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Old 11-09-2013, 06:03 AM   #1
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Plug in power vs. battery power

Sorry for the dumb question, but can someone tell me what on a 32BHDH (or on a typical travel trailer) is powered by the 12 volt battery and what is powered by the 30A plug?

If I'm parked seasonally a a site, do I even need to have a battery connected, or are some things not powered by the 30A plug?
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Old 11-09-2013, 06:30 AM   #2
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Plug in power vs. battery power

First, no dumb questions.

Anything that is 12-volt CAN be powered by battery, but will be powered by your converter if you are plugged into 30amp electric.

Some typical 12-volt items on TT include, ceiling lights, slide motors, furnace, water pump, range hood light/fan, bathroom fan, etc.

Some typical items that are only powered by shore power (30amp) would be the electric outlets and air conditioning.

In my opinion, having a battery is important even on a seasonal site, in case of power outages.
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Old 11-09-2013, 07:09 AM   #3
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This is a wiring configuration for a typical 30AMP trailer system

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Old 11-10-2013, 02:20 PM   #4
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Converters provide 12vdc power to charge batteries and power the 12 v part of the coach. They are not designed to be run without a battery.
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Old 11-10-2013, 02:56 PM   #5
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They are not designed to be run without a battery.
That depends - check your owners manual. My WFCO Converter Manual states it is not necessary to have a battery connected.

That said, I would still keep a battery connected for the convenience of having lights and radio if the seasonal CG power ever goes out.
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Old 11-10-2013, 06:02 PM   #6
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Pretty sure This is correct....if the 110 system goes down....don't you need the 12 volt power to ignite the propane system to keep your refrigerator cooling? Correct me if I'm wrong.
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Old 11-10-2013, 08:16 PM   #7
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Pretty sure This is correct....if the 110 system goes down....don't you need the 12 volt power to ignite the propane system to keep your refrigerator cooling? Correct me if I'm wrong.
Yes you do.
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Old 11-10-2013, 08:30 PM   #8
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That depends - check your owners manual. My WFCO Converter Manual states it is not necessary to have a battery connected.

That said, I would still keep a battery connected for the convenience of having lights and radio if the seasonal CG power ever goes out.
The problem isn't with the converter per se. It won't "damage" the converter to run the coach without a battery however most RV manufacturers install more 12 V loads than the converter can supply. Also most single stage converters do not have EMI & RFI filtering. Multistage converters are specifically designed to charge batteries. The converters detect the charge level of the battery and select the most appropriate voltage for charging the battery. If you have no battery connected the converter would have no voltage to detect. Depending on the converter configuration it will select a default voltage such as 13.8VDC. It is important to understand that there is little voltage regulation so you can get sags from excessive loads or spikes from load shedding. The batteries act as a large capacitor to absorb these events.
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Old 11-11-2013, 06:10 AM   #9
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It won't "damage" the converter to run the coach without a battery however most RV manufacturers install more 12 V loads than the converter can supply.
If it's a 30A DC converter with a 30A fuse - it doesn't matter if you have the battery (or a nuclear reactor) backing up your converter...when you hit the amp draw capacity of the main or branch circuit fuse(s) - you're done.

If it's not safe to draw 30A through the converter without a battery, the manufacturer wouldn't indicate otherwise. Again - each person should refer to their owners guide for their specific converter.
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Old 11-11-2013, 04:09 PM   #10
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If it's a 30A DC converter with a 30A fuse - it doesn't matter if you have the battery (or a nuclear reactor) backing up your converter...when you hit the amp draw capacity of the main or branch circuit fuse(s) - you're done.

If it's not safe to draw 30A through the converter without a battery, the manufacturer wouldn't indicate otherwise. Again - each person should refer to their owners guide for their specific converter.
A fuse protects the converter from overloads that's it. There is much more involved in automotive (or other DC loads) or RV 12 V power systems. DC converters systems do not filter out or handle EMI / RFI very well. Nor is it a good idea to have voltage sags or spikes because it is hard on everything being powered and on the output of the converter. Converters provide very limited EMI / RFI and capacitance protection if any. Add to that unloaded (no battery) voltage regulation can be a serious issue with them as well. Automotive alternators are the same. You can run the car for a short time without a battery however eventually you will burn something out. A battery adds capacitance to the system smoothing out the irregularities in voltage and draw. You can also get unwanted noise in radios, TVs and other items in the coach. The battery will absorb any voltage spikes and it will provide voltage in a voltage drop situation. A converter manufacturer is interested in having the unit last long enough to get past the warranty period. Most of the problems but not all these problems surface after a few years of use. There are a few - very few - scientific and industrial regulated DC power supplies that have internal capacitors that can safely be used to directly power DC loads. I know because I use them here at work in my profession. They are very specialized and very expensive. We use them to test DC loads for heavy trucks including radios, computers, displays etc. I would never even consider a consumer grade RV converter as a suitable DC power supply without a battery. Incidentally, I hand built a DC power supply when I was just 17 years old which was many years ago.
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Old 11-11-2013, 04:56 PM   #11
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I think the OP's original question has been sufficiently answered.
Let him take the information and sort through what equipment he has and make his choices from here.
Thanks for everyone's input.

Kind regards,
Doug
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