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Old 05-13-2019, 07:52 PM   #1
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Electrical and boondocking

We have a 2017 Rockwood 5th wheel. I'm confused about how / what we can use electrically with our solar panel and battery when drycamping. Can I use a hair dryer and curling iron or an immersion hand blender? Does the converter automatically switch from plug in power to battery and solar? When I plug in my curling iron, it doesn't work. Is there a switch or something I need to push. Sorry, I'm not an electrical engineer, I just want my stuff to work. Thanks, Kathy
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Old 05-13-2019, 08:28 PM   #2
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Your 110 volt outlets will not work unless you are plugged in to an AC outlet or a generator. So you can not use your curling iron or hair dryer etc.
The solar panels help to keep the battery charged when the trailer is not plugged in.
Items that will work off the battery are water pump, furnace, water heater (on propane), fridge (on propane), lights, radio, ceiling exhaust fan.

You can get an inverter and a lot more batteries to run the inverter which will supply 110 VAC to run your hair dyer and curling iron. That can be costly depending on how much power you want/need.
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Old 05-13-2019, 08:44 PM   #3
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your camper has two separate systems. 12 volt and 110 volt. nothing is going to run plugged into an outlet unless you have a generator or shore power or seriously get some major solar and an invertor and re wire you camper.
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Old 05-13-2019, 08:48 PM   #4
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I can run 120V with my trailer because I installed a 2000W inverter.


The solar panels only charge the battery. Whatever runs off the battery is what you can run assuming you don't have an inverter
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Old 05-13-2019, 09:05 PM   #5
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and if running generator does not insure that these appliences will run. output of genny
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Old 05-14-2019, 03:41 AM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by vakathy View Post
We have a 2017 Rockwood 5th wheel. I'm confused about how / what we can use electrically with our solar panel and battery when drycamping. Can I use a hair dryer and curling iron or an immersion hand blender? Does the converter automatically switch from plug in power to battery and solar? When I plug in my curling iron, it doesn't work. Is there a switch or something I need to push. Sorry, I'm not an electrical engineer, I just want my stuff to work. Thanks, Kathy
I'm sorry you did not get a good walkthrough from whoever you bought the trailer from.
Solar panels are ONLY for recharging the batteries. They don't run anything.
For your high demand electrical items, you need shore power or an Inverter generator.
Even if you installed an INverter, you'd need a big one and a bunch of batteries.
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Old 05-14-2019, 05:03 AM   #7
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Kathy, this link will quickly explain your different electrical systems as well as what a converter, inverter, and solar does.


It may help you understand the differences as well as what you can or CANNOT use with each.



http://www.forestriverforums.com/for...nt-152813.html
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Old 05-14-2019, 03:10 PM   #8
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Electric

Thank you, everyone - that clears up my frustrations! I'll now be better prepared for our boondocking excursions. Hats are cheap .
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Old 05-23-2019, 11:02 AM   #9
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Your 120 volt outlets will not work
FTFY! Here in Merica we run 120V


Quote:
Originally Posted by Kimber45 View Post
your camper has two separate systems. 12 volt and 120 volt. nothing is going to run plugged into an outlet unless you have a generator or shore power or seriously get some major solar and an invertor and re wire you camper.
Read above
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Old 05-23-2019, 04:42 PM   #10
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Originally Posted by jonshonda View Post
FTFY! Here in Merica we run 120V

Read above
Here in Canuckville we run anywhere from 110V to 124V.

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