12V Electical power

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amydon

Member
Joined
May 4, 2013
Posts
12
Location
Lumberton, nC
I will be picking up our new Roadtrek Agile July 13. My question is when you are plugged in to shore power or generator does the charger supply 12V power to the 12V panel directly or Are you always use the house batteries on the 12V panel? Thanks
 
Yes.
Most systems require the battery which acts as a filter and also supplies power when necessary.  Consider your as a battery charger.  It will charge a battery but usually will not start your motor.
 
Your house batteries are wired in parallel with a device called a converter/charger. When shore or generator power is available, the converter/charger supplies 12v power and charges the battery as needed.
 
amydon said:
Does this work with an inverter/charger?

If you are questioning whether or not you may have an INVERTER as opposed to a CONverter, the answer is yes, it is possible but...

Be aware of the differences: An inverter uses 12Volts (batteries) to produce 120V  to run mostly small appliances. Air conditioners, microwaves etc are way too power hungry for using inverters in the usual RV setup. The larger inverters can have a battery charge function as well. RV's often have a very small inverter to run TV etc when 120V shore power is not available. Any major inverter use requires LOTS of battery power from big battery banks, which cannot be replaced until the charge function is available through plugging in to shore power or using a generator.

A CONverter uses 120V (shore power or generator power) to produce 12V and, at the same time, charge the batteries, run all the 12V stuff such as lights, furnace, fridge controls, water heater controls and all other 12V needs in the house portion of an RV.

All that to say you, more than likely, will have a CONverter/charger..........
 
Whether AC power comes from Gen. or shore cord doesn't matter, unless unit plugs into itself, convertor charger will provide vdc to house/trailer and batteries at same time.
 

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