We're getting very excited to go pickup our new TT on July 28th. It's our first endeavour and the butterflies of what to expect are starting to flutter. We have so many questions on everything, but what confuses me most is the electrical. I am confused with AMPS, VOLTS, WATTS, don't run this while you're running that, adapters, generators, batteries, solar panels, 110, 12volt, converters....on and on and on. I'm a pretty handy guy when it comes to many things, but electricity...I have a mental block. I feel like I may have to turn in my "man card" after asking some questions, but hey, I'm not too proud and it's a start.
Is there a simple way to understand how it all works? The unit we purchased is a 2012 Jayco JayFlight with a 30 amp system. We don't plan on doing much dry camping at first, but would like to later on.
Whats the purpose of a generator? Is it used to charge the batteries or do you run appliances with a generator? How big of a generator is needed? Does the 30 AMP plug plug into a generator with the help of an adaptor?
When we have the trailer at the house, can it plug into the home system via an adapter?
I know that in order to provide me with more knowledge, you may need more, so I'd love to provide more information if you are willing to be patient with me.
We have our orientation on 7/28 when we take delivery and I know I could ask the dealer then, but I didn't want to sound like a complete dummy.
Now, if you don't mind.....you can stop laughing. Thank you for reading!
Your rig is 30A....that is the 110V AC system
You plug your power cord into a three prong receptacle with a 30A breaker
Inside you will have a panel with AC breakers....30A main and a few 15A breakers for A/C, water heater electric element (if you have a electric/gas one), microwave, outlets and AC power to converter.
The converter is part of the 12V DC system......it will also be inside the panel with DC fuses that feed fridge controls, water heater controls,furnace fan/controls, AC thermostat, ceiling fans, lighting, power to antenna booster. This system is also feed from batteries which can directly feed slide power. The converter will also be a charger for batteries.
If you do not plug into an external power source...your batteries will provide power to the DC system for a while. Then they will need recharging.
A generator can be used as an external power source.
Solar panels can be used as a means of charging batteries.
An inverter can be used in conjunction with a battery bank (bigger the better) to provide AC power.
Adapters:
You can get a 30A to 50A adapter....plug into a 50A AC four prong power receptacle (but you will still only get 30A before your main 30A breaker would trip) Sometimes the receptacles are in better condition so it's a good adapter to have.
You can get a 30A to 15A adapter so that you can plug into a common 110V outlet at home etc. (but you will only be able to draw up to 15A (20A if breaker is a 20A) before that 15A breaker will trip. Run fridge on electric, charge batteries etc. Good adapter to have for plugging in at home.
Plug TT in at home and check out systems
Remember to have TT level when operating fridge. Fridge will take several hours before you will notice any cooling going on.....freezer section first, then fridge section. Overnight pre-cooling is best.
Remeber to have water in water heater before turning on electric element....it will burn out in just a few seconds without water in tank.
Have fun....enjoy.
And ask any/all question....everybody was a rookie.
Rockypointers wrote: We're getting very excited to go pickup our new TT on July 28th. It's our first endeavour and the butterflies of what to expect are starting to flutter. We have so many questions on everything, but what confuses me most is the electrical. I am confused with AMPS, VOLTS, WATTS, don't run this while you're running that, adapters, generators, batteries, solar panels, 110, 12volt, converters....on and on and on. I'm a pretty handy guy when it comes to many things, but electricity...I have a mental block. I feel like I may have to turn in my "man card" after asking some questions, but hey, I'm not too proud and it's a start.
Possibly this article will clear up some of those pesky terms. There are 2 sections, so I suggest that you read both The 12 volt side of life.
Is there a simple way to understand how it all works? The unit we purchased is a 2012 Jayco JayFlight with a 30 amp system. We don't plan on doing much dry camping at first, but would like to later on.
Whats the purpose of a generator? Is it used to charge the batteries or do you run appliances with a generator? A generator takes the place of having to carry one really long extension cord. The generator of correct size will provide you the same electrical power that a direct hook-up would.
How big of a generator is needed? You have a 30 Amp system. So here comes those pesky terms ... 30Amps times 120Volts equals 3600Watts. So you need at least a 3600Watt generator (continuous rating) to provide the same thing as being plugged into an electric pole.
Does the 30 AMP plug plug into a generator with the help of an adaptor? This will depend on the generator that you will use.
When we have the trailer at the house, can it plug into the home system via an adapter? Yes you can. BUT you will need 30Amps of 120VOlts. The plug on your trailer will probably look like a range plug, that is normally wired 220Volts. YOUR COACH IS NOT WIRED THE SAME WAY. IF YOU DON'T KNOW HOW TO WIRE IT, HAVE AN ELECTRICIAN THAT IS FAMILIAR WITH RV's WIRE IT FOR YOU. If you will not be using your Roof A/C or Microwave at home, you should be OK with a 15Amp to 30Amp adapter. That should give you the ability to keep the battery(ies) charged and still use the lighting and most of the other amenities by plugging into a standard 15Amp outlet.
I know that in order to provide me with more knowledge, you may need more, so I'd love to provide more information if you are willing to be patient with me.
We have our orientation on 7/28 when we take delivery and I know I could ask the dealer then, but I didn't want to sound like a complete dummy.
Now, if you don't mind.....you can stop laughing. Thank you for reading!
Hopefully your dealer will do a good walk through with you and explain all the systems and their operation. I'm not laughing, the hardest thing for me to understand, when I got into Rving ... many years ago, was how to operate the awning.
Good Luck and have fun.
Combat Vietnam VeteranSupport our troops for serving our great country.
1997 Veri Lite RL1200 on a '02, K3500, CC, DRW, 8.1L, Allison, 4.1 gears, Bridgestone 225/70R19.5 tires.
This is what we do with our generator - We like to camp off the power grid alot so with the rules we ran into with most camp grounds here on the east side of the US all seem to have generator restriction run time rules to try to accommodate all the peoples camping experiences. The normal seems to be you can run your generator 8AM-10AM in the morning and then again 4:30PM to 7:30PM in the early evening. Some places allow you to use the generator only during the day time, some don't allow generators at all. This is a noise issue trying to please everyone.
With this in mind we decided the best plan for us would be to beef up our trailer to run all of the 120VAC and 12VDC appliances and toys we wanted to use in an one day/night camping outing and then be able to re-charge the battery back up to a good 90% charge state which would allow us to do this over and over again while we are camping off the power grid. This of course doesn't allow us to use air conditioning. We discovered this isn't as easy as one would thing and you have to plan it out pretty good to be successful and NOT end up in the dark some time around 10PM in the evening.
What we did to beef-up our battery system was first to buy a 2KW Honda Generator EU2000i model and then start beefing up the battery system. We installed a smart-mode converter/charger unit (you may have one already installed if your trailer is new), added additional batteries (You will need a minimun of two each and your capacity should be at least around 250AH capacity (The more the better), installed larger battery cables (I use 4AWG size everywhere), Installed marine grade components everwhere I could including Blue Sea battery switches, fuse blocks, etc, Converted incandescent lights over to LEDs, installed PSW Inverters to run some of the 120VAC home entertainment and 120VAC necessary items like cell phone chargers, computer chargers, fans, lights, electric blanket, etc... Some folks like to obtain 12VDC appliances and run those straight from the batteries but we elected to stay with the 120VAC applicances and use Inverter to operate them from the battery.
We also changed out what 120VAC lights we have in use to CFL lights.
After all said and done we can make it through the one day/night battery run but have to re-charge our batteries back up to their 90% charge state the next morning to be able to do this all over again the next day/night battery run. I usually end up with around 11.9-12.0VDC reading on the battery bank the next morning before I start re-charging.
I will run our 2KW Honda generator during our breakfast meal at 8AM for a couple of hours with the trailer 30A Shore Power Connected directly to the 120VAC receptacle on the generator using a RV30A-15A "dogbone" adapter (Walmart). This will allow the trailer on-board converter/charger re-charge the battery bank in as little as 2-3 hours. Since you are only allowed to run the generator for two hours you don't quite make it long enough to get to the 90% charge state before having to shut down the generator before the generator sheriff shows up telling you to shut down.
I usually make my fresh made bean coffee for the day during the generator run time. (Only takes five minutes)
Then we go about our camping day and at 4:30PM we can usually continue the re-charge of batteries with the generator once again. SOmetimes momabear likes to use her electic skillet for the supper meal so she can do that while we are on the generator. After running the generator until around 7:30PM I have a good sealed in 90% charge state on the batteries so we can continue the rest of the evening/night battery run without any problems of going dark on us.
We watch HDTV, DVDs, light up our corner of the camp ground both inside and outside, I get to play with my Ham Radio some, momabear can sit with a warm electic blanket in her lap if she wants to, and all of the trailer 12VDC required items runs as they need to. We usually sit around the open fire in the evening with a 20-inch box fan blowing over our feet to keep mosquitoes away from us. We actually do just about what we do at a regular electric hookup camp site except we don't get to run the air conditioner or high powered unit like the high wattage microwave unit but a cheapie walmart one runs just great for warming up the coffee etc. Then we go into quiet mode around 10PM and shut down things but maybe watch TV until Johnny Carson (what ever his name is today) gets done after the news.
This is what call successfully camping power wise off the power grid for each day/night battery run.
Using our generator this way works great for us and fits into all of the generator run time rules...
My Posts are IMHO based on my experiences - PM me Roy and Carolyn
RETIRED DOAF/DON/DOD/CONTR RADIO TECH (42yrs)
K9PHT (Since 1957) 146.52M
2010 F150, 5.4,3:73 Gears,SCab
2008 Starcraft 14RT EU2000i GEN
2005 Flagstaff 8528RESS
POPUP PHOTOs-Pg52-Pg56
Here's a small installment of what I'd call "background" stuff that you need to know:
Stuff like lighting, fridge (in "gas mode"), water pump- They use relatiely little electricity and are on the 12-V, "battery" system, and do well for a day or two off the battery (that doesn't mean turn on every light and leave it on.)
The furnace (not the AC) also works off of the 12V system. It uses a modearate amount of electricity (mostly for the fan). Running the furnace through a cold night can pretty much discharge one battery (your results may vary- but that's a nice rule of thumb).
Stuff like the Air Conditioner, Microwave, Hair drier, electric coffe pot (things that use electricity to make heat- or big motors for the AC) use "tons" of electricity and need the "plug in" or a good-sized generator (most small generators will NOT power the AC!).
There are "inverters" which will make 110 volts from your battery- That's great to run things that don't use a lot of electricity (TV, VCR), but if you go plugging in "hair driers, coffe pots, microwaves, air conditioners", you are going to need 1) A big converter in the first place and 2) many batteries (Just to restate- the "inverter" thing is mostly to run 110V appliances that don't use much electricity.
Old-Biscuit wrote: OK....take a deep breathe and relax
Your rig is 30A....that is the 110V AC system.......Have fun....enjoy.
And ask any/all question....everybody was a rookie.
HEY, OldBiscuit! How long have you been holding and not sharing THAT great chart?!
A week doesn't go by that I haven't been asked for help to explain the RV electrical system to a new camper that has pulled in next to me. That chart explains how the RV electrical works in a easy way to understand it.
Copy, save, print. I can now hand out this chart to them. Thanks!!!
"We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned,
so as to have the life that is waiting for us".
IF no camp where there is no electricity: Then a good QUIET Inverter type generator can really help, you need at least 2,000 watts if you run your air conditioenr, note teh Honda EU-2000i is NOT a 2,000 watt generator (1975 I think or there abouts).
Yahama EF-2400I is a full 2KW.
You can use 2 Honda 2000's in parallel though, that works. (use one when you don't need Air). Make sure you get a 'Companion' model though it has a 30 amp outlet on it)
You might wish to get a 30-50 adapter so you can plug into a 50 amp outlet at the park, often the 30's are.. not all that good.
Rules for power usage:
20 amps (You can get an adapter for that too) one large item, Water heater, Air, MIcrowave, Space heater, And under some conditoins (low battery) The converter are all big items.
30 amps: Two
Since yours is a 3o amp rig I won't go higher.
Nothin adds excitment like something that is none of your business
Kenwood TS-2000 housed in a 2005 Damon Intruder 377
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