverter of any size into it, the wire can not feed enough amps to the inverter. The same inverter clamped directly to the battery (s) will work. AC can travel long distances through thin wires. DC needs huge wires to carry voltage over any distance. (this is why the original DC electricity power introduced to cities/houses by Tesla was replaced by Edison's AC power...a good Google read BTW)

didn't see this till today. Thanks.