Is it possible to run 110 outlets off of the battery

[kandkbrand]

Hey everyone, I am very new to RVing as in November I purchased my first Trailer. We have taken it out a couple of times just to shake it down and see what is what. I have not had a chance to use the hot water heater or plumbing as I live in Colorado and will not de-winterize it until May. My question is about the electrical system. I know you can you lights, water pump, radio and such with the battery, but is there any way to use the 110 outlets in the trailer off of the battery. I understand that you can run a generator, but I was just wondering if there is a way to use the 110 outlets just with the batteries. Do i need to purchase an inverter to do this? Still trying to get my head around all aspects of the unit. Thanks for the help.

[kandkbrand]

SoundGuy,

Last question (possibly) If I am tapping into a 12v power source, do the 12v wires look different that the AC wires (just curious), and do I need to wire in a fuse to the new tapped in line, or will the Inverter take care of that. I have spliced into lines in my home, so I am assuming I would do the same thing with the 12v wires.

or could I just replace my current attena connection with this...

https://accessories.lazydays.com/winegard-white-power-receptacle-rv7042-24-0450

[SoundGuy]

kandkbrand wrote:
If I ran 12 gauge wire strait to the battery, would there be any loss due to long length of wire?

Any loss? Sure, some - but voltage drop depends on load, the more you draw the greater the loss, just as it will be greater the longer you make the run to the battery. Conversely, the heavier the gauge of the wire and the shorter the run the less voltage drop will be. Here's a handy Blue Sea DC Wire Gauge Chart to help guide you. For a small inverter, say 100 watts or so, 12 gauge would be fine but this is the reason those of us running a much larger 1000+ watt inverter and expect to use it to capacity find it best to locate the inverter as close to the battery as possible and use as heavy a gauge of cable as possible to wire it in.

[kandkbrand]

SoundGuy wrote:

If none of the above appeals to you then the alternate solution is to mount your small inverter somewhere convenient and run 12 gauge zip cord from there, down through the floor of the trailer, and up to the tongue where you can connect directly to the battery's positive & negative terminals, just as I did many years ago with our 2000 Santa Fe popup, locating the inverter next to and below the dinette table.

Thank you for explaining this, makes much more sense. If I ran 12 gauge wire strait to the battery, would there be any loss due to long length of wire?

[SoundGuy]

SoundGuy wrote:
If there is no wall plate how do you switch the feed for the television between the antenna and cable? :h

kandkbrand wrote:
Sorry, what I meant is there was not a plate like you pictured. Mine has the coax output with the on/off switch, but there is not a circle 12v available in the plate.

So you have a wall plate like that illustrated back on Page 2 by bikendan which is just a different style of wall plate but obviously still has 12 vdc feeding it - after all, that's what that switch on the front of it is for. Pull 12 vdc from there, or perhaps easier pull it from where 12 vdc feeds the radio. Here's my own example ...

When I replaced the stock Winegard wall plate for my own television with a Winegard SensarPro amplified wall plate I lost the 12 vdc cigarette lighter style of receptacle. I decided the solution was to install my own 12 vdc distribution box which would have not only 12 vdc available on a 1/4" tip & sleeve jack but also a couple of kill switches that would allow me to kill power entirely to the radio and the SensarPro those times we might be dry camping and wanting to absolutely minimize draw on the battery. This is the result ...



In this case the same feed that powered the original wall plate is fed through the top switch and then on to the SensarPro ... 12 vdc for the radio is fed through the bottom switch and on to the radio. Since I had fused 12 vdc power right there for the radio I tapped into that and ran it up to the 12 vdc distribution box then on up to the 12 vdc monitor box which also has another 1/4" tip & sleeve jack from which I can draw 12 vdc power. This is of course all intended for light duty use, a few amps at most, but certainly fine for powering a small inverter of the type you're talking about for powering a fan, phone charger, or even a laptop power supply. Of course, you don't have to get as elaborate as this so if you're simply wanting a source of 12 vdc to power a small inverter I'd just tap into the +/- 12 vdc that feeds the radio.

If none of the above appeals to you then the alternate solution is to mount your small inverter somewhere convenient and run 12 gauge zip cord from there, down through the floor of the trailer, and up to the tongue where you can connect directly to the battery's positive & negative terminals, just as I did many years ago with our 2000 Santa Fe popup, locating the inverter next to and below the dinette table.

[kandkbrand]

SoundGuy wrote:
If there is no wall plate how do you switch the feed for the television between the antenna and cable? :h When switching to antenna 12 vdc is applied to the antenna head so obviously with 12 vdc available all you have to do is tap into that circuit. Also, if you have a radio in that entertainment centre it needs 12 vdc to run so there's no way there can't be a 12 vdc source in that area. Any of these sources would be suitable for powering a small inverter, otherwise for a larger one you'd be better off drawing 12 vdc power directly from the battery. Pics of your entertainment centre where the television is located would be helpful.

Sorry, what I meant is there was not a plate like you pictured. Mine has the coax output with the on/off switch, but there is not a circle 12v available in the plate. I will try to get out to the storage place and take a picture. There is a stereo/dvdplayer in the entertainment center. It being 12v, it would seem that the outlet for the tv would be 12v as well. What good is the DVD palyer if you have nothing to watch it on. my simple mind thinks there should be a better way, but if there was, surely it would be used.

I am just looking to run a tv, charge a phone, maybe run a fan at night, nothing major. I am not sure what size inverter I would need to do this. I have a generator, I just dont want to run it to watch a movie if I dont need to. nothing major. To me (not an electrician) it seems like a waste to have all those 110 outlets and not be able to at least use a couple of them off the batteries. But alas, I am still a newbie to this. Thank you for the help soundguy!

[SoundGuy]

SoundGuy wrote:
Your 262BH has an entertainment center at the end of the bed platform so look for a wall plate with 12 vdc there.

kandkbrand wrote:
There is not one there. There is a 110 outlet and that is it. I would like to wire one in, but not sure how to go about doing it.

If there is no wall plate how do you switch the feed for the television between the antenna and cable? :h When switching to antenna 12 vdc is applied to the antenna head so obviously with 12 vdc available all you have to do is tap into that circuit. Also, if you have a radio in that entertainment centre it needs 12 vdc to run so there's no way there can't be a 12 vdc source in that area. Any of these sources would be suitable for powering a small inverter, otherwise for a larger one you'd be better off drawing 12 vdc power directly from the battery. Pics of your entertainment centre where the television is located would be helpful.

[kandkbrand]

SoundGuy wrote:

Your 262BH has an entertainment center at the end of the bed platform so look for a wall plate with 12 vdc there.

There is not one there. There is a 110 outlet and that is it. I would like to wire one in, but not sure how to go about doing it.

[tenbear]

If you are going to wire in your own 12VDC outlet, be aware that the 400 watt inverter at full load can draw as much as 40 Amps from the 12v source, so be sure to use adequate size wire.

[SoundGuy]

SoundGuy wrote:
It would help if you told us the make / model / year of camper you have, that way we could determine if it may have a television wall plate like this ...

kandkbrand wrote:
2016 Coleman 262BH

Include this in your SIG so it will show up in your posts and we'll all know in future what you have. 😉

Your 262BH has an entertainment center at the end of the bed platform so look for a wall plate with 12 vdc there.

[kandkbrand]

SoundGuy wrote:


It would help if you told us the make / model / year of camper you have, that way we could determine if it may have a television wall plate like this ...

2016 Coleman 262BH

[bikendan]

kandkbrand wrote:

bikendan wrote:

you don't need to plug the 30amp shore cord into the inverter, to run the tv or laptop.
all you need to do is get a 400w inverter and wire it to the batteries or plug it into a 12v round outlet.
i hardwired mine to the two batteries and mounted it right by the tv plugin wall plate.
i can run the tv/dvd on it and recharge electronic devices.
cost me $16 at HF.

That is exactly what I am looking for however I do not have a 12v outlet in the trailer. i will try to find out how to go about wiring an inverter inside the cabin.

I didn't have a 12v outlet either.
Luckily I was able to hardwire the the inverter through the front storage area through an existing wire grommet, to the batteries.
The inverter has its own on/off switch plus USB ports.

[SoundGuy]

bikendan wrote:
you don't need to plug the 30amp shore cord into the inverter, to run the tv or laptop.

kandkbrand wrote:
That is exactly what I am looking for however I do not have a 12v outlet in the trailer.

It would help if you told us the make / model / year of camper you have, that way we could determine if it may have a television wall plate like this ...



... because if it does that's the source of 12 vdc for a small inverter. If not, just add one yourself and wire it directly to the batteries, fusing the + line.

[kandkbrand]

bikendan wrote:

you don't need to plug the 30amp shore cord into the inverter, to run the tv or laptop.
all you need to do is get a 400w inverter and wire it to the batteries or plug it into a 12v round outlet.
i hardwired mine to the two batteries and mounted it right by the tv plugin wall plate.
i can run the tv/dvd on it and recharge electronic devices.
cost me $16 at HF.

That is exactly what I am looking for however I do not have a 12v outlet in the trailer. i will try to find out how to go about wiring an inverter inside the cabin.

[Crabbypatty]

The great thing about rv.net is that there is a wealth of experience in its posts. Use the search feature above and you can search for your answer and learn all about whatever it is you need to know. You will find many many posts about your subject.

Happy trails

[bikendan]

kandkbrand wrote:

I understand I can't run big things, but like a laptop or tv or something small. So with the inverter, would I just hook it up to the 2 batteries in the front of the trailer and run the 30amp power cable up to the front and plug into an adapter that fits into the inverter?

you don't need to plug the 30amp shore cord into the inverter, to run the tv or laptop.
all you need to do is get a 400w inverter and wire it to the batteries or plug it into a 12v round outlet.
i hardwired mine to the two batteries and mounted it right by the tv plugin wall plate.
i can run the tv/dvd on it and recharge electronic devices.
cost me $16 at HF.