Will an RV convertor work without a battery?

[Praful naik]

Newbie question:
What if we have no batteries with a converter when you connect it to the shore power?

Are there any problems that come with this move?

Thanks,

 

[Rene T]

Yes it will power up lights. You’ll need to experiment a little to see if other appliances will work like the fridge, water heater or furnace. Where you may have an issue if you try to power up something that takes a lot of juice like a slide out. I have a sticker above the switch for my slide-outs that says the slide out will not operate without a battery

 

[Matt_C]

Praful,
Rene gave the best answer he can with zero information. If you want a better answer, you will have to at least tell us what the converter is. With some, will be no issue but with others that might blow out every conventional light bulb in the unit.
Matt

 

[Mark_K5LXP]

Yeah, some of the older converters are nothing more than a transformer and a rectifier and suffer from poor regulation at best. Most modern switch mode converters will operate house loads OK, with the exception of maybe high draw loads like slide motors.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM

 

[Isaac-1]

I would strongly suggest checking the owners manual for your specific model, some models will not properly regulate voltage and let the DC voltage go high if there is no battery installed.

 

[Ernie n Tara]

Be aware that, in addition to storing power for high loads, the battery acts as an electrical filter fot the raw output of the converter. Some devices are very sensitive to the relatively high Voltage peaks if they are not filtered.

Ernie

 

[Kirk]

What will be powered by the converter without any battery just depends upon how your RV is wired. If the battery has only 1 connection then most likely it will supply everything. If there are multiple wires to connect to the positive side of the battery you should probably connect them all together, must as they would be if connected to a battery, but with a bolt or such. When you do that, make sure that you insulate that connection so that it won't short out, and even if there is just one cable to each side f the battery, you still need to make sure that the positive cable is insulated and will not short out to anything. My 40 years doing electrical repair work has taught me to put great value in insulating connections.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

Most of these horror story cautions will not apply to any converter/charger made in the last 20 or so years. Before that, make & model of the converter/charger may be critical. And RVs that have slide-out or tongue jacks or electric steps will almost surely require a battery to operate those. And towable RVs legally require a battery to operate the emergency brake if the trailer should ever "break away".

So please identify both the year/make/model of RV and the brand/model of the converter.