it all makes more sense to me now.....I had assumed you had a convential built-in converter/charger as well.....now I found out we both run our systems the same....no conversion of AC into DC except what goes through the charger....IMO that is a "cleaner" sort of system...simpler to understand/estimate what is going on....especially when you add
solar to the mix
when I first got my trailer (my first RV) I realized that my TV was not sending power to the coach...so that got put on my "list"....but then after a while I took it off my list for the reason stated above
I spent a LOT of time fiddling with electrics on boats...small cruising sailboats...but that is very different as you have the alternator of the outboard running, at a very minimum, half an hour at the beginning and half an hour at the end of the day.....power was never a problem but there was no furnace to consume large amounts of DC power either
yes, I agree 8 amps is plenty for our use...I have 7.2 and it's probably more than I needed even...but my next choice was 4... and the price difference was small in the whole scheme of things
FWIW...I, like most people I presume, got in to
solar by dribs and drabs...adding this, changing that, relocating panels, buying when I saw a good deal ($ per watt).....I now have 70W (40+30) flat on the roof and a 40W I can deploy (aim to the sun perfectly when parked) and so far I have found it more than adequate for me. In fact if it's high noon on a sunny day and the 40 is out too I could probably sell power to my neighbours!!! because the controller maxes out...but it's a help on marginal days...
I was just out for a week...half of the days were sunny...rest cloudy...never plugged in...deployed the 40 only once...and at rest my batteries never went below 12.45....and even then the culprit was recharging the laptop which is a surprise "power hog" that I should get into the habit of recharging in the TV as I tend to move every day. The rest of the week the meter was always around 12.5 when I woke up.
it'll be interesting to see how it all works in the
fall when the furnace gets used sort of regular....but right now I seem to be sitting on quite a comfortable "buffer" to handle the extra load...I think
cheers, F