When on House batteries, some outlets don't work

Thanks Tom.

KeepMoovin wrote:
One more question..well two...Is there a reasonable way to "switch" circuits so I could choose which circuit was used? Or can one outlet be added to the existing circuit?

anything can be rewired. the question is how easy, how appropriate, etc.
make yourself a suicide cord and light up the world. within amp limits.
bumpy

KeepMoovin wrote:
One more question..well two...Is there a reasonable way to "switch" circuits so I could choose which circuit was used? Or can one outlet be added to the existing circuit?

That depends on the location of the inverter. If near the batteries and AC panel, some rewiring may be reasonable. It the inverter is near the outlet, fed by a long 12 volt run (common on small entertainment inverters) rewiring can be a lot more difficult. Once you move away from the electrical panel, much of the wiring would be run in channels cut in the foam core of your wall panels, not very accessible after the panels are skinned. Sometimes wiring runs go through cabinets, and can be easier to get to.

KeepMoovin wrote:
2003 Fleetwood tioga 29V. When I'm on Shore power or generator, all outlets work. When I am on the aux batteries (with inverter on) only a couple outlets have power.

Highly likely that it was done that way on purpose.

Best not to mess with it and just use ONLY the outlets that are hot when running on the inverter. It has a very limited current output, probably, and can't run many things at the same time.

And no probably not an "easy" or "reasonable" way to add an outlet to the inverter. A heavy duty extension cord might work.

What exactly IS it that you want to use that you can't plug into one of the outlets that DOES work off the inverter ??

P.S. And sometime soon you should find out what the capacity of the inverter IS so that you will know what things you can and can't use in those outlets......because they probably are fed by the inverter ALL the time, shore power or no.

One more question..well two...Is there a reasonable way to "switch" circuits so I could choose which circuit was used? Or can one outlet be added to the existing circuit?

Tom, VERY helpful!!! Thank you SO MUCH!

Thanks a million for the very helpful responses!!!!

At the level of a Tioga, you do not have a whole house inverter. Most likely the inverter powers a single circuit for entertainment items that may be used going down the road. Note that the circuit on the inverter will always use the inverter, even when plugged in.

Whole-house inverter/chargers (often 2000 to 4000 watts) and high amperage alternators to power them, with high capacity battery packs to back them up, appear on diesel pushers and sometimes large high-end gas motorhomes, rather than on entry-level C's. There are a few models of small motorhomes built as all-electric (Roadtrek's ETrek for example) but for a Tioga to have a whole house system someone would have had to install it aftermarket.

If you are considering a use that needs whole house power from batteries, this will involve replacing the existing AC/DC converter with a high output inverter-charger, rewiring the AC panel to feed most circuits from the inverter (maybe everything except air conditioning), and finding a place to put at least four large golf-cart batteries. You might also check whether your chassis has an option for a second alternator, or a higher output full duty cycle alternator; an option like this is usually available for the emergency vehicle package on van cutaway chassis, but does not come as part of the RV package used for C motorhomes.

Whatever you do to beef up the 12 volt side, it is still likely that you will need to be plugged in, or running your generator, to use air conditioning. There is just not enough power available from a 12 volt system readily carried on a C to run A/C; the ETrek does it by using an eletric-vehicle size battery pack and falling back on an engine-powered auto-start generator.

You will have to invest some time tracing runs if you just want to be sure, but most likely they selected only to feed a couple of outlets from the inverter. I know for us one for coffee (dinette table) and bedroom.

on my chieftain it was only the front outlet for the tV that was powered by my invertor.
bumpy