luberhill wrote:
Ok looking at a 2002 Fleetwood,
2) there are 2 coach batteries but,,,you cant use the tv unless plugged into shore power or generator is on, shouldn't it run off the coach batteries ?
No - it is not supposed to run on battery power when the coach was built.
2002 was almost a decade and a half ago - and was two generations ago in RV power technology, and at least four generations ago in television technology.
Is it a tube TV or has it been upgraded to a modern flat screen, hopefully a one or two year old LED?
RV Power is setup with two systems - a 12 volt DC system from the batteries, and a 120 volt AC system from the generator / shore power.
Older, and cheaper, RVs have converters designed to run the 12 volt system off 120 power from the pedestal. Some of the newer RVs have inverters - which can do the 120v to 12v conversion, but can also convert 12v DC battery power into 120v AC for the wall plugs to work off batteries.
Here is the issue - two coach batteries are unlikely to have enough power to run a tube type TV for very long - minutes only. Those TVs use a lot of power. Newer / newest LED TVs use relatively low amounts of power.
Even if the TV works, the batteries won't store enough power to run the AC, the microwave, the water heater or heavy power usage appliances like a coffee maker, toaster, curling iron or hair dryer.
Few battery systems can run a heater/furnace blower all night to supply heat in the winter.
In 2002, RVs were designed to give you enough battery power for lights for two or three days while camping without access to electrical power. Nothing more.
You can add an inverter to your system. Depending on the size, and how comfortable you are at doing power wiring yourself - the cost can run from a couple hundred dollars into the several thousand dollars. If you want to add an inverter, I suggest only get a "pure sine wave" model. They are more expensive but they are necessary to protect modern electronic devices such as newer TVs.
