Absolutely new to RVing

[mark.davisson]

Hi Everyone,

My name is Mark Davisson, originally from Minnesota and got transplanted in Florida a little over 10 years ago. I recently sold my home of 10 years to generate some financial resources to help my ex-wife and to get out of a difficult situation which generally has occurred just because it's Florida.

I purchased a 2010 Coachman Catalina 22 foot RV and decided about 2 months ago I would live in this and work from where ever I happen to be. Turns out there is more to living in an RV than pulling over on a dark street and climbing in to go to sleep. I have plumbing concerns, square footage constraints, and electrical issues as everyone else but I know is AC and DC systems that seem to interact to provide the power to various places in the RV.

I am currently trying to identify the DC current schematic online as I have fuses that continue to blow and don't know anything about resetting the system as online there seems to be very limited information.

Thank you for letting me be a part of this community. Hopefully, things will get more understandable as I continue this lifestyle.

[Ex-tenter]

Originally Posted by mark.davisson

I purchased a 2010 Coachman Catalina 22 foot RV and decided about 2 months ago I would live in this and work from where ever I happen to be. Turns out there is more to living in an RV than pulling over on a dark street and climbing in to go to sleep. I have plumbing concerns, square footage constraints, and electrical issues as everyone else but I know is AC and DC systems that seem to interact to provide the power to various places in the RV.

Hi Mark, and welcome to the forums! You won't find schematics for your electrical systems, the manufacturers simply don't publish them. However you will find a bunch of very knowledgeable people here who will help answer your questions.

[Mikec557]

Originally Posted by mark.davisson

Hi Everyone,

My name is Mark Davisson, originally from Minnesota and got transplanted in Florida a little over 10 years ago. I recently sold my home of 10 years to generate some financial resources to help my ex-wife and to get out of a difficult situation which generally has occurred just because it's Florida.

I purchased a 2010 Coachman Catalina 22 foot RV and decided about 2 months ago I would live in this and work from where ever I happen to be. Turns out there is more to living in an RV than pulling over on a dark street and climbing in to go to sleep. I have plumbing concerns, square footage constraints, and electrical issues as everyone else but I know is AC and DC systems that seem to interact to provide the power to various places in the RV.

I am currently trying to identify the DC current schematic online as I have fuses that continue to blow and don't know anything about resetting the system as online there seems to be very limited information.

Thank you for letting me be a part of this community. Hopefully, things will get more understandable as I continue this lifestyle.

Well, there's good news and there's bad news. The bad news is there are no schematics for RVs. It would seem that the factories could roll two identical RVs down the line and still wire them differently.

The good news is that there are a lot of good people here who can help you. Take one problem or concern at a time and ask about it. But you need to provide as much information as possible, such as year make and model of the RV, the model number of the appliance (or whatever) is giving you trouble, and whenever you can, post pictures of what you're looking at.

[aceinspp]

Welcome to the forum. Lot of knowledgeable folks here to help with your questions, Later RJD

[colomap]

Welcome from Colorado! Since I'm new as well I offer less than most here - but I can offer support! BE PATIENT. I'm fairly impatient but have taken a mindset with my new camper.

[SacRV]

Living full-time in an older trailer is going to be challenging anyway you look at it.

[NJKris]

Welcome to HELL!


Just kidding, you might like it.

[Sunseeker16]

Welcome Mark. There are a lot of smart people that follow this site, be nice some people are pretty sensitive about wording in a post.

[tomkatb]

Electrical is tricky to troubleshoot.

Fuses are typically for the 12 volt service. Identify the fuses. Check they are the proper size. Find the dead ones.

Turn all battery charging devices off. Unplug shore power. Throw a dark blanket over the solar panel. Use your voltmeter to measure battery voltage. Should read 0-12.7. 12.7 is 100% charged. 12.0 is 50% charged. The lowest you should ever allow.

Check the shore power plug. Using the voltmeter, assumes a connection with three pins. Check for voltage. Should read 0 or 120 volts ac. Any combination giving 220 volts then someone wired the outlet to 220 and there will be lots of damage to the rv. House plugs like this are common. Wiring them to 110 is a trailer court thing.

Assuming all is 110 or 0 then plug the rv in.

The battery should now read 13 or more volts. As much as 14.5 volts. It takes up to 24 hours to charge a low battery.

Need more information to help.