Power Inverters

[AutomationIsCom]

Hey guys quick question. I was playing with my new TT the other night and wanted to see what would and wouldn’t work off AC hookups. Obviously the AC and microwave don’t work (and any of the 120vac outlets) but what wasn’t obvious was the furnace blower also didn’t work any more. Being gas heat, I was kinda surprised the furnace didn’t run the blower motor off 12 VDC. Anyways that got me thinking, is it common practice to add a second battery and add something along the lines of a power inverter to recreate that 120 vac for stuff like mainly furnace blower, 120 vac for chargers, etc? What inverter to people use? I want to install one but don’t know if it’s common practice or not. What are your experiences ? Thanks guys.

[CavemanCharlie]

AutomationIsComing wrote:
Hey guys . Just a follow up, turns out the heater does work off the battery alone. Turns out you still have to ask yourself the simple questions “did you turn it on?” *face palm”

No problem. We all make mistakes sometimes and then wonder why we did it. Thanks for letting us know that you got it figured out.

[AutomationIsCom]

Hey guys . Just a follow up, turns out the heater does work off the battery alone. Turns out you still have to ask yourself the simple questions “did you turn it on?” *face palm”

[Ivylog]

Once you get your heater to work properly adding another battery is probably a good idea if you want heat all night.

[time2roll]

Furnace will operate on battery/propane. Check your battery voltage, check any power switch for storage is in the in-use position, check your propane. Post the results.

You can add an inverter if you like. 350 watts or less is easy for charging small items. You want large items like microwave and hairdryer you are looking at 2000 watts and four+ batteries. Forget air conditioning.

[2oldman]

Go to tech forum and search 'inverter'.

[wanderingaimles]

As others have said, investigate the furnace. Your television/entertainment system may be on a small inverter.
A lot of folks add an inverter and install one or two additional outlets to run from them, maybe in the bedroom, or dinette set for items they specifically want to power.
And yes, add a second battery if you expect to use your new trailer without hookups very often.

[RoyB]

Here is a typical layout for the 30A Trailer setup... You have two Power Distribution Panels one for 120VAC Circuit breakers and one for 12VDC Fuses. This is the heart of you system...

Note that all of your basic items like lights, heat, etc will operate from Propane and the Battery. The high end items like A/C, Microwave, etc will only run when connected to shore power...

Google image...

Note you can add more batteries if you are going to operate off-grid a lot and then using an Optional POWER INVERTER you can use some of the high end items when camping off-grid...

In regards to your furnace not working it should work jus fine running on propane with the fan running on battery. It has safety features built-in to not operate if everything is not right... i.e. if the fan is not working the furnace will not turn on... I always light up the stove top when I first turn on the propane to be sure the propane is flowing properly. The furnace also has a air vane safety switch that will turn off the propane to the furnace if the DC Fan is not working properly...

I would first make sure the propane furnace fan is working properly off your batteries before turning on the propane bottles...

Most of our camping is OFF-GRID so I survive on a good battery bank. I watch my battery bank performance like a hawk... We do just about everything camping off grid with the exception of the Air Conditioner and the high wattage Micrwave unit. I did get one of the 600WATT manual operated microwave unit that can run off my 2KW Generator for a short time...

Our usual mode of camping is to run all the basic things off the batteries and during the 6PM to 11Pm time frame each evening is where my additional batteries come into play to run outside lighting and home entertainment item. I also like to play with Ham Radio...

My setup is designed to get us by the one day/night running off my battery bank and not deplete my batteries below the 50% charge state by 8Am the next morning. Then I will run my 2KW Generator when allowed during breakfast to recharge my batteries back up to their 90% charge state. This takes around three hours of generator run time... Then we are good to go again for the next day/night run off the batteries...

It all in the planning and finally becomes second nature camping off-grid...

Believe me when I say you just can't just show up in the woods and expect everything to work... It will get dark on you rather quickly haha...

My goal is to wake up in the mornings camping Creekside somewhere to a semi-loud bubbling creek drinking my fresh ground and brewed bean coffee and watching the fish jump in the creek... For me it don't get any better than that haha...

Roy Ken

[naturist]

Something isn’t right. Furnace runs on 12 V. If it runs when shore power is on, the problem is in the wiring somewhere.

And it is common to add a second battery, because the furnace blower takes so much power it’ll exhaust a battery overnight on a cold night. But no inverter required.

[FLY_4_FUN]

double post

[FLY_4_FUN]

As Ed says, rv furnaces run off 12V so you must be missing a step somewhere. Is your LP on and purged? Is there a fuse out on your furnace circuit? Being as its brand new did the furnace get demonstrated to you during the walkthrough?

Let us know

[Ed_Gee]

I have never heard of an RV furnace blower motor that did not run off the 12VDC system. I think you have a problem or something set wrong.