Forum Discussion

zozomike's avatar
zozomike
Explorer
Mar 18, 2014

1983 Fleetwood wilderness

Hello folks, I really hope you can give me some time and good ideas! We are building an off grid all solar homestead in the southern mountains of NM. (OK, just wait for the part that applies here.) We have currently only 2KW of PV, will be adding another 1.5KW in a few weeks. But my way bi-polar son recently lost all other housing options so we picked up a 1987 travel trailer as noted above and he is happy on the land.
What is not OK is that since I trenched and installed an RV hookup (120VAC + water supply and grey water disposal system,- (for blackwater see-http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/Water/SolarLoo/SolarLoo.htm)
I find that the trailer is pulling over 5 KW in a 24 hour period even if he turns nothing on,(Killawatt measured with everything, even the Norcold turned off.)
So it seems obvious that the antique 40 watt converter is the power hog. It is drawing 220 watts 24/7= over 5 KW in 24 hours
Now I'm pretty inverter/battery/PV/wire friendly as I have built our power system from the ground up (with many embarassing missteps.) But I have not dealt with RV converters. I don't want to trash the noisy thing as 12VDC is needed for the lights and pump and Ref ( can't get the propane option to work yet but the electric freezes too much) And I never know if he will get cool , get a pickup and join you on the road.........
I'm not sure if I should pull the converter plug and add a 12vdc wall wart for the lights( change to led as we use?) /pump/ref or replace the antique converter with something which has low standby use. Any ideas?
  • Golden_HVAC's avatar
    Golden_HVAC
    Explorer
    Mar 18, 2014
    My best guess? The 40 AMP converter is hooked up still, and might be connected to the solar battery system? Or trying to rechare very bad batteries, so all that power is going up in steam escaping from the bad batteries.

    Best advice is to shut off the old "Converter" as soon as possible. Then run a 12 volt power supply from your solar system to the RV. (However if your solar system is running 24 or 48 volts, you might need to put 2 panels - 12 volts each on the RV to power it, and leave the higher voltage panels alone. )

    Yes I think that the converter can use 220 watts per hour, however I really don't think it would use that much. Perhaps the 350 watt electric heat element is running on the gas/electric refrigerator? Run it only on gas, and the problem might go away.

    For long term, you really want to get a energy efficient bar type refrigerator. I think that some mentioned that Samsung seems to hold up well to modified sine wave power and hold up well to the shaking that RV's do while driving on the road. This might only use 200 - 300 watts per day. The gas/electric can use a 300 watt (per hour) 120 volt electric heating element, and might also run upwards of 15 - 20 hours on a 80F day, or while re-stocking the frige from a distant supermarket.

    Running on gas is not more energy efficient, because it will still use about 10 watts per hour as well as 2,200 Btu's, or about 1 gallon in 4 days.

    Have you heard of SunElec.com

    Fred.
  • zozomike's avatar
    zozomike
    Explorer
    Mar 18, 2014
    Thanks for the reply, Yes I am going to take out the existing 40 amp converter. It may be defective because it runs 24/7 even with the refer and everything else shut down. There are no batteries on the Trailer now but I am restoring a couple of deep cycle 6 volts left over when we changed our off grid battery recently. I will install those at some point. No need as of now. I am going to research converters to see if the newer ones have better power use, it does not seem the converter should be drawing power when nothing is in use. I like the idea of running 12 Volt to the trailer but I just covered the darn ditch, arggh.
    Thanks for the mention of Sun Electric, prices are good. I have gotten most of my equipment from Northern Arizona Wind/Sun because they are in my area.
  • pianotuna's avatar
    pianotuna
    Nomad III
    Mar 19, 2014
    Hi,

    Look at a PowerMax converter. Some of them have a power factor of zero. Talk to Randy and bestconverter.com about what a suitable replacement would be.

    A wall wart won't be enough to power the water pump.

    By all means change to led lighting.

    The absorption fridge will burn through about 4.8 kwh per day. The duty cycle is about 2:3. Run it on propane or consider using a small bar fridge instead.
  • westend's avatar
    westend
    Explorer
    Mar 19, 2014
    I have an older PD 808 converter. It operates more as a big honkin' power supply with an additional charge circuit. I doubt it draws 220W when the batteries are in float or the solar is harvesting.

    I've forgotten the name but there were some 30 amp and 40 amp converters from the 80's that were just a power supply. The ones I'm thinking of had a lot of failures, also. What brand is the converter in the Son's RV?
  • zozomike's avatar
    zozomike
    Explorer
    Apr 15, 2014
    Sorry been away for a time trying to make a living.
    The previous replies are very helpful. I pulled the Maganatek 40 amp converter and put it through a killawatt and it drew 52 watts only. So I turned the Norcold refer to off and it still froze everything for two days. Needs a thermostat, but I am thinking about pianotuna suggestion to just replace it with a compact 120v bar fridge. The boy is not a boondocker anyway. Then to replace the converter with a Powermax because the Magnatek buzzes ALL the time. Big Big Thanks to everyone!

About Technical Issues

Having RV issues? Connect with others who have been in your shoes.24,187 PostsLatest Activity: Jan 14, 2025