Electricity from campsites.

Anything electric, AC or DC

Electricity from campsites.

Postby derekxcole » Thu May 26, 2005 8:11 pm

I am curious about this. I know that some camp sites offer electricity. Could you just hook and extension cord to the power source and have everything in your camper run from that and then switch it back to a battery once you are camping somewere without electricity.

How would you go about doing this?

Also, I am looking for a battery system that could run a small microwave, refigerator, and a small tv. How can I do this?

Oops, could someone move this to the electricity board? Thanks.
User avatar
derekxcole
Teardrop Advisor
 
Posts: 50
Images: 1
Joined: Tue May 24, 2005 6:43 pm
Location: Ellsworth, Maine

Postby asianflava » Thu May 26, 2005 8:33 pm

Yes, you can do this. Just have an extension cord off the back and plug your camper in.

If you plan on running AC appliances off of DC power, you need to convert the electricity using an inverter. An air conditioner or refigerator would kill the battery in just a short time. I'm hooking my nuke up to the inverter because it will only be used for 60sec at a time
User avatar
asianflava
8000 Club
8000 Club
 
Posts: 8412
Images: 45
Joined: Mon Aug 02, 2004 5:11 am
Location: CO, Longmont

Postby derekxcole » Fri May 27, 2005 8:45 am

What about a tv though?
User avatar
derekxcole
Teardrop Advisor
 
Posts: 50
Images: 1
Joined: Tue May 24, 2005 6:43 pm
Location: Ellsworth, Maine
Top

Postby campadk » Fri May 27, 2005 9:25 am

derekxcole wrote:What about a tv though?


We have a small portable LCD DVD player. Last year I measure it and it drew about 1.7A... so we could theoritcally watch 31.5 hours of movies before our marine battery went dead.

In reality we might watch 30 minutes at the most before bedtime.

if we had shorepower, I would simply plug our trickle charger into the campsite a/c.

If you have a 120V tv you might just plug that into your extension cord.
User avatar
campadk
Teardrop fun specialist
 
Posts: 1508
Images: 34
Joined: Wed May 05, 2004 4:34 pm
Location: Ottawa, Ontario Canada
Top

Postby denverd0n » Fri May 27, 2005 10:54 am

Modern TVs don't draw a lot of electricity, so no problem running one off of a battery. Refrigerators and microwaves, however, are power hogs.

The good thing about a microwave is that you don't normally have to run it for a very long time. So, with a good sized battery, and careful monitoring, you can probably get reasonable use of a microwave off of a battery setup. Refrigerators are a whole different matter. Even one of those small, 12volt coolers will run a battery dead pretty quickly unless you have a pretty large bank of batteries.

I would say, forget about running a refrigerator off of batteries.
denverd0n
Teardrop Advisor
 
Posts: 95
Joined: Fri Apr 30, 2004 10:52 am
Location: Colorado
Top

Postby mikeschn » Fri May 27, 2005 11:30 am

You could run a fridge off propane. I've heard that last a long time on propane. I have a Norcold and it sure does seem to be frugal!

Mike...
The quality is remembered long after the price is forgotten, so build your teardrop with the best materials...
User avatar
mikeschn
Site Admin
 
Posts: 19202
Images: 479
Joined: Tue Apr 13, 2004 11:01 am
Location: MI
Top

Postby asianflava » Fri May 27, 2005 3:35 pm

derekxcole wrote:What about a tv though?


Those automotive flip down TVs don't require much power. They are also ready to go with since they run 12V DC.
User avatar
asianflava
8000 Club
8000 Club
 
Posts: 8412
Images: 45
Joined: Mon Aug 02, 2004 5:11 am
Location: CO, Longmont
Top


Return to Electrical Secrets

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 9 guests