New 31FS owner

[kurv]

My wife and I just picked up our first motorhome last week. I've been going through all the manuals and familiarizing myself with all the in's and out's. The dealer gave me a very basic explanation of the major components, most of which I already knew. One area I'm a bit confused in is the 120v and 12v setup. I'm sure these are common questions but I'm just not finding anything explaining it.

If the motorhome is running, as in driving down the road, what can be used? Lights, TV's, furnace? Are any outlets hot. Are they drawing from the house battery? I have a 400w inverter that came with it.

Does the generator and truck engine both charge the house battery? I already figured out plugging into shore power does.

My thermostat for the furnace/ac has a setting for electric heat as well as gas. Is the furnace actually running on electric alone when set on electric? Also, when I turn the heat on the roof a/c fan comes on. Is it just circulating air?

Any help would be appreciated, even if it's just pointing me in the right direction where I could find more detailed explanations of these systems.

 

[oldmanAZ]

Welcome to the forum.

 

[WDW-FRF]

Lots of answers to your questions:

You won't be able to use the TV once you put the vehicle in motion because of the sensor they've installed behind the outlet for the TV plugs in. This is in compliance with some type of mandate so that you can't see the TV while you're driving. Not that you could anyways. There's a number of conversations on the boards about how to rewire this so that your children can watch TV and you can watch the road.

The debate of whether you should use the furnace or not is out there fir discussion. For the most part, what I've read is that you can use the furnace. It's going to draw power from the house batteries. Unless of course you start the generator.Same with your lights .batteries plus a By that I mean it's dry and it's heat source from the propane in the batteries her powering the fans. Unless you start the generator or have shore power your heat pump system won't work. Your batteries don't have enough capacity to operate that.

The truck battery will only charge off the truck. The house battery does charge off the truck and although there are systems on the aftermarket that you can install to do that there are some older models and upscale that also have that feature as I've read. In my case our unit is in storsge and we use a battery tender attached to The truck battery.whil

Finally congratulations on your purchase. We are similar to you just a little bit ahead of the learning curve with a 31FK that we picked up last fall. Feel free to PM me if you have questions. But posting them here to the forum
you will have many answers frim many more knowledgeable folks who are always eager to help out. It's really the nice part about joining this community.!Curious where did you buy yours?

 

[kurv]

Thanks for the reply! I'm slowly learning! I'm a car guy as well as a decent residential handyman. There's not much I can't do when it comes to either. Learning how these two areas are combined has been fun.

I bought mine from Garick rv in north jersey.

 

[WDW-FRF]

Sorry about my lack of proofreading and editing but I use my voice dictation on my iPhone and sometimes they come out with the craziest things…

 

[kurv]

I just figured English wasn't your first language.

 

[WDW-FRF]

LOL! It's not me... My phone has a translation problem... I'm speaking English and it listens in some foreign language...

 

[oldmanAZ]

LOL! It's not me... My phone has a translation problem... I'm speaking English and it listens in some foreign language...

Hmmm.... maybe a smartphone would help.

 

[Jagiven]

Don't have a MH but have rented a few.

12 will work all the time as long as the battery is connected.

120V will only work when connected to shore power or the generator is on. If you have a built in generator you can run it while traveling down the road.

400W inverter probably is only connected to one outlet, possibly in the cab. 400W is not much power, you can plug in a laptop, TV, or other small items and that is it.

Furnace, on gas you should be able to run it while driving. It will use 12Vdc for the controls and fan. The electric option would be best for shore power connection.

AC heat option unless the heat strip was added, I have never seen it factory I stall yet. Will just recirculate the air. It's about a $75 part.

 

[Bikester]

Kurv, I just placed my order for the same model at the same dealer as you. 6-8 weeks for delivery. I also ordered some things to be installed before picking it up, like 2 black slide toppers, 2 black MaxxAir II vent covers, and a flat tow setup. Can't wait to kick-off spring in it. We are trading in our Jayfeather 23b, hybrid travel trailer. Good luck with yours. Congrats and happy camping.

 

[Bikester]

Also, if anyone has a link to the thread on how to rewire the outlet for the TV motion sensor, please post. I just searched and couldn't find it. Thx.

 

[kurv]

I need some toppers as well, what brand did you go with? The whole tv thing is driving me crazy. The rewire is not complicated, its just not working for me. I just found out they hooked up the audio/video all wrong on mine. When I find out what works I'll let you know.

 

[Bikester]

I don't know what brand they are installing, actually. Maybe I should have asked... But since they are putting them in, they have to stand behind them . I made sure they were black to match the awning and the exterior. Please keep me posted on what you learn and I'll do likewise.