PUP Electrical Question

[rb_beachcpl]

This is a dumb newbie question:

Does anyone know how to make the inside 110VAC outlets to work from the 12V battery to run a laptop, TV, or radio? In my Coleman manual it says "If the converter is not plugged into a 110 VAC source, the 110VAC outlets within the trailer will not operate". There has to be a way to run off the marine battery. Maybe some makeshift plug/cord from the battery to the PUP?

I have a generator, but wouldn't want to run that at night. Without a power source for TV, radio, or laptop, then my wife and I are force to communicate through dialog, share our inner feelings and play board games like Parcheesi. You know, like they did back in the old days....that are just plain ridicules.

Thanks

[tlhdoc]

The simplest way to get 110 from your battery is to plug a power inverter into a 12 volt outlet in the trailer, and then plug your 110 item into the power inverter.  You can get them at Wal-Mart, Sam's Club and many other stores.

[Gone-Camping]

Actually, to run an inverter with enough power to do much of anything, you don't really want to plug it into a 12v power point.... you'd be much better off hooking it up directly to the battery with appropriate gauge wire. Likely the wire going to the power point is not going to be hefty enough...esepcially if you're trying to run a tv or something.
 
Bear in mind that to run 120vac stuff via an inverter off of a 12v power source, you're going to have a very limited amount of power/time available. You'll run that battery down to nothing in very short order. And these are generally good only for running low wattage items. You can get a high wattage inverter, but unless you have a huge bank of batteries it won't do you much good.
 
I'm no expert on this, but have a certain amount of experience with inverters. For simple camping use, I have an inverter that is 300W continous/600 peak-surge... With this directly wired to a pair of group 27 batteries I can run a watch a 13" color tv for an hour or two every day for about a week...thats about all I can get out of it though.
If you'd like to learn more about RV 12volt stuff, I highly recommend you poke around this website.... (Mark's 12volt side of life)
http://www.ccis.com/home/mnemeth/12volt/12volt.htm
 
Information directly concerning inverters is actually on page two of this site, there is a link at the bottom of the page that'll take you to page 2..

[rb_beachcpl]

We have one new group 27 battery and have room for one more on the tongue, so I may buy one more. If I recharge the batteries during the day with a smart charger plugged into a generator, then I'm hoping to have at least 4 hours of electricity in the evening for TV or laptop. Does that sound about right?

[tlhdoc]

Actually, to run an inverter with enough power to do much of anything, you don't really want to plug it into a 12v power point....

We have been plugging the PSII and portable dvd player or laptop computer into the power inverter for years.  If we take a TV, it has a 12 volt plug so we don't use the inverter.  There is plenty of power to run a small tv, computer or video game system through a 12 volt outlet.  The key is to have a metal outlet, not a plastic one, and use heavy enough wire handle the load.  You should also have an in-line fuse on the circuit.  My outlet is wired with 12 gage wire, so there isn't a problem.

[mike4947]

A couple of notes:

Tracy is definitely correct on the 12 volt outlet. The palstic outlets normally sold for and used in RV's are limited to a maximim of 8 amps and are fused at 7.5 amps. The metal true cigarette lighter outlets are designed and fuse for 20 amps and require much heavier wiring to handle the increase amperage. Don't just try and replace a plastic one with a metal one and change out the fuse.
BUT, even 20 amps limits the inverter draw to apx (12 X 20) or 240 watts.
Common installation is inverters that uses more than 200 watts should be wired directly to the battery.
 
While a second battery might not be needed it will cut recharging time in half. Single group 27 batteries, if you wish to keep the life up, are limited to C/10 charging rate where C is th amperage capacity. SO the average charge rate for a single battery would be around 10-12 amps. Add a second battery and you can charge them at twice the amperage which will still be under the C/10 total for both batteries.
It's just that reason I bought a Smart charger rated at 2/10/25. I use the 10 amp setting for a single battery and the 25 amp for dual battery setups. Better than twice the charging rate while still not degrading the life span of the two batteries.

[dthurk]

my wife and I are force to communicate through dialog, share our inner feelings and play board games like Parcheesi. You know, like they did back in the old days.
 
 Thanks

What's wrong with that?

[AustinBoston]

Without a power source for TV, radio, or laptop, then my wife and I are force to communicate through dialog, share our inner feelings and play board games like Parcheesi. You know, like they did back in the old days....that are just plain ridicules.

We camped memorial day weekend near Ely, MN.  A father-son combo camped next to us.  They wacthed hours of mindless videos (and commented on most of them).  We sat mostly quietly around the campfire.  We made camp pies, and just listened to the night (and their innane noise).

Then it happened.  From across the lake, perhaps 1/2 mile away, came the mournful cries of a pack of wolves.  There is no way they heard it.  But there was no doubt it was one of the biggest camping highlights we'd ever had.

Sometimes, there is something immeasureably good about just sitting still and being quiet.

Austin

[dthurk]

We camped memorial day weekend near Ely, MN.  A father-son combo camped next to us.  They wacthed hours of mindless videos (and commented on most of them).  We sat mostly quietly around the campfire.  We made camp pies, and just listened to the night (and their innane noise).
 
 Then it happened.  From across the lake, perhaps 1/2 mile away, came the mournful cries of a pack of wolves.  There is no way they heard it.  But there was no doubt it was one of the biggest camping highlights we'd ever had.
 
 Sometimes, there is something immeasureably good about just sitting still and being quiet.
 
 Austin

That's what camping's all about!