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Shore Power from Truck?


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#11 klahanie

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Posted 03 April 2019 - 04:18 PM

If what you have in mind is something like a laptop computer, all it takes is a cheapie in the 12 VDC plug in the truck, which is what I do.

 

That's true. There are inverters with a cig plug cord end, up to around 300W I think. For these one could just plug into the 12VDC cig plug in the camper - if there is one or wire up a receptacle if need be.

 

Most of our use is for items using 60W and under: heat pad, small battery chargers, shaver. Even the curling iron is only 140W. Of course you don't want to be running the car just to shave or do your hair ! That's when the house battery comes into play - a whole different matter.

 

It is nice to have 'some' 110v. But 'more' can get involved.


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#12 DavidGraves

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Posted 03 April 2019 - 04:29 PM

We have had a portable 300W inverter for years and it keeps all devices charged....it will even run our small Dometic although that is sort of stupid.....why convert 12V to 120V for a refer that will run on 12V itself ?

 

A small inverter is a useful tool indeed.

 

David Graves


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#13 ardvark

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Posted 03 April 2019 - 04:33 PM

That's true. There are inverters with a cig plug cord end, up to around 300W I think. For these one could just plug into the 12VDC cig plug in the camper - if there is one or wire up a receptacle if need be.

 

Most of our use is for items using 60W and under: heat pad, small battery chargers, shaver. Even the curling iron is only 140W. Of course you don't want to be running the car just to shave or do your hair ! That's when the house battery comes into play - a whole different matter.

 

It is nice to have 'some' 110v. But 'more' can get involved.

 

 

I added a second one to my NorthStar. Easy enough to do for sure.

 

That's true. There are inverters with a cig plug cord end, up to around 300W I think. For these one could just plug into the 12VDC cig plug in the camper - if there is one or wire up a receptacle if need be.

 

Most of our use is for items using 60W and under: heat pad, small battery chargers, shaver. Even the curling iron is only 140W. Of course you don't want to be running the car just to shave or do your hair ! That's when the house battery comes into play - a whole different matter.

 

It is nice to have 'some' 110v. But 'more' can get involved.


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#14 Andy Douglass

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Posted 06 April 2019 - 12:28 AM

I am by no means an expert but unless you are planning on idling your truck while using the inverter, all you are doing is converting the truck battery charge to line voltage for appliances. If it was me, I would install the inverter on the camper batteries and protect the truck's batteries which are more important.

 

If you are planning on idling the truck, you'll have an unhappy neighbors at the campground. I also would guess that the converting system that charges the camper off of the idling truck is more efficient than an inverter. If that is true, it would make more sense to install the inverter in the camper and just charge the camper batteries from the idling truck.

 

At the end of the day, I would recommend trying to get by using less electricity while camping or getting a generator if you have to.


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#15 ntsqd

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Posted 07 April 2019 - 05:33 PM

Alternators on an idling engine don't produce much power. Look at their drive ratio, they need to spin much faster unless you had it re-worked, and even those re-worked to produce more at lower RPM don't put out anything close to their max rating while idling.


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Thom

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#16 corybrown50

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Posted 08 April 2019 - 04:45 PM

I saw CPAP earlier and wanted to share this warning....I burnt up a CPAP power supply on a trip to China doing this....had to go a week without it...let's just say I wasn't the best of company that week. There are CPAP that can run on 12v, please do so. I run mine directly off battery and it works great. Converters/ inverters are too inconsistent with power and can burn out electronic power supplies when used for extended periods of time.
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#17 Old Crow

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Posted 08 April 2019 - 10:38 PM



I saw CPAP earlier and wanted to share this warning....I burnt up a CPAP power supply on a trip to China doing this....had to go a week without it...let's just say I wasn't the best of company that week. There are CPAP that can run on 12v, please do so. I run mine directly off battery and it works great. Converters/ inverters are too inconsistent with power and can burn out electronic power supplies when used for extended periods of time.

 

Also on the subject of CPAPs.....

 

 One of my brothers has two ResMed CPAPs (an older one and its replacement) and he was planning to join me for ten days on my Florida trip so we had to figure out what to do.  I was happy to find the 'ResMed Battery Guide: Using Stand-Alone, Deep Cycle Batteries'.  It seems to do a pretty good job of laying out the alternatives and provides model-specific details and warnings.

 

   I had looked for DC-to-DC adapters and they were in the 90-dollar range.  But then the note in this paragraph (on page 2) caught my eye...

 

--------

 

"1. Do you have a pure sine wave DC-to-AC inverter with a continuous power rating of 300 watts and a peak/surge rating of 500 watts?

YES – Go to step 2.

NO – Contact your battery or electrical supplies provider for assistance in obtaining the appropriate type of inverter.

 

NOTE: The following ResMed devices without humidifiers can operate using a 150 watt modified sine wave inverter: VPAP III, AutoSet CS2, VPAP Adapt series. S9 series with H5i humidifiers can also operate from this inverter type. "

 

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That at least opened the door to running a CPAP on a smaller, cheaper inverter (but it wasn't clear enough to go ahead).  The older of the two CPAPs wasn't on the charts so I kept looking and found an older version of the Battery Guide.  That one provided this chart:

 

ResMedInverterChart.jpg

 

GIven that info, we opted to plug the older CPAP's AC plug into the little 150W modified sine-wave inverter I keep in my electronics bag.  That worked fine for the ten days we needed it.  I suppose an argument could be made the inverter might cause problems over the longer run but we were comfortable with trying it given the manufacturer's documentation. 

     I guess my other point is there are many variables to consider-- like exactly what model the CPAP is, how it's used, what the settings are, etc.  And the User Manual may not have the needed info... it may be in a separate 'battery guide' type of manual.

 

.


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#18 klahanie

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Posted 08 April 2019 - 11:35 PM

Re alt output and larger inverters.

 

OP has a Superduty. Pretty sure 2008+ (and perhaps older) have a user switchable program in the PCM for Stationary Elevated Idle Control (SEIC) - mostly for PTO use - and Battery Charge Protect (BCP)

 

Bulletin

 

Can be  nice feature to have and is fairly easy to hook up esp if their is an upfitters switch available. DIY write ups are online.

For those interested, here's a video of the BCP used with an inverter - demo'd on a newer truck but


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