Only 30 amps, wish I'd known

[Mr_D]

Originally Posted by sdennislee

Replace your Walmart stops with rest areas or truck stops if you need the generator. Your generator will not bother anyone as most of the trucks around you will be running their engines.

I run my generator all night (when needed) in rest areas and truck stops.

Won't bother people at the Wal*Mart lot either. There's usually so much traffic in and out that very few will notice. We've done it lots of times with never a problem. If you want quite you'll have to find a forest service campground.

[Mr_D]

Originally Posted by puttin

Tisha,

I echo what Crabby Mike is saying. I've only had 30a my whole rv'ing life and don't regret it at all. Remember too that if you think you have to run everything at once to be a happy camper- then you could always convert the rig to 50a. If everything else about it suits your needs maybe this is what you need to do to be happy. Just my 2 cents.

Would be cheaper to change rigs! To do a full change over to 50 amps requires EXTENSIVE rewiring and adding a sub panel to your electrical box. Could easily cost several 1000's of $$ even doing it yourself.

[KSCRUDE]

We have a Baystar, not the Baystar Sport like you have and ours has 50 amp service and 2 AC unit option with the 5500 onan. But we only have the three battery setup like you have, 2 house and one coach. We dry camp all the time and never have any problems with power. The coach can go all night long with the furnace running in mid teen temps. And we can watch a TV or two for a few hours before hand. Come morning we crank up the Jenny to make coffee on a keruig and charge the bats a little. Like two or three hours. We charge iPads and phones all nite long off of the bats also with no problems. Our onan is a lot more quit then any Honda carry along I have ever herd. I have a Honda left over from the fiver days, and I will not carry it around as long as we have a built in unit. We stay at casinos and Home Depot and SAMs clubs, state lakes and anywhere we can park. If its hot I run the geny all day and night if needed and it is so quite you can hardly hear it. We always park off to ourselves and have no problems. We usually plug in at the lakes, but that is the only place we do. We also do collage parking lots and there is usually hardly nobody there. If others do run there genys it does not bother us as they are hard to hear, and it hard to tell if they are running or not. We never open the windows as no need with AC and heat. Run that geny as that's what it's there for. No problem at truck stops, Wally's world or rest areas. I don't care to stay at camp grounds, too many people too much commotion for us. Mall parking lots are also good place to stay, and we have never been run out of one yet. And you usually have it all to yourself overnight.

[KSCRUDE]

Originally Posted by Tisha

Just bought a 2013 Newmar Bay Star Sport 33feet Motorhome, gas,with a 30 amp electrical service and two 12 volt house batteries, 4 kw Onan generator-as I read and learn I don't think I have what I need for electrical ( I envision having no shore power and being after 10pm or before 7am and therefore no generator and relying on very little DC power). My son can be up at 6am and wanting to watch TV or use his IPad with me desperately wanting coffee and toast, or it could be after 10pm and the family wants to watch a DVD and enjoy some microwave popcorn with a few lights on, and there is the issue of being cool at night and needing air conditioning etc.
From my reading I am learning that what I have in my rig will not allow any of this, not even close. My son is also prone to using different electrical devices in the sockets, he is special needs and doesn't have a whole lot of patience usually, he might hate the whole RV experience if he's 'down' at 6am or after 10pm.
My dealer extolls the virtue of a Magnum Inverter with pure sine , but it is expensive and I'm looking for feedback, my dealer would hardwire it in now as I haven't picked up my unit and tells me it will solve my problems for the most part and is 'intelligent' in that it will flip between DC, generator as needed, cutting out if gas gets low, knowing to extend recharging of DC batteries if plugged into 15 amp house outlet, etc. Electical needs would consist of microwave, roof top airconditioner(13.5M Brisk central), two TV's, coffee maker, toaster-anything else can run on propane.
Comments and suggestions are very welcome, this is a little overwhelming

Ours also being a 33 foot Newmar Baystar, not the sport model. One AC is not enough in these rigs, in the 110 to 115 degree Kansas heat anyway. We also have the 5500 onan so it can run two AC units. And 50 amp service. Maybe the dealer will let you change rigs as you may not be happy, with the sport model. With the Baystar you also upgrade to dual pane glass which will help you heat and cool the rig. In some canyon star models you can get a 2000 watt inverter and a bigger bank of batteries which may suit your needs better. Not cost effective to try to upgrade your rig, if they will sell you one with the options you want or need.

[TXiceman]

Originally Posted by Mr_D

Would be cheaper to change rigs! To do a full change over to 50 amps requires EXTENSIVE rewiring and adding a sub panel to your electrical box. Could easily cost several 1000's of $$ even doing it yourself.

depends on how the RV is wired to begin with. I change my old TT from a 30 amp to a 50 amp for about $600.00 in parts with a new 50 amp cord. With your motorhome you will also need to deal with a new transfer switch ($200 or so).

There are ways you can pull out the second A/C unit to run on a separate 20a circuit and they can make a psudo 50amp connection.

Ken

[jauguston]

Something that has not had much discussion in this long thread is the dreaded furnace power consumption. If you are off grid and it is cool outside a furnace can deplete one group 27 battery in one night.

Jim

[Possum]

Two deep cycle twelves series paralleled with two series connected deep cycle sixes and we've done three nights no genset. Two small solar panels on the roof and two more 15 watt units to be added and jointly wired within the week. We want to be as long lasting as possible for our planned long stay going through northern BC and maybe into the Yukon and Alaska early next year.

[EngineerMike]

Tisha- "15A" cord experience is highly dependent on cord length due to voltage drop; get a cord w/#12 wire, this is stamped into the cord every coupla feet, to minimize volt drop (fatter wire = less volt drop). Most extension cords are not #12, you'll find some #14 and #16 common- bigger gauge# = smaller wire & more volt drop. Or you can do 30A cord(s) w/the 30/15 adapter on the end.

I'm not sure now what your inverter situation is. Sounds at one post like your rig comes w/a 1,200W inverter, then in another that you have none but are thinking a couple of 300W units. IIWMI'd shop around and find a PSW inverter (pure sine wave or true sine wave) and not a modified sine wave inverter MSW, as some appliances burn up w/MSW power. then I'd hard wire that in. You have enough on your plate to have to deal w/setting stuff up & taking it down if your kid has any of the tantrum kind of issues or severe attention deficit, and even more if any sleep disorder. Get the wiring right one time so its automatic. You have an advantage if you are adding an aftermarket inverter- you don't need the fancy combo charger/inverter setup, you can just get the inverter feature.

Battery capacity is critical to all inverter use. Flooded cell batteries are a maintenance issue, but they are cheap. AGM batteries are essentially maintenance free but cost like 3 or 4 flooded cell types. Fighting w/corrosion of battery cables & connections is not likely to be high on your list of stuff to do, so think about the extra expense of AGMs. Retired folks can do the maintenance bit & keep up.
And while on batteries, they come in sizes as well as voltages. 6 volt units are likely to be larger & heavier, read that higher capacity. If I was only going to carry two batteries I'd want the larges amp-hour capacity the battery space can hold. This may mean extra tall batteries. This is also where AGMs shine, w/zero corrosion issues you can pack the battery box tighter as you won't be needing extra room for ventilation & maintenance. I'd literally go shopping by the cubic inches, headroom inches, length inches, etc. to optimize capacity.

The 12V USB charger suggestion is spot on. Your TV usage is pretty lightweight, less than 600 watts i'm guessing all told. 1,200 watts of inverter would do it, 1,000 probably still, maybe even 800 if that's a run rate and not the "surge" rating. You don't want to shave it down to the watt, leave some safety factor.

[KSCRUDE]

If Tisha's inverter is like mine, and I am sure it is, she will only have a 600 watt inverter. And Newmar only wires inverted power to the 3 TV plugin areas. I have all three TVs and 2 DVDs and the 600 watt system runs all three at the same time. To have inverter power to the rest of our coaches plugins we would probably have to add another inverter and a couple more batteries to help supply the power. Not a easy task with the way Newmar has the coach wired.

[HambonesBBQ]

You made a big financial decision in buying that RV. You had very specific requirements. Did you talk to the dealer about this prior to purchase? You are driving an expensive RV that gets maybe 8mpg and you are concerned with how much fuel your generator will use? Unfortunately you are not alone in purchasing first and asking second. Hopefully others looking to get an RV are reading this and other threads to make sure they are clear on their needs, their wants, and their nice to haves as they look for their new RV.

As for your setup... With some planning and flexibility your setup has plenty of power. I previously had a Newmar CanyonStar 3920. It had three A/C units, convection microwave, 4 TVs, etc. I regularly used it with no more than a 30 A hookup. Just don't turn everything on at the same time. You will be fine.

[Lincolnboy2]

I didn't even know they built new coaches with 30 amp service. ! Shows how up to date I am.

Tisha, blessings to you and congratulations! I hope you get this worked out to your satisfaction. Please keep us posted with your experiences.

[Dwight]

JUNE 2013 MOTORHOME MAGAZINE PAGE 48 STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS - - PLUG INTO CAMPGROUND POST WITH 30 AMP & 20 AMP RECEPTACLE WITH GFCI.

COMPLETE JTB KIT TO ADD 20 AMPS TO A 30 AMP MOTORHOME $800 KIT-1-1/2 HR. LABOR. Dwight

[bukzin]

Here is a good deal on a 160 watt inverter, $15.

Likely will sell out soon.


http://1saleaday.com/cyberinvert/?ut...ce=Emailvision

[Possum]

I have a 1500 watt unit I bought at Canadian Tire and it does the trick running the toaster when we make breakfast out boondocking. It has #8 power leads and uses quite a bit of power but gets the job done.