Dc converter

The problem is that with no converter you have no way to provide 12-volt power to lights, water pump, refrigerator etc. if you use a battery that's fine, but without a converter you have no way to recharge the battery unless you use a portable charger.

This is a typical 30AMP Trailer wiring configuration using both 120VAC Appliances and 12VDC items.



My POPUP trailer is configured for OFF-ROAD Camping off the batteries. I have 255AH battery bank and our game plan is to camp off the power grid and run all the 120VAC Appliances and 12VDC items we want to run in a one day/night camping run. Then at 8AM the next morning we will re-charge our battery bank using a small 2K Honda type generator to get our battery bank back up to its 90% charge state so we can do all this all over again the next day/night run off the batteries.

You see a couple of extension cords running from my trailer here in the off-grid location...


My off-road POPUP Trailer also makes a very nice 120VAC POWER PLANT during those times when the county power grid is off line. We just run a couple of extension cords from the trailer into the house and run off the trailer batteries. Gives us some lights and HDTV to watch. House has wood burning fireplace so we keep warm...

Neat to have around...

Roy Ken

12thgenusa wrote:
The problem is that with no converter you have no way to provide 12-volt power to lights, water pump, refrigerator etc. if you use a battery that's fine, but without a converter you have no way to recharge the battery unless you use a portable charger.

X 2

It would become real hassle in my opinion. New converters are not that much money.

The camper actually has a working convertee but it says it is rated for 15 amps. If i plug into a 30a amp power supply will i blow the converter

DennisN wrote:
The camper actually has a working convertee but it says it is rated for 15 amps. If i plug into a 30a amp power supply will i blow the converter

Where to begin with that question?
The converter is likely rated in DC output amps of 15. If it's putting out 15 amps at about 13.5 volts DC it's using about 300 watts so that's maybe 2.5 amps on the AC side.
Amps are "drawn" rather than supplied. You could plug something rated at 15 amps into a 4,000 amp service if you wanted. It would only draw 15A.


I would just keep it simple and put in a new converter. Otherwise you have to convert the whole camper to 120v AC. This would include all the lights and the pump at minimum. I don't know what other equipment is in your camper. If you did this conversion then you couldn't run anything while traveling (like stopping for lunch at a rest stop) because you wouldn't have anywhere to plug in. Resale value, if that's even an issue, would likely be very low with no 12v DC appliances and wiring.
Why won't your wife ever camp anywhere without power? It's the same as camping with power except usually quieter and with less people. With a properly functioning RV everything would still operate.

Thanks it looks like i should spring for a modern convertor. Looks like going cheapo id not the way. I paid $75.00 for the camper so resale is not an issue. It would be nice to have power anywhere.