believe the mh didnt come with a seperate 12v power supply to run items after the mh engine is stopped! I want to run these items seperately from the mh engine 12v system if possible. The mh has its own stock inverter but i am unable to locate a pwer supply other than the 12v battery in the engine compartment which is used for the primary engine power supply. Does this sound right. For instance are their electrical systems that rely solely on the main or engine battery power supply(without a secondary seperate accesories battery or power supply) and are totally reliant on charging only from the engine charging system. I do have a 2500 watt external generator but i am limited on the hours of usage. Mainly i am interested in running the light ,tv and vcr without assistance of my external generator. How the hell do i set this all up??
what you basically need is a motor home generator for that one,i own an older one that did not come with a generator,and we addd one to it,plus we also added a 24 volt power system to power it with and an inverter,you can run the the lights for about 6-8 hours on the inverter system but when using the generator to keep the 24 volt batttreies charged you can literally run it all night long ,we put this one though a test to see how long it would run for and it never died out,first you have to increase the battery box size to hold two more batteries then you run all this through a switch that changes it from generator power to battery power,i got mine as a kit throug rv,s of america,they sell a complete kit for doing this,it took days to get this on and get it working right,but now i have a switch up front by the driver area that you throw that switches it to generator and then you use the invertor that came with the kit to run the tv vcr microwave,and just about all the lights are now on 12 volt dc,i got 3 batteries one for the main part of the rv and the other two power the invertor,its not hard to do they send complete insructions with the kit,its calle an update kit and works on all older model rv,s.it cost around 900 bucks though but it remidies the problesm of not having power,when i first looked at all the stuff it came with i freaked out,i thought there was no way i would get it to work,but we did,you dont get the generator with the kit though,that you have to buy seprately,you get the hook ups for it though,and you get a choice of getting gas or a diesel generator now,when i bought mine all i could get was a gas one,check their web site out on this ,go to the accessory part when you click on it it goes to power,you can sullpy your own generator though and it still works right,they just like to sell you a generator if they can,good luck with it.
Get a second battery, a battery isolater, and a power inverter. You may also want to add a 12 volt battery charger. For the second battery get a deep cycle battery. This will last you longer. Install the battery in a battery box and make sure the box is vented to the outside. When a battery is charged or in use it can produce hydrogen gas which if not properly vented could cause an explosion or fire. You can get these through any major auto supply store or any major department store that has an automotive department that sells batteries. You can also find them at boat dealerships. The battery isolater is like a one way valve for electricity. It will allow the second battery to be charged by your motor home's alternator, but won't drain the main battery so your motor home will start. You can find these at most RV dealerships. The power inverter will convert the 12 volt DC power to 120 volt AC power. Get a power inverter with enough capacity to run all of your items plus a little reserve. You can find these at most major auto supply stores. Your run time battery power alone will depend on how large of deep cycle you buy and how fully it is charged. If you add a 12 volt battery charger this will charge your battery when your motor home is connected to 120 volt power. Be sure to select a fully automatic battery charger so your battery is not over charged. You can find these at RV dealerships or they can be ordered through most major auto supply stores. It would also be a good idea to use heavy enough gage wiring to prevent any wiring problems. Also, strategicaly place fuses in both the 12 volt and 120 volt systems to protect your investment.
Do some research on solar power for the energy you need, you may find it's not as bad as you think. Great strides have been made in solar technology the last few years and the Toyota Prius is coming out with a solar powered A/C system next year, I think it's next year.
