Battery power question

[Joe MacDonald]

Rick, your trailer does not likely have an inverter, the plug was just put in a convenient place.

The power supply is usually converter, ac turned into dc for the interior lighting and possibly reefer. sometimes Trillium included a battery charger function, sometimes not.

[Gina D.]

What I saw in his trailer sure looked like a convertor to me, but I didn't dig deep down into it. It had the standard 110/12v switch like convertors do. It may have been an option, or an aftermarket install.

Convertor Output says "12.5VDC 6 amps

OK what the heck does all this mean?

It means that the load you put on it must not draw more than 6 amps. Or the fuse or breaker will pop. With a light or 2 nd your laptop, you should be OK, but I wouldn't put a coffee maker on there. The thing is older, and such items with high current draw were only inklings in inventors eyes then, so they probably had no need to make it any bigger.

I still use my INvertor when I bring my dish. It's not very big, only 400 watts. But thats still way more than needed for my use.

I have 110 v outlets all over my trailer, but no built in 110 things. I have never felt a need for a convertor, I run a charger on the battery when plugged into shore power and my 12v stuff runs off the battery while it's charging.

[rickster]

What I saw in his trailer sure looked like a convertor to me, but I didn't dig deep down into it. It had the standard 110/12v switch like convertors do. It may have been an option, or an aftermarket install.
It means that the load you put on it must not draw more than 6 amps. Or the fuse or breaker will pop. With a light or 2 nd your laptop, you should be OK, but I wouldn't put a coffee maker on there. The thing is older, and such items with high current draw were only inklings in inventors eyes then, so they probably had no need to make it any bigger.

I still use my INvertor when I bring my dish. It's not very big, only 400 watts. But thats still way more than needed for my use.

I have 110 v outlets all over my trailer, but no built in 110 things. I have never felt a need for a convertor, I run a charger on the battery when plugged into shore power and my 12v stuff runs off the battery while it's charging.

Are you saying that the plug in the CONvertor is just for 12v items or is it just another 110 plug? Or I think what you are saying is that I can plug a 110 item into that plug and then switch the switch to battery instead of 110 and that the power then comes from the battery converting AC to DC so I can use it as a normal plug. It then uses/drains battery power. What then I am doing when I use an INvertor?

Thanks. Rick

[Joe MacDonald]

I think it is just a regular 110v plug.
switching to 12v or 120 volt is just for where you are getting your feed.
on 120v, you need to be plugged in to shore power,the switch on 120v, and if the converter has a charger, it will charge the battery and power the 120v plug. On 12 volt it will supply power to the 12v circuits, but not power to the 120v plug on the converter. What brand is it?

did you do a lookup on the net for info?

[Joe MacDonald]

does it look like this?

[rickster]

does it look like this?

It looks like this.

OK HOW DO YOU ADD AN IMAGE? When I hit the image icon on this reply it says enter a hyperlink. I have the image on my PC not the web.

Any help here would be good.

Thanks

[Brian B-P]

It looks like this.

OK HOW DO YOU ADD AN IMAGE? When I hit the image icon on this reply it says enter a hyperlink. I have the image on my PC not the web.

Any help here would be good...

I think it would be good to know about the Basic Website Tutorials section of FiberglassRV. In this case, I think Rick is using the Insert Image button, but needs instead to use the [b]File Attachments section, two sections down from the box in which you compose text. Hit Browse and get that image file.

[rickster]

OK, thanks.

Here is the picture of my Convertor.

[Gina D.]

Thats a CONvertor, as I thought.

A COnvertor takes 110 and converts it to 12v. Thats why all the light worked with a dead battery. It stepped down the voltage for you.

I did not see any 110v lights in your trailer.

An INvertor takes 12v and turns it into 110.

The plug in front is 110, and no doubt is as Joe suggests, just a direct outlet for 110. There is nothing marked that indicates it's inverted.

Do not plug any 12v items into that outlet, lest you want a melted item and a new hairdo.

[Benny K]

Hi Rick, I would say that the 110V receptacle is live when the trailer is plugged into 110 V power......the rocker switch only controls everything on your trailer that is 12V.....on Bat, the battery supplies the 12V and on Conv, the convertor supplies the 12V to your 12V wiring......if you require some 110V off your battery, you get an inverter and wire it to your battery thru a switch controlling whether you want 110V from the inverter or from your regular 110V from outside the trailer into one or more dedicated 110V receptacles .....now you`ll be able to power some 12V accessories governed by the size of the inverter and how long you can do this, by the battery capacity....Benny

[Brian B-P]

Here's my best guess at a guided tour of the front panel of this basic converter:

Push/pull switch on left
top label:
GREEN BAND
MEANS OFF
If the green band is showing the switch is pulled out, and is thus off (green=safe?)

right side label:
CONVERTER
PANEL OUTLET
REMOTE EXT
The three things that are turned on and off by this switch:

1. the AC-to-DC converter (and thus the DC power)
2. the outlet in this panel (immediately below the switch)
3. some extension outlet located elsewhere in the trailer

bottom label:
PUSH ON
PULL OFF
120VAC
The switch is pushed in to turn it on; it is switching the 120 VAC power only.

Rocker switch on right
BATT OFF CONV
BATT = DC power comes from the battery
OFF = DC power circuit is off (no power)
CONV = DC power comes from the converter (battery probably disconnected from DC power circuit)

Fuse above rocker switch
12.5 VDC
MAX FUSE
10 A TYPE
AGC 10

12.5 VDC = output of the converter through this fuse
MAX FUSE 10 A = don't use a fuse larger than 10 A, since that's what the converter can handle
AGC 10 = common style glass fuse in 10 amp rating

I agree that the outlet is just a convenient place to plug in, with power from the "shore power" cable - the converter doesn't do anything with this power, and if you want AC power where there is no shore power you need to use an inverter. You can just use a portable unit like Gina, but you need wiring to the battery (not to the converter) to supply it.

The photo helps a lot - thanks, Rick, for posting it.

(On edit, just fixed a missing decimal point)

[rickster]

WOW,

Everyone is so helpful, and knowledgeble.

This is a great reference for me know when I can start putting this all together. I also have a friend that can help me get this into place. I hope to start on that part of my trailer next month or so.

Thanks again.

Rickster