Power Inverters for dry camping- MH

As others have said the 12 v cigarette lighter socket may not have thick enough wires for your lap top. Try it first some of the newer 12 v ACC sockets work fine. Mine did not work,so what I did was to wire a 12 volt socket from Walmart next to my bed into the 12 volt fuse panel 3 ft away using 12 gauge wire so I can watch movies in bed and one up front so I can use the lap top when my wife drives. I plug in a 180 watt inverter in the socket. I also have a 1000 watt inverter for the whole house that I rarely use.

Jayco-noslide wrote:
I was told to hook the + terminal to 1 of the batteries and the - to the other??

That works.

I think I will go for about a 500 watt inverter and hook directly to the 2 coach batteries which are easily accessable from the inside. The RV is a 2003 Itasca, Class C 30 ft. motorhome with 2 coach batteries and a 4000 watt generator. I was told to hook the + terminal to 1 of the batteries and the - to the other?? We probably wouldn't run off the inverter for more than a couple of hours to run 1 lamp with flourerscent bulb and TV-VCR, then recharge the next day?? thanks for the help.

I had a Xantrax 1200 in my old TT for 10 years as we dry camp about 50% of the time. I found that both my old and new TT had the tv's on one circuit. I disconnected that circuit removed the wire and installed a plug. Then I ran another Rolex 14/2 added plugs and plugged into that tv circuit. It's always on the inverter so I don't worry about and I never had a problem with batts as I use two 6volt Trojans. I bought a remote switch and just turn it off when not in use. My newer TT I upgraded to a 2000 Xantrax pure sine wave but otherwise the rest is the same. I bought it all from a very helpful DonRowe.com

Happy Trails

To clarify:

Your coach batteries are different than your chassis battery that powers the dashboard. The chassis battery is not designed to be discharged. Not even for a few hours of TV watching every night. Nix the idea of using the dashboard cigarette lighter for power.

You can make up your own cigarette lighter extension cord. But I would strongly advise against trying to use an inverter with more than 150 watts power that plugs into a lighter socket. Even then 150 watts will draw down batteries faster than you would hope. Six hours at 150 watts will take ALL of the safe available power from a pair of batteries. This does not include using your regular lights, or any other load, and modern RV's have lots of hidden bloodsuckers you don't know about.

You need a plan. Sucking down batteries needs a good method to recharge them. How are you going to recharge the batteries? Factory RV's are designed to unplug from an RV park life-support, hold their breath, and then run to the next RV life support plug in. Camping is not in the plans of an RV manufacturer.

You have an onboard generator, right? What model is it? You need to find out the make and model of your unit's CONverter. Not inverter. Converter. The thing that may or may not charge batteries well with shore power or on gen power.

Post the information here, and a lot of friendly folks will help. When someone writes they do not understand or confused that rings an alarm bell. If you are willing to learn, a lot of folks here are willing to teach. You will spend less money, endure fewer hassles and have more fun if you "do it right".

I have a 100 watt inverter hooked up to a cig lighter socket that is powered by a group 24 AGM (separate from house battery) which runs a 24inch LED TV and Bluray player all night long. I also have 1000 watt PSW inverter in my cargo trailer with two group27 AGMs which I hook up the camper power to ( turning off the camper converter) when the weather is bad and we want more power. Generator is run for 2 hours every couple of days when camping if the 200 watts of solar can't keep up,
(lots of rain and big trees in B.C.)

Save the cig liter socket for a fone charger,....as it will give you trouble using an inverter w/ tv and Cd/VCR etc etc,.....believe it.

Jayco-noslide wrote:
Still confused. I'm getting the impression that I can't just plug a 300-800 watt converter into the cig lighter to power the TV/VCR but I will have to connect directly to the battery. Some of you are referring to batteries in the plural. The MH coach does have 2 batteries but I was thinking of using the battery for the motor and it would be more convenient to connect to. It is a standard battery for the Ford V-10 motor. However, there is a DC, Cig lighter type plug-in in the bedroom so wonder if I could plug the inverter into that and use the 2 coach batteries. These questions may be dumb but hope they are not just confusing.

Yes you can just plug it in. TV might be about 65 watts and run fine. Just don't expect to make coffee or a margarita from that 12v connector. If you have a 400w inverter go for it. There is no reason to spend money on larger than 150 watts if you will be using the 12 volt connector. The inverter will only pull what is needed plus about 10% for conversion.

Best not to deep cycle the chassis starting battery. No worries if rolling down the road as the alternator will easily keep up.

Jayco-noslide wrote:
I'm getting the impression that I can't just plug a 300-800 watt converter (inverter) into the cig lighter to power the TV/VCR but I will have to connect directly to the battery

I was thinking of using the battery for the motor and it would be more convenient to connect to..

Sure you can. It's just that the small wires supplying the socket may not be enough. Saying 'cig lighter' sounds like you mean in the tow vehicle. I don't know what you're driving.

Chassis battery? That's a first. What happens if you run it down?

Still confused. I'm getting the impression that I can't just plug a 300-800 watt converter into the cig lighter to power the TV/VCR but I will have to connect directly to the battery. Some of you are referring to batteries in the plural. The MH coach does have 2 batteries but I was thinking of using the battery for the motor and it would be more convenient to connect to. It is a standard battery for the Ford V-10 motor. However, there is a DC, Cig lighter type plug-in in the bedroom so wonder if I could plug the inverter into that and use the 2 coach batteries. These questions may be dumb but hope they are not just confusing.