Unaware newbie (1 Viewer)

color4501

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Jan 17, 2012
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"I'm a newbie"
:Smile:Hi I have logged on to introduce myself, My wife Jackie and I (Graham) bought a swift suntor 590RL late last summer so that we could take our 4 year old grandson away at weekends and school hols. I am more or less semi retired and thought this would be good fun (like a really posh tent). We managed to get away for a few weekends and each time we have improved our knowledge. If I could be cheeky and ask a very important question to start? If we are not plugged into mains power do we just plug our low wattage TV, microwave etc into the outlets in the van to get use of the liesure batteries? I have two hidden away in here somewhere and I have no idea how to make use of them.
 
Dec 6, 2011
11,470
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South Wales
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Coach built Adria
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Welcome..:thumb:

they will only work if;

1. they are 12 volt into a 12 v socket

or

2. via an inverter plugged into your 12v socket

kept it short and a basic answer hope it helps? as there is much more that can be said on the subject.
 

Jim

Ringleader
Jul 19, 2007
36,191
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Sutton on Sea, UK
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1
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Adria Panel Van.
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Since 1988
Hi Graham and Jackie, welcome to the Fun :thumb:

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stcyr

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Apr 11, 2011
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:welcome:Hi Jackie & Graham.

Tv'll be ok. Microwave will flatten battery in minutes or less. Need to use an invertor ... :Smile:
 

Wildman

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May 30, 2008
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Hi and welcome to the fun.
As already answered re 12C/240V however that is the easy answer and does not take into account the capacity of the battery it is finite recource of amp/hours so the more you take out the less you have left. Take out too many and you can damage a battery. I suggest you google ohms law and try to understand it that will give you the basic tools to understand how much anything uses and from there how long a battery will last. Generally speaking heating appliences, hair drier, microwave, fan heater etc will drain a battery (via an inverter) very very quickly a matter of minutes not hours. so go ahead and look up ohms law, it is very important to understand it.
This is quite a good site but there are others.
.
 

aba

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Oct 27, 2009
2,775
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yorkshire
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dec 2009
hi and welcome
basically some things work with electric and others work with or without it.
95% of mains sockets in motorhomes only work when hooked up to the mains.
the other 5% have been modified to make them work off the batteries but not by the manufacturers and yours probably hasn't

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lorger

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Jul 11, 2008
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Hi and welcome to fun i think if you want to use your microwave when not on mains you need to get a gas one you will find them in good camping shops
 

pappajohn

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Aug 26, 2007
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do you mean low WATTAGE or low VOLTAGE ?

if the TV and microwave are mains powered IE: 230v, but low WATTAGE then, No, they wont work without hookup.

if, however, you mean LOW VOLTAGE IE: 12v, then yes they will work....but only if plugged into a 12v socket, not the mains sockets.

I doubt you will have an inverter, or if you do you may not know where or how to turn it on, so the above stands.

talk of inverters just complicates things for a newbie at the bottom of the learning curve, but could be of use with a little explanation of what they are, what they do and the limitations. :thumb:
 
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color4501

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Jan 17, 2012
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12 volt stuff

Thanks for all the help guys, the only 12v plug source is the cigarette lighter does this use the liesure batteries for power or does it drain the engine battery.
This all probably sounds very stupid but I really do not have a clue. The only thing I seem to have used the batteries for is the habitation lights. HELP!
 

stcyr

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Apr 11, 2011
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If you don't know it's not a daft question! :Smile:...

If the cig.lighter's on the dash then yes, it will be off the engine battery. (Normally!)
 

Taffand Dawn

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Jan 8, 2012
14
1
Hampshire/Cornwall
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19,367
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E350 7.3 Gulfstream Ultra
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1987
12v or to 12v

The cigarette socket will most probably take feed from the engine battery (as on mine) 12v sockets look like two bayonet slits adjacent to each other these take supply from the leisure/s :Smile: oh and i have been rving since 1987 and still asking ???????????????????

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Last edited:

pappajohn

LIFE MEMBER
Aug 26, 2007
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Thanks for all the help guys, the only 12v plug source is the cigarette lighter does this use the liesure batteries for power or does it drain the engine battery.
This all probably sounds very stupid but I really do not have a clue. The only thing I seem to have used the batteries for is the habitation lights. HELP!

if you mean the one on the dashboard, it probably runs off the engine battery unless the converter has rewired it (unlikely).

no question is a stupid question...we all had to learn at some point and most of us still are :thumb:
 

Enjoy_Yourself

Free Member
Jul 1, 2010
86
25
Pontypool, South Wales
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12,397
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Coachbuilt
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1
Thanks for all the help guys, the only 12v plug source is the cigarette lighter does this use the liesure batteries for power or does it drain the engine battery.
This all probably sounds very stupid but I really do not have a clue. The only thing I seem to have used the batteries for is the habitation lights. HELP!

Never ever worry about sounding stupid..........we all had to learn and the learning never stops. I seem to forget things faster than I can learn new ones.

For advice you have come to the right place, but don't expect to get a simple yes or no. Listen to everyone's advice and then paddle your own canoe. Making mistakes is all part of the fun and you will certainly have a lot of that in front of you. :thumb:

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