Electric power
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Forum Name: Introduce Yourself
Forum Discription: New Members - tell us about yourself and your r-pod
URL: http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=2055
Printed Date: 27 May 2024 at 10:32am
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Topic: Electric power
Posted By: alpete
Subject: Electric power
Date Posted: 22 Aug 2011 at 9:40am
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Hello, New to the forum and new to camping with a camper. Picked up our new r-pod 171 on Friday and have a quick question. When I got the trailer to my home, I plugged it in and got the clock on the tv/radio/dvd all set and found a few stations. When I unplugged from the land line, I noticed that the clock/tv etc had lost all power and I could not turn it on. Should'nt it kick into batery power or is there something I must do first???? Thanks! Allen ------------- AdEmbroidery, Inc Custom embroidery and Screen Printing www.adembroidery.com |
Replies:
Posted By: Pawpod
Date Posted: 22 Aug 2011 at 9:41am
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It runs on 120v not 12. Would be nice if it did though ------------- Ready to pod around! |
Posted By: alpete
Date Posted: 22 Aug 2011 at 9:46am
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so no radio when on battery power! No problem, thought I was doing something wrong! Thank you ------------- AdEmbroidery, Inc Custom embroidery and Screen Printing www.adembroidery.com |
Posted By: furpod
Date Posted: 22 Aug 2011 at 9:50am
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When not on shore power, no microwave, stereo/TV, air conditioning, or 120v water heater. On 12v you get lights, fantastic fan, water pump and the brain power to run the propane appliances, Fridge, heater, and water heater. Your fridge will run on 12v also, but it draws a fair amount and you want to be already down to proper temperature when you switch to 12v. That way it doesn't run constantly trying to cool the box. ------------- |
Posted By: alpete
Date Posted: 22 Aug 2011 at 9:57am
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Thank you all...the dealer threw so much at me in a short period of time, I missed most of it!! ------------- AdEmbroidery, Inc Custom embroidery and Screen Printing www.adembroidery.com |
Posted By: techntrek
Date Posted: 22 Aug 2011 at 10:48am
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Welcome! We are here to fill in the holes. You can even find the beginnings of our own "manual" in the maintenance sub-forum here. BTW, I've fixed the title.
An additional point about the fridge - it will drain your battery in about 4-5 hours so you should only use the 12 volt mode when your 'pod is connected to your TV (TV = tow vehicle on most camping forums, not television
 ) and you are traveling down the road. If you stop for gas or for an hour lunch you are ok, any more than that and you should switch to gas mode.However, most hitch installers do not use the correct size wire for the +12 line running from your TV's battery and the Bargeman connector (the plug next to your hitch). It needs to be at least 10 gauge and preferrably 8 gauge wire but usually its 12 gauge like all the other wires. Similarly the ground line either needs to be attached to the frame closeby, or it needs 10 or 8 gauge wire running all the way back to the battery. Without this size wire you can actually drain your 'pod's battery on the way to the campground which can be a real problem if you were planning on camping w/o hookups. If you aren't sure that you have the correct size wire, or you are sure its the wrong size and haven't "upgraded" it yet, my recommendation is to just use the gas mode. The fridge uses very little gas, you can go about a month on one tank if you don't use any other gas appliances.
You could buy a small inverter and hook it up to the battery to use the television, but unless you also install 4+ batteries don't plan on buying one big enough to run the other 120 volt appliances. They are all high-watt users. ------------- Doug ~ '10 171 (2009-2015) ~ 2008 Salem ~ http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=1723 - Pod instruction manual 
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Posted By: furpod
Date Posted: 22 Aug 2011 at 12:02pm
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@techntrek.. question/observation. On our last trip.. OK first and last trip so far..lol After getting home we left the fridge in 12v mode overnight. It was a cool night, and of course the fridge was down to temperature when unhooked. Monday morning, we were still at 2/3 on the batteries, at least 16 hours since unhooking. I know the 12v fridge system is a hog (comparatively) but I wonder if once cool and only running when the thermostat calls for it, how long it would go..? I figure if running constantly, 4-5 hours would kill your battery, but if it's only running 10 minutes an hour to keep cool... ------------- |
Posted By: techntrek
Date Posted: 22 Aug 2011 at 1:25pm
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The 12 volt heating element uses about 120-150 watts when running. Its probable that in cooler conditions (outside and inside the 'pod, since you weren't staying in there) it will cycle on infrequently and so your battery time will be stretched. But that is a big load, and most of the time it will be on much more often, so its best to either plug in or switch to gas if you need to leave it running at home before unloading it. Granted, you have a 2-battery setup which would probably give you 8-10 hours of battery run time at full load before reaching 50% DOD. Most don't, which is where the 4-5 hours applies.
I wouldn't rely on the built-in battery gauge for more than a rough estimate, if that is where you took your reading. A good digital voltmeter will be much more accurate (after resting the batteries for 3+ hours). ------------- Doug ~ '10 171 (2009-2015) ~ 2008 Salem ~ http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=1723 - Pod instruction manual
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Posted By: furpod
Date Posted: 22 Aug 2011 at 4:39pm
Yep, just using the built in gauge, didn't really think about it until later, and then it was back to plugged in.. maybe will conduct an experiment next weekend...
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Posted By: techntrek
Date Posted: 22 Aug 2011 at 5:14pm
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I will be interested in the results! ------------- Doug ~ '10 171 (2009-2015) ~ 2008 Salem ~ http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=1723 - Pod instruction manual
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Posted By: this_is_nascar
Date Posted: 23 Aug 2011 at 9:25am
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I was pretty disappointed to find out the R-Pod radio would not work on battery power. I can understand the TV/DVD, etc, but the radio should be able to power on 12-volts.
------------- "Ray & Connie" - 2017 R-Pod RP-180 - 2007 Toyota Tacoma TRD-Off Road |
Posted By: kymooses
Date Posted: 23 Aug 2011 at 10:00am
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Our 181g radio works on the battery's power. Guess it's something corrected on newer models. ------------- https://calendar.google.com/calendar?cid=cnBvZC5zcG90dGVyQGdtYWlsLmNvbQ - RPod Rallies https://www.google.com/maps/d/embed?mid=1W1foQXGtrjf8aYly1uh0b-bHPfI&hl=en_US - RPod Owner Map |
Posted By: furpod
Date Posted: 23 Aug 2011 at 10:04am
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Maybe depends on model or type.. ours is all integrated, and so.. doesn't work on 12v. I will probably either add a 12v car stereo up front, or do an inverter in the back.. ------------- |
Posted By: kymooses
Date Posted: 23 Aug 2011 at 10:09am
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Likely a difference in the model of stereo's and tv's used also then I guess. ------------- https://calendar.google.com/calendar?cid=cnBvZC5zcG90dGVyQGdtYWlsLmNvbQ - RPod Rallies https://www.google.com/maps/d/embed?mid=1W1foQXGtrjf8aYly1uh0b-bHPfI&hl=en_US - RPod Owner Map |