Forum Discussion

jayspi's avatar
jayspi
Explorer
Jun 19, 2018

Low power from 12 volt outlets

Hi everyone, I'm having an issue with the 12 volt outlets (cigarette lighters) in my RV. It's a new-to-us 2004 Colorado 5th wheel, but we haven't used the 12 volt outlets until today.

In our last rig I had an inverter that powered the whole rig, but with this one I wanted to save money so I got two Bestek 400 watt inverters.

The problem is that devices powered off the inverter are getting intermittent power. The TV is 85 watts and keeps powering off. My wife's laptop is like 75 watts and it charges on and off. I can hear the inverters revving up and down, and occasionally the power/fault light turns red then immediately recovers.

I checked the voltage from both 12 volt outlets and they are fluctuating between 107 and 115 volts.

The fluctuating voltage is obviously the problem, but I'm not sure why. We have four 6 volt GC batteries and AFAIK they are fine. I check them regularly. All other 12 volt systems in the rig work properly.

We have friends using this same 400 watt inverter and they do not have this problem.

Could it be that the fuses are too old? Or the outlets are just bad? Any feedback is appreciated.

Edit: I fired up the generator and the problem persists. With the gen going the 12 volt systems should be pulling from the shore power through the converter, right?

Thanks!
  • The power lost through a wire is much less at high voltage than at 12 volts. That's why the city supply lines on utility poles run 20,000 volts or so and need those big canister transformers.
    IF you connect your inverter directly to the battery, with several feet or less of thick cable, then run an extension cord (120V) over the longer path from the inverter to your appliances, you'll have no trouble.
    In a similar situation, I added a 120V outlet wired only to the inverter, for a cleaner looking setup.
  • wa8yxm's avatar
    wa8yxm
    Explorer III
    At Power on the inverter likes to pull max load for a brief period but yes it pulls about 10 amps for every 100 watts of load. But you are looking at an outlet with at the most 10 amps capacity even if it is fused for 20.

    I used to run a 450 off a dash outlet or a compressor outlet on a Chevy Lumina but those were full 20 amp outlets. And even it complained on the compressor outlet (reare of ride) ..

    You can install heaver wireing (I have some 20 amp outlets 10ga wire feeds them) but your best bet is to hard wire the inverter to the batteries via a fuse and extend the 120 volt.
  • Thanks everyone, I appreciate the help. I learned a lot!