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Newbie electrical questions


Robinwest

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I am the new owner of a 1990 dolphin, the previous owner has the shore power cord plugged into a 110v outlet in that cabinet and said if this was unplugged all cabin lights etc would not work. I unplugged it and all 12v cabin electric does work. Is that ok? When I do plug into shore power, will that only run the 110v outlets and would recharge my cabin battery? Is there a good way to preserve my cabin battery when the RV is not in use for 3-4 weeks at a time? Right now the 12v has worked great on a 12 day trip for lights and cell charging and has charged back up while driving. Would running the engine keep the cabin battery charged in times of non use as there is no 110v available where it is parked.  Thanks!

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Well I'm glad you figured it out because the previous owner was clueless! It says here in the fine print that plugged into the world it should do two things, charge your battery and power your outlets. Once the battery is charged you can unplug and still have lights but no outlets.

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running the engine will charge the batteries, but is slow. better to plug it in

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Depends on your converter most OEM converters are 5-30 amps, the alternator is 60 amps. It takes about 20 amps to run the truck.

A 100w solar will charge things, with some load management it will go for ever. 200w will give you a bunch of head room for the occasional over exuberance in the load department.

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Thanks for the response, there are several RVS with small solar panels providing a trickle charge in the storage lot I will be using. That would be a good option. Would turning off the circuit breakers or disconnecting the cabin battery prolong it's life?

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There's no reason to go overboard. A trickle charger is plenty for an RV in sunny California. I had an RV in a storage lot for 2 years and only had the cheapest trickle charger on it that you can buy at Harbor freight. It always started up just fine. Your coach has an isolator between the 2 batteries and can't drain the truck battery. Your coach has a deep cycle battery and they are more durable when it comes to discharges but if you wanted you could add a trickle charger there too. 

Linda S

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10 hours ago, Robinwest said:

Thanks for the response, there are several RVS with small solar panels providing a trickle charge in the storage lot I will be using. That would be a good option. Would turning off the circuit breakers or disconnecting the cabin battery prolong it's life?

Bottom line no.

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