New to rv'ing have questions

[Colleen Easterbrooks]

Hello, we are brand new to rv'ing. Bought 2017 forest ridge rockwood hard side aframe 18ft pull behind. Have several questions hopefully folks can help us out with. Live in florida and camping this week when a bit chilly. What is difference between heat pump vs. Heat furnace and do they use electric or propane if we are camping with full hook ups? Also, does the fridge run off electric or propane? Sorry for so many questions but we are brand new to this. Also, when driving and towing camper what keeps battery charged? We plan on towing camper to new mexico this summer and while driving stopping over night to destination and staying at ealmarts or rest stops. Would it be best to just use the battery for inly running fan and lights?

[NJKris]

I'll take the first question. I'm sure Fred will pop up and answer the rest, I consider him to be a hard side pop up guru! The heat pump uses electricity from shore power to warm the trailer, but it only works when it is not cold out, i.e., once it gets down to 40F or below you will need to use furnace. The furnace will use propane and a small amount of electricity for the fan/ignition/controls. If you can get by with the heat pump, that would be great because it will run off shore power, which you are already paying for at a campsite with full hookups. The furnace is good if you dry camp; no electric hookup, because you can run it with your battery.

[spock123]

On a camper the size of yours what you have is a gas/electric refrigerator, it runs off electric when you have hookups and propane and battery when you don’t. Your vehicle will normally keep the battery charged. The vehicle will not completely charge up a battery that’s been run down to much. The cable that’s charging the battery is not very big so mostly what you get is a trickle charge. Your battery would be fine just running your lights but your battery also had to power the refrigerator too. Without a battery your refrigerator will not work. If I was planning on doing what you are going to do I would install another battery or buy a very small generator. Or stay at a campground every other night or every two nights

[tomkatb]

A heat pump reverses he flow of Freon. Thus cools outside, warms inside.

In general the warmer outside the better they work as said.

However note the temperature of the air from the unit will be around 90 degrees or so. The DW will say turn off the air conditioner you fool! Takes getting used to. We heat our house that way.

I would presume you also have a gas furnace? They use dc current and propane.

We carry a $20 resistance heater from the hardware store.

All the electrical stuff we use when the electricity comes with the rv park.

Most trailers in the past came with a gas electric refrigerator. As a cost savings now many have residental electric refrigerators. Folks like them better if they do not boondock much.

Yes your tow vehicle can recharge your battery. Technically. However to recharge your battery would likely take 25 hours. 12 volt wire is notorious for line loss. The wire from the engine to your rv battery drops the voltage a bunch. Running your gas furnace would likely wipe the battery out in one evening.
Presumes you have a 7 wire plug.

[Dirt Sifter]

Colleen, good on you for asking questions here. We stumbled around with our first trailers without knowing any good resources. After buying a Forest River product we were directed here. The breadth and depth of freely given knowledge is pretty darned fascinating. Sometimes even entertaining.

[67L48]

Originally Posted by Colleen Easterbrooks

[...] Also, when driving and towing camper what keeps battery charged? We plan on towing camper to new mexico this summer and while driving stopping over night to destination and staying at ealmarts or rest stops. Would it be best to just use the battery for inly running fan and lights?

First, welcome to the show. I hope you enjoy your new trailer.

Second, in general, the more information you provide, the more information you'll receive. So, when you start asking questions about how your towing vehicle (TV) interacts with your trailer (charging), it's helpful to know about what that towing vehicle is. Eventually, you can start populating some of this information into your signature.

I'll assume that you are towing with a 7-pin connector. That's the round plug type. This does, in fact, have a 12 VDC charging capability (on pin 4). However, whether or not your vehicle takes advantage of this depends on the vehicle. For example, Ford trucks require the owner to install a relay in the fuse box to enable this circuit. The trucks are supplied with the appropriate relay, but, for some reason, the relay is not installed at the factory.

So, any vehicle with 7-pin trailer wiring has the capability. Your specific vehicle may not yet be properly configured. It all depends on your vehicle.

Many of us use battery power to use lights and fans for various forms of dry camping. So, yes, this is fine. You can turn this into a math problem because these appliances all have known energy consumption values and your battery has a known capacity.

12 VDC batteries can be as complicated as you want. General rule is to know the capacity in Amp-Hours and then never to consume more than 50% of that value (or you risk damaging the battery).

Good luck.

[spock123]

If you want to learn a little about batteries then google the 12 volt side of life part 1

[NJKris]

For example, Ford trucks require the owner to install a relay in the fuse box to enable this circuit. The trucks are supplied with the appropriate relay, but, for some reason, the relay is not installed at the factory.

I had no idea! Does that include newer Fords (2015 on up)?

[67L48]

Maybe. You might be able to search online to find that information. At some point, Ford started integrating this into the towing control center -- the computer where you program your trailer details. Eventually, this eliminated the need for a physical insertion of a relay. I don't know much about it, though. My F-150 is old enough that it still has a hand crank on the front of the engine.

Good luck.

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by Colleen Easterbrooks

Also, when driving and towing camper what keeps battery charged? We plan on towing camper to new mexico this summer and while driving stopping over night to destination and staying at ealmarts or rest stops. Would it be best to just use the battery for inly running fan and lights?

If you are going to be overnighting without shore power often, you should have a dual battery setup.
Even though you have an A-frame, it will still have parasitic power drains. And your vehicle will probably only provide a trickle charge at best.
So a depleted battery will take hours of driving, to fully charge the battery.

[dbledan]

Originally Posted by NJKris

I had no idea! Does that include newer Fords (2015 on up)?

Not sure on 2015. On my 2016 there is no relay to install. It is enabled and disabled by sensing voltage on the parking and brake lights for the 7pin. Once voltage is sensed it will enable power but not before so you cannot just test the wire with a multi tester to know if it works or how much power you can get from it.

[NJKris]

I'll test mine, but I'll bet it is controlled by computer. I installed a factory OEM brake controller, which I had to have the dealer then go into software settings and recognize the controller.

[DouglasReid]

Originally Posted by tomkatb

We carry a $20 resistance heater from the hardware store.

X2. We carry a small electric heater to supplement the heater because the electricity it uses is paid for in the site rental.

[tomrob1161]

My advice to new RV'ers is to join a local camping club, and learn from their experiences. They always say, "experience is the best teacher" but some of those experiences can get costly. It's better to learn from folks that have already had the experience. Google Good Sam and you'll probably find you have a local Good Sam chapter in your area.

The Forest River forum is a great place to get information online along with attending one of the local FROG Rallys.

We started camping in 1970 and didn't find out there were Good Sam local chapters until 1995.

Good luck with your new camper.

[dahagen]

I would suggest you find an older camper in a newer unit and invite him (or her) over for a brew and pick his brain. Most of us old timers are happy to give a hand.