{"content":[{"text":"Written by Johnathan R. Understanding you campers electrical wiring can be very confusing. \n Use the RV electrical diagram we made below to get an understanding of what powers what and \n to learn how an RV electrical system works. AC, also called alternating current, is what typically \n powers a regular brick-and-mortar home. The electrons rapidly flow back-and-forth. Light bulbs \n use AC power. They look steady to the human eye, but in reality, light bulbs rapidly flash like a \n strobe light. This effect is directly caused by AC power changing directions. For the most part, \n you can assume that it requires DC if it has a microchip. To make them compatible with AC, \n many of those systems, such as computers, come equipped with onboard AC to DC converters. \n The AC can be transmitted, but it can not be stored in a battery. This conversion happens \n through the use of the aptly named converter. This is the same type of device that you will find \n on computers. It is just used on an RV-wide scale rather than a single device. Many RVs also \n have inverters. They do the same thing as converters, but it is reversed. Inverters convert DC to \n AC. You can see examples of this by directing your attention to the RV electrical diagram at the \n top of the page. As you know, some devices require AC and some require DC. Provided that \n there is a sufficient source of electricity, converters and inverters give an RV the flexibility to \n power all of its devices regardless of the power source, AC or DC. The most observant among \n you might notice that RV appliances and plumbing are all powered via Volt DC. The essential \n devices pull from those batteries: fridge, slides, water pump, built-in lighting, etc. Of course, \n there are exceptions to every rule, but this is a reliable guideline. Anything plugged into an \n outlet will receive the standard Volts of AC that any household outlet would supply. If the RV is \n connected to shoreline power or a generator is running, the wall outlets will pull the needed AC \n power from that source. Otherwise, assuming that the RV is equipped with an inverter, 12 Volts \n of DC power will be pulled from the house batteries. In the past, power companies sent volts \n through the lines, but the amount has changed a couple of times over the last century. For all \n intents and purposes, consider volts, volts, and volts to be the same thing. When hooking up to \n a pedestal, you will find two basic configurations:. Unless you purchased an aftermarket DC \n generator and made modifications to the electrical system, the generator is also going to be a \n source of AC power. If you plan on doing any boondocking, this is going to be your noisy best \n friend. It will provide you with the same volts of AC power that you receive from a shoreline \n connection. Solar panels are a great supplemental and sometimes primary power source for \n many RVs. Of course, the one downside is that these systems rely on a sunny day. If a storm is \n brewing, those clouds are going to cut off your solar panels from the sun. However, they \n deserve more attention than they receive. They are a perfect addition to a boondocking setup. \n They are also cheaper than solar panels, but they are also a bit more challenging to implement. \n Many manuals advise using the generator instead of the alternator whenever possible. This \n advisement was written because running a high-powered alternator to charge house batteries \n can generate damaging levels of heat. While the heat can slowly damage the alternators, they \n are still very durable pieces of hardware. They should hold up for a long time. Generators are \n more efficient at producing electricity, so they are an economical choice too. You can think of \n these ingenious devices as a more intelligent circuit breaker. They do much more than that, but \n this works as a simple definition. The power demands of an RV shift from moment to moment, \n and sometimes those needs exceed the power available from whatever campground pedestal is \n supplying the power. If that happens, it will trip the circuit breaker on the pedestal. You might \n make quite a few trips outside, which is an annoyance that nobody wants. An energy \n management system can monitor the power being supplied and temporarily cut power to \n low-priority devices. When there is enough power available, those low-priority devices will \n receive that power. This will prevent those circuit breakers from tripping. We hope that the RV \n electrical diagram we included above is helpful to you and that it was able to answer many of \n the questions you had. We recommend that you always reach out to a trained RV electrician in \n order to make any modifications or to troubleshoot any part of your RV. Search Menu. Contents \n show. Sources of RV Power. I am a well traveled Marine Corps veteran that enjoys the outdoor \n and nomadic lifestyle that RV living provides. As the founder of Camperguide. Close \n Camperguide. Share via. Facebook Messenger. Copy Link. Powered by Social Snap. Copy link. \n Copy Copied. By: Jerry Durham Oct 05, The Electrical Service supplying an entire RV park must \n be sized to accommodate the electrical demands of multiple modern recreational vehicles \n drawing power simultaneously from the individual park sites. The sum of the individual sites \n within the park, with some additional math applied , determines the total service size for the \n park. The load you count for a single RV site equipped with both ampere and ampere \n receptacles remains unchanged at volt-amperes. The load counted for a ampere RV site \n receptacle is volt-amperes. And the load counted for each amp supply provided at each \n dedicated tent site is volt-amperes. These individual supply enclosures typically consist of \n more than one receptacle. When a multi-receptacle supply enclosure is dedicated to just a","bbox":{"left":0.050964,"top":0.031288,"width":0.892489,"height":0.894159}}],"images_bbox":[],"images_bbox_not_text_overlap":[]}