House Power While Driving? Best option

To find out if your alternator is charging your house battery measure the house battery voltage. It should be 12.6v or so with the engine off and increase, maybe to as much as 14v with the engine running.

House battery may or may not charge from alternator, 12v circuits in house may or may not be powered from alternator. Different configurations have been used by different brands and models of C motorhomes over the years.

If you don't want to fix then genset, then you need to tie a large enough inverter into your 12V system to power what it is you want to power (sizes range fro less than 100 watts to more tha 4 kw) then make sure that inverter gets alternator power in addition to house battery power, and that the alternator has the capacity for the load, not so much a problem at 100w (drawing 10 amps) but a real issue if looking for 4kw which might need 400 amps into the inverter.

I rely on the genset to power the whole house, for what you want to do. If people are back there to watch TV they also need the A/C running to avoid heat related health problems, because my C will quickly get to more than 100 F exposed to southwestern southern summer sunshine

mjhouse wrote:
So does my house batt. get charged from the alternator too?

Yes, your alternator should be connected to your house battery when the ignition is on. There are several methods used for accomplishing this.

Thanks for the replies. No boondocking right now, just parks and campgrounds. I might look into some solar options down the road, but for now I'll be relying on shore power.

I'm hoping some of the books I've bought and these forums help get me up to speed. This C Class is a step up from our pop-up trailer and will require me to learn a hell of a lot.

So does my house batt. get charged from the alternator too?

I'll look into wiring an inverter after I finish shelling out for the all the other "needs" which are lengthy.

Shore power....120V AC power from plugging power cord in or from a generator

Converter.....changes 120V AC input power to 12V DC power for DC System and charging batteries

Inverter......changes DC input from batteries to 120V AC


RV AC & DC System...converter only





RV AC & DC System.....converter & inverter

Here's what you need... make them work for their power.
http://www.econvergence.net/The-Pedal-A-Watt-Bicycle-Generator-Stand-s/1820.htm

A 300 or 400 watt inverter will work to do that. Be aware though, that much power use while driving is also reducing the ability for the house battery to get fully charged.

If you are boondocking when you stop and don't have a generator your batteries only get charged when you drive. On the other hand, if you are plugged into shore power at your campsites, you will be just fine.

Yes. Yes. No.

Hi Mike,

Welcome to the forums.

You will need to add an inverter. There are several ways to do so, and many threads about it.