all electric

[JMonroe]

Originally Posted by Mike Canter

But an all electric with a residential fridge stays ice cold with a single power source. My inverter is running all the time and I have a 270 amp alternator on the motor and my eight batteries

Plus I don't have to worry about turning it off before I pull into a 'gas' station...

[vincee]

Hi Mike,

I know some rigs have inverters, mine does not. Your Monaco is what my wife and I would consider "rock star" RV. I don't know how many low to mid level RV's, especially when you get into tow behinds, have eight batteries and probably 2000-3000 watt sine wave converters. My Allegro, made by Tiffin Mtr. home, is 31ft and for its model year and such really has a ton of features on it. When time comes to upgrade (looking at next year) I would be looking to stay with Tiffin as they have a great quality reputation, and would keep in mind the option of looking for one with an inverter. I was aware of them when I purchased my rig, but again, it seemed they are more in line with larger rigs in the higher price bracket.

[Mike Canter]

Inverters are now installed in a lot of MHs and not just the high end ones. It is a lot more common than it used to be. You can not have and "All Electric" or a residential fridge without one. The go hand in hand and I believe the original post was asking about All Electric rigs. I agree with you on the quality of the Tiffin MHs plus they backup what they sell.

[Coached]

We now have all-electric but we waited until the "right set up" came along (in our price range) before we made the move. We had a 42' Phaeton (non-electric) and it worked great, but we were always a little scared by all those Norcold fires?! We finally found a coach that uses two separate Magnum Inverters with one dedicated to the residential fridge only. We have 8 AGM batteries to provide power to the coach (non*chassis items) and two separate Inverter cut off switches in the Inverter bay. There are also two separate remotes inside the coach, one for each inverter. When "going down the road" you disable one of the Inverters and just leave the one on that powers the fridge. No problems so far. When you arrive at your destination you hook up to the pedestal and shore power takes over. Hydronic heat takes care of the cold weather needs and boy does it work well. So far we are quite happy and I must admit that I feel better not having that 38 gallons or so of propane underneath me anymore and a fridge that always scared us.

[JMonroe]

Our '91 Southwind had an inverter. The TV and VCR were the only things it powered. We made use of it at a state park where the best sites were those high on a bluff, with a view of the confluence of the Mississippi and Wisconsin rivers, but no electric. We had no problem going a couple nights of TV viewing. I'm not sure if it had one or two 12 volt house batteries.

We now have the same coach as Tony (Coached) and haven't missed the LP one bit. Upon returning from one long weekend outing I plugged the shore cord into the 50 amp outlet we had installed for that purpose but I forgot to flip the breaker back on. 36 hours later I was in the coach and the fridge display was still lit and the fridge and freezer was still cold. Of course that was all that was drawing any power from those 8 batteries Tony mentioned.

[mwilliams495]

Once you have a all electric coach you won't consider a coach with propane. I'm setting in my 1996 Signature in Mesa AZ with outside temps over 100 never having to worry if the refrigerator will keep up.

[B Bob]

We have all electric coach and aqua hot. IMHO the only way to go. Who the heck needs all the issues with propane. The auto on generator takes care of the dry camp issues.

[sdennislee]

The idea of doing away huge tanks of flammable gas is appealing to me, an is enough motivation to look for all electric in my next coach. I love the double door refer with ice and water in the door. But it only works well when parked. I can park and run on gas or electric and easily maintain 0 and 34 degree f. As soon as I pull the slides in and head down the road running on gas it goes to 6 and 44, so much for the ice cream.

I will go all electric on next coach.

[336muffin]

As I write this we are at a Rally with 30amps, 90's outside. All electric would not work in this setting. We have the fridge, water heater on propane and everything is fine. I've changed out the NOcold cooling unit with the Amish unit and we have hard ice cream in the freezer. If 50amp is always available I would go all elec. It's up to your camping style in my opinion. It's sorta like "how high is up?"

[Coached]

Originally Posted by 336muffin

As I write this we are at a Rally with 30amps, 90's outside. All electric would not work in this setting. We have the fridge, water heater on propane and everything is fine. I've changed out the NOcold cooling unit with the Amish unit and we have hard ice cream in the freezer. If 50amp is always available I would go all elec. It's up to your camping style in my opinion. It's sorta like "how high is up?"

8 AGM's and a separate inverter keep the fridge going just fine even in really hot weather ... if you had to you could always run the generator for awhile if you thought 50 amp would make a difference? When does the fridge actually use 50 amps though??

[Mike Canter]

The only big difference 30 amp makes to me vice 50 amp (which is really 100 amp service total) is how many AC units I can run at one time. When I first had 50 amp service I first thought that it was 50 amp total. It took me a few moments to realize that it is really two 50 amp connections giving me 100 amps vice one 30 amp connection giving me just 30 amps. With 50 amp service I can run three roof AC units at one time and anything else in the MH. If I hook up my 50 amp to a 30 amp shore power then I can only run one AC roof unit which is the same as most older 30 amp units. I have to be careful with the Aqua Hot electric heater element (13 amp draw) and a toaster or a curling iron on at the same time. Have to shut off that AQ electric heater to keep the amps draw down. The other thing is if my eight batteries get real low then the inverter/charger will draw some big time amps in a high charge rate. Yes, there are a few 30 amp shore power RV parks left. I find them a lot up in Maine were you don't need AC because it is cooler. I go up to Maine and stay for a month at a time plugged into a 30 amp power source with no problems. One thing that I have found is a dual plug that joins that 30 amp plug and that 20 amp pedastal plugs together and that helps a lot and gives me one 50 amp power draw. Before I use it I use one of those plug in circuit tester plugs and make sure that they are both wired up correctly.

[JimM68]

All electrics don't have a propane tank?

That's a deal breaker. Where would I plug in my gas grilles?

[B Bob]

Mike Canter - Our coaches are pretty similar. I have a 42' CC Affinity. I have the same hot water, charger, and toaster power draws I watch out for. With regard to 50 amps being dual 50 amps? I am not all that familiar with that? Seems like several times on the last trip we would pop a breaker when we got above a total draw of 50. I have an amp meeter in the front of the coach. I assumed that 50 amp service meant I could draw 50 amps on one leg or a total of 50 on both. Are you saying I am able to get 50 amps on each leg?

[Dave78Chief]

Yes 50 amps on each leg.

Dave