A Women's RV Forum run by Women RVer's!

3 hrs is not long enough for a walk thu with
this newbe. I knew nothing... and forgot most of what they told me,so if it ok with you
girls I would like to ask you for some help...I will post
my questions one at a time each in new post so I dont get confused. If this is
ok with you girls. I will tell you at the end of the day I am exhausted trying to figure
all this out. Reading the books I got with the rig ...is more confuseing
to me. First let me tell you what I am doing, I take it each day to
a park or beach and spend the day. I would like to turn on TV or CD player
or laptop, but afraid. so first question will be about battery. The house battery
can I use TV , laptop, cd player using the housse battery and how long does it
take to drain said batter? I dont want to do that Should I turn all power off at the end of the
day when I get back to dads or just leave it on from day to day??
Thanks for your help...
donna...

Boy, Donna, I'm in the same boat as you. We just got our rig 3 weeks ago. Our "walk through" was a joke. And I, too, am very confused about so many of the systems. Since we had to go 400 miles to pick her up, we started camping in her that very night and spent that weekend learning through trial and error. Not the best way cuz I think we damaged the water heater trying to get hot water. I haven't asked too many questions yet, cuz I'm still trying to figure out what to ask next

There is a little search function at the top of the page (if you are logged in) and you can type in the subject you want info about. You will find lots if really good info cuz most questions have been discussed at some point. If you are unable to find what you need, just ask the ladies. They are an awesome group of knowledgeable and supportive women.

Ask away - we're good at answering and we feel no question is too dumb.

Do you have one house battery? You should have a readout in the rig that shows how full your tanks are and how charged your battery is. In my Roadtrek there is a switch on the readout panel for my battery that turns it off and on. If you have a cutoff switch be sure its turned on to draw from your battery. Try using your laptop, CD player and/or TV for an hour. Check your battery readout. Your battery recharges when you're driving (sorry forgot - do you have 5th wheel or motorhome?) or when you're plugged into electric. Learning what you can run and how long is different for each rig so I checked my readout a lot until I got an idea what things drew how much power. My Class C had three house batteries so I didn't much worry. My Roadtrek has one so I'm a lot more careful.

When you're running on battery power you also have to remember to turn on the water pump to use the toilet or sink. When I'm not connected to electric I keep my pump turned on as it only runs when you actually turn on the faucet or flush the toilet.

Questions??

Ask away, but as said we may have already had lengthy discussions on many of then. And please post the maintenance, technical questions in that room.

Rudder answer to this question has many variables. How many house batteries do you have? Are you plugging in at night to recharge? Do you have an invertor?

I started out knowing nothing also and bought from a private party. I didn't have a run through of any kind. So know you're way ahead of my start. In other words I made lots of mistakes.

Most motorhomes come with a converter which changes electricity to 12 volt power and charges your house battery. You can use your lights and water pump but your electric outlets don't work unless you are plugged into electricity. Do you have a generator? To watch TV you would have to have a 12 volt TV which you probably don't have. If it plugs into an electrical outlet it's not 12 volt. You would have to run your generator to watch TV. You can buy small inverters that plug into a 12 volt outlet(looks like a cigarette lighter plug) that might run something that doesn't need too much power. An inverter changes the power from the battery back to 110.

If I plug my computer in I use a power strip. Hopefully it will protect it from a power surge.

Have you filled your freshwater tank? Be sure you have water in the water heater before you turn it on.

Martha

After I answer this thread I will post next question on the
tech thread...sorry didnt relize I was on wrong thread.
Karen..I have one house battery...
I have a 29 ft class C 2007


Thanks Martha for the great info...was very helpfull
I have not filled fresh tank yet...have not wanted to
do anything until I knew what I was doing...and at
this point doing day trips have not had to use anything.

most helpfull thanks...I will post all the
tech thread..
donna


http://grammyandthepapillonprinces.blogspot.com/

I wanted to say that unless you have an inverter, your TV, etc. that plugs into regular 110 will not work on house batteries....you need to be plugged into "shore power" or a generator....but Martha took care of that. ....also, if you have a microwave, it won't work either without being plugged in at the post or a generator....