New RV Owner and scratching my head. Help!

[US RV As-is]

I have been camping in a 94 Fleetwood bounder for years and I understand that old system but now I bought a new 2018 Winnibego Intent with new modern gadgets. One concern I have was the fridge runs off of the batteries and no longer propane. That seems to me a HUGE power drainer with just two 12v deep cycle batteries when dry docking. I was able to work with the dealer and they were willing to install two 100w solar panels and add two more 12v batteries to my RV. They wired it in parallel form. Today I went out to check on it and the inverter is turned off and appears the batteries went dead. I turned the inverter back on and the fridge and mini fridge began to work again but all day I could not get over 12v or more due to a haze overcast. I also turned on my onan 4000 jenny and she only gave me 12v on my monitor screen but when I start the motor home engine it was over 13v. I am not even sure if the jenny kicks over and runs the fridge since I no longer have the LED indicator that tells me if I am on power or propane. Then I was thinking old school, I will just plug the RV into my 110v house and it will charge the batteries or at least keep the fridge going.. Apparently not. The service dep. said the RV needs 30 amp system and my house only runs about 15amps and really doing nothing. So now I need an electrician to wire up and make a 30amp plug. Something I should have been told about. So, I am assuming me plugging my house into the RV is doing nothing? Any help on what you think I should do to fix this power system please. Right now I am thinking 2 more 12v batteries for now until they all die and switch to 6v series AND/OR 2 more solar panels.. What do you think?

[Skiddy]

plugging it in to 110 should be plenty to just run the refrigerator and charge the batteries.

[vmyoung61]

Get the adapter and plug into the 15 amp plug at home. A lot of people do it. It will keep your batteries charged and run your refrigerator. Just don't try to run your a/c. These new refrigerators don't use much electricity. As long as you don't open it, two batteries will easily run it all night with no solar.

[lrsses]

Just follow what was posted I have 50AmP all works off 30 20 and 15 Amp just like your prior RV did

[twinboat]

If your generator or shore power is not charging your batteries, it could be that your charger is not working.

Adding a 30 amp outlet won't fix that.

[Crasher]

What they said. Every 30 and 50 amp coach I have owned would keep the batteries charged on 15 amps. I would bet that yours is no different. You should get 13+volts with the genny running or when plugged into 15, 30, or 50 amp power. Also 200 watts of solar will not keep up with the power drain when boondocking. You only get a few hours of good solar power each day due to the angle of the sun.

[FatChance]

They put in four 12v house batteries? Why didn't they put in four 6v deep cycle house batteries like other RVs, especially with solar? That was stupid, makes no sense.

[Gcbegoon]

Originally Posted by FatChance

They put in four 12v house batteries? Why didn't they put in four 6v deep cycle house batteries like other RVs, especially with solar? That was stupid, makes no sense.

My 2014 Georgetown XL 378TS came with 4 12v coach batteries. I kinda thought that was the norm.

[A Traveler]

Originally Posted by US RV As-is

...Today I went out to check on it and the inverter is turned off and appears the batteries went dead. I turned the inverter back on and the fridge and mini fridge began to work again ...

If you turned the inverter on and the fridge started up, your batteries were NOT DEAD! The batteries are what power the inverter to make the 110 VAC your fridge needs to run.

Originally Posted by US RV As-is

...I will just plug the RV into my 110v house and it will charge the batteries or at least keep the fridge going.. Apparently not. The service dep. said the RV needs 30 amp system and my house only runs about 15amps and really doing nothing...

As usual, the RV sales guy doesn’t have a clue. Gee...there’s a surprise.

Your coach will run the fridge and charge batteries just fine plugged into a single 110 volt, 15 amp outlet.

[vito.a]

Your generator should charge your batteries, but it will take several hours when the batteries are completely discharged.

Like the others have said, use an adapter and plug into your house 15 amp 110 volt extension cord. Turn off your extra mini-fridge for now. Also turn off any other systems that may use power and overload the circuit. Long term I would add a 30 amp outlet.

Solar: Do not confuse watts with amps. Your two 100 watt solar panels will only add about 10 amps during peak sun light (only 3-4 hours per day) and very little at low sun levels and nothing at night. Make sure they are not shaded even a little. Regardless, they will not be able to keep up with your refrigerator (in fact they are not even close).

You can use either 6v or 12v deep cycle batteries to power your house systems, however 6v GC2 golf cart batteries will endure many more discharge cycles. I've had Trojan T105 golf cart batteries last 10 years.

Lastly, make sure your inverter is set up correctly. Cutout voltage is crucial to battery life. It should limit discharge to about 50% (around 12v).

[nothermark]

You can go nuts adding batteries when the problem is not enough charging current. I would not go there until I solved other problems.

In your case 15 Amps should power your converter to charge the batteries as well as run the refrigerators. One thing I would check is whether the refrigerator gets power when the shore cord is plugged in and the Inverter is off. A good inverter setup will have a pass through function that supplies 120 VAC to the refrigerator and maybe another circuit when on battery or passes the shore cord power through to the system when on shore power. A cheap setup will just charge the batteries when the shore cord is plugged in and always run the refrigerator off the inverter. You need to do a bit of testing to find out what you have. It might be in the manual on the inverter. If not it will take some testing on your part.

[US RV As-is]

They wont not put in 6v because they claimed it was too expensive, even though I was willing to give them the original 2 12v back to them. I agree, pretty cheap giant RV

[US RV As-is]

I went out again this morning and saw the inverter was turned off again. I turned it back on and the meter says my batteries are at 11.75v. i m only running the house fridge and the mini fridge outside. Why cant this system hold up two simple fridges. The batteries to me, think it should not be dying so fast. so at the end of the day what do I need to prevent batteries from dying over night and ensuring i have enough power through out the night so my batteries don't die. Do I need more solar, more batteries, etc?????

[lrsses]

Think I would look for a short either at your solar panels, a breaker or your inverter/charger itself again turn everything off at the breakers so just your batteries are charged by your solar panels