Plug Your RV or Trailer Into A Solar Generator
Would you like to boondock and be able to watch TV and use your toaster or microwave, without having to run a noisy gas generator outside?
This is possible because you can plug a solar generator/power station directly into your RV camper.
Run a camper on a solar generator
You can plug a camper into a solar generator, and I know this since I do it myself as I’ll talk more about down below.
I do it with an 15A to 30A adapter (click to view on Amazon). If you have a 50A RV, you need the 15A to 50A adapter.
Related Post: Can a solar generator run an air conditioner?
Whether it’s possible or not with a specific solar generator depends on how many watts its inverter can handle.
If your 12V batteries are not full, as soon as you plug the camper into the solar generator, it’s going to start charging the 12V batteries (amongst other things plugged into your trailer outlets). This can use between 100-500 watts.
Therefore I recommend a solar generator with at least a 500W inverter, although higher is to prefer.
How I use my solar generator with my camper
My wife and I travel fulltime in a travel trailer, and our setup is a Goal Zero Yeti 1000 and 400 watts of solar panels.
We boondock 95% of the time, our Yeti and solar panels cover 90% of our energy needs.
The Goal Zero Yeti 1000 is a solar generator, also known as a portable power station, that has a 100Ah lithium battery, a pure sine wave inverter, and a solar charge controller which lets me plug my solar panels directly into it.
The Yeti 1000 has an inverter that changes the 12V DC power into 120V AC power, and it powers several AC outlets on the Yeti, this is where I plug my camper in.
Goal Zero has put a 1500W/3000W surge watts pure sine wave inverter in this unit.
This means that I can use electronics that use up to 1500W. Here are a couple of the things I use in my travel trailer and an estimate of how many watts they use.
- Gaming laptop – 150W
- Macbook – 60W
- Comfee 700W output microwave – 1100W
- Black+Decker 5-cup coffee maker – 650W
- George Foreman 2-serving indoor grill – 760W
- Furnace (fan) – 120W
- 32″ TV and an Apple TV – 60W
- Playstation 4 gaming console – 150W
- Tablet, phone, camera charger – 10W
- No products found. in the bathroom – 20W on high
- AC fan (not cooling) – 200W
- Water heater (electric) – 1300W
- RV fridge – 300W
We don’t usually run the water heater or fridge on electric since that would drain the battery quickly, and that’s not worth it.
Since the Yeti has 1045 watt-hours to work with, I could, for example, run my gaming laptop for about six hours straight (1045/150).
Note that an inverter has an efficiency rate of about 85%, so the most realistic calculation to do is 1045*0.85 and then split it with 150W (how much my gaming laptop uses every hour while I am gaming) which equals 5.9 hours.
If I have 400W of solar plugged in during the day which usually charges at 250-290W, I can use my laptop without losing any battery power.
My solar panels are two portable Renogy 100W suitcases I plug into the Yeti with the help of an adapter.
They’re combined with an MC4 Y branch connector.
Related Post: 5 ways to improve Goal Zero Yeti’s charging speed
In addition to my portable solar panels, I also have two Renogy 100W solar panels on top of my camper.
These panels generate about 120 amps combined on a sunny day even during the winter months, which means that my Yeti 1000 can go from empty in the morning to fully charged in the afternoon.
I’m planning on buying a power station with more battery capacity so I can store more power for cloudy days.
My panels usually generate more watts than I use on sunny days, resulting in the battery being fully charged even while I am using it, wasting excess power.
Another great feature with the Yeti 1000 is the screen that tells me how many watts I am generating with my solar panels, and how many watts I am using through not only the AC outlets, but the USB ports and 12V cigarette plug found on the unit.
What the Yeti 1000 can run in my travel trailer
The Yeti runs everything in my camper, except for the AC compressor.
I haven’t tried because I don’t want to trip the Yeti, but I know that a 13,500 BTU air conditioner requires more power than the Yeti can output.
It also couldn’t run my 900W microwave, but I have since gotten a Comfee 700W microwave that it runs just fine.
My 700W (output watts) microwave requires about 1100 input watts to run, so it’s below the limit.
Being able to heat leftovers in the microwave when we’re boondocking without running a gas generator is awesome.
We use our furnace, toaster, egg cooker, George Foreman, watch TV, charge our laptops all day, vacuum, and charge all of our devices without any issues.
Do you leave your power station outside?
You could put your power station outside or in one of the storage compartments and pull the 30A/50A cable to it, but what I have done lets me keep the power station in the trailer, so I can monitor and turn on/off the outlets as I need.
This also lets me use the Yeti on rainy days without me having to go outside or worry about it getting wet.
What I did was split into the 30A cable going to the 30A plug where I plug my trailer in when I need to use the gas generator or plug into a camping ground.
The plug is located in the back of my trailer, where I have a bunk bed. So I can access the inside of the plug by lifting up the bottom bunk.
This is where I cut the 30A cable in half and put a 30A plug and a 30A receptacle. The 30A plug is on the cable coming from the trailer, and the receptacle is on the wire going to the 30A outlet outside.
I basically added a quick disconnect between the electrical control panel in my trailer and the 30A plug.
So what I can then do is use the 15A to 30A, plug the adapter into my trailer, then run a regular AC extension cord from the adapter to my power station and plug it into one of the outlets on the Yeti.
Here is how it’s set up under my bunk bed when I have the trailer plugged into the Yeti 1000.
- The 30A receptacle, this wire goes to the 30A plug located on the outside of my camper. When I want to plug it into a gas generator or campground, I grab the adapter (3 in the image) and connect 1 and 2 together.
- The 30A plug coming from my trailer’s electrical system. 1 and 2 used to be a solid connection, but I cut into it and installed the 30A plug and 30A receptacle.
- The 15A to 30A adapter that turns the 30A plug into a regular 15A cable.
- My AC extension cord, this cord goes straight to the Yeti 1000 and is plugged into one of the outlets on the power station. Now the Yeti powers my travel trailer.
If I want to plug my camper in using the 30A outlet outside on the back of my camper, I unplug the 15A to 30A adapter and connect 1 to 2 to make the connection.
Then I either plug a 30A cable into the trailer and the campground’s power grid, or I take the adapter outside and plug it into my gas generator.
What About Your Solar Panels?
We have two portable panels and two panels on our roof.
The panels on the roof are wired in parallel so we only have one positive wire and a negative one.
These wires are pulled down through the refrigerator vent that’s on the roof.
We did it this way because we didn’t want to drill any large holes in the camper roof.
We did have to drill two holes to get the wires to the Yeti. One from the outside and one from the inside. The one outside is behind the fridge and was easy to do after removing the fridge vent cover.
After pulling the wires through, we covered the hole with Great Stuff Gaps & Cracks foam just in case any water would get in behind the fridge.
This lets us pull the wires down underneath the fridge, which is where our furnace sits, and if you’re going to do a similar setup you might have to do it differently depending on the layout of the camper.
The second hole, inside, is just to get the wire from where the furnace is to our Yeti. We drilled a hole in the furnace cover because we didn’t have enough space to do it anywhere else.
The wires for our portable panels come in through one of our storage compartments under our bunk, so we had to drill two more holes to get those wires to the Yeti.
We didn’t want to drill a hole on the side of the trailer, so we keep the 30ft MC4 cables in the storage compartment until we get to a campsite, then we pull out the panels and the wires.
We had a couple of smart mice that climbed the MC4 cables and came into the storage compartment, so, the last thing we did was to put steel wool in the holes around the wire, and that has kept the mice away.
So do you have a gas generator?
We do have a gas generator, it’s a small and quiet WEN 56200i generator.
If it’s cloudy for a couple of days, we bring it out to recharge our Yeti. The Yeti comes with a 5A wall charger so you can recharge it from a regular outlet.
Goal Zero recently released a much faster 25A wall charger that you could plug into a gas generator and recharge the Yeti 1000 in four hours.
You can also recharge the Yeti in a car from a 12V cigarette plug.
How long does a solar generator last?
It depends on how big the battery in the solar generator is, and how many watts you’re using.
For example, my Yeti 1000 has 1045 watt-hours I can use. If I charge my laptop that uses 60W for an hour, I have about 985 watt-hours left to work with (1045-60).
The inverter that changes 12V DC to 120V AC is not 100% efficient, so when you use the AC outlets on a solar generator you should expect about 85% to be the energy you can use in the end.
Related Post: Use third-party solar panels with a Goal Zero Yeti
If you want to figure out how much power your RV camper, or electronics use, you can plug it into an outlet through a Kill A Watt which will tell you exactly how many watts the device is drawing.
Note that the Kill A Watt meter can only handle up to 1800W.
How do you plug in an RV camper to a regular 15A outlet?
If you would like to connect your camper to a solar powered generator from the outside, you can use adapters.
My trailer has a 30A plug, so I can use a 15A to 30A cable. Camco also sells a 15A to 50A adapter in case your trailer has a 50A plug.
If you plug your camper into a gas generator, you could put the Kill A Watt mentioned above between the connection to figure out exactly how many watts you’re using as it is, so you know how strong the inverter in a solar generator needs to be to fit your needs.
Again, be aware that the Kill A Watt has a wattage limit (max 1800W).
Remember that just because you can plug in a 30A cable with an adapter does not mean that the outlet it’s plugged into will be able to output 30A.
How much power you’ll be able to draw through the outlet will depend on the source, which in this case is the inverter in the power station.
Will the solar generator charge the camper batteries?
Yes, since plugging a camper into a solar generator is just like plugging it into an outlet in your garage (in the converter/charger’s mind), the trailer batteries are going to start charging the second you plug it in.
The downside with this (in my case) was that it kept trickle charging the batteries even though they were fully charged.
So when the charger started charging my batteries it used 2-300W, then when it had fully charged my batteries it still used 30-80W.
It started to bug me how much electricity was wasted during the day, so I had to come up with a solution.
My solution was to install another 100W solar panel on the top of my camper that is wired directly to my camper batteries.
Now that panel charges my batteries, and my solar generator usually outputs less than 20W when nothing else is being used, even though it’s plugged into the trailer.
By doing this, I can turn on the ports in the morning as the sun comes up, and leave them turned on until the sun goes down.
If your solar generator has a lot of battery capacity and solar panels connected to it, this likely won’t be an issue.
Or if you don’t use a lot of electricity, you can just leave it on and let the charger do its thing.
The reason I had to find a solution is that my wife and I work all day on our computers and we can’t let electricity go to waste, especially on cloudy days.
What is the best solar generator for RVs?
If you’re considering a solar generator for your camper, I recommend one that has at least a 1000W inverter. Then you would be able to run everything in your RV except for the microwave and the air conditioner.
I recommend the Ecoflow Delta which has an 1800W pure sine wave inverter that powers six AC outlets. 1800W is as powerful as an actual 15A household outlet, so you might even be able to power the microwave in your camper depending on what else is running at the same time.
The Ecoflow Delta is equipped with a great MPPT solar charge controller that can handle up to 400W of solar input. It can also recharge from 0 to 80% in one hour.
It has a 1260 watt-hour battery capacity, four USB A ports, two UBC C ports, and a regulated 12V output. The screen shows input/output watts, battery percentage/bars, and time to empty/full.
Ecoflow includes an MC4 to XT60 adapter with the purchase, which means that it’s compatible with a lot of solar panels straight out of the box.
I am extremely happy with my Goal Zero Yeti 1000, but if you’re considering a power station from Goal Zero, I recommend taking a look at the newer Yeti 1500X and Yeti 3000X.
These can output up to 2000W, handle a lot of solar input, and have more battery capacity than the Ecoflow Deta.
What size solar generator do I need?
The easiest way to answer this question is by writing down each device and how many watts it uses.
You can read on the device or its charger how many watts it uses, or use a Kill A Watt that will tell you exactly.
So if your computer uses 60 watts, and you want to use that for 5 hours a day, you’re going to need at least a 300Wh battery (60*5).
Since inverters aren’t 100% efficient when changing DC power to AC power (usually around 85% efficient), it’s a good idea to overestimate your power needs.
Do this kind of calculation with all of the devices you intend to use, and you’ll get a better understanding of how many watt-hours you use and what size solar generator you’re going to need.
Related Post: Can a Yeti 400 power a TV?
How many watts each device uses is also relevant because the solar generator has an inverter that has to be able to run that device.
If you have any questions please leave a comment down below.
What could you turn on in your RV with the Yeti?
Using a Yeti 3000X, is it safe to turn on devices like an AC 13,000 BTU or microwave with this setup?
You could run the microwave but not the AC. It’s possible that it would work if you had a Micro-Air EasyStart installed on the AC, but I can’t say for sure since I haven’t tried it.
Jesse
Will my batteries on my tounge be in conflict when plugged into the solar charger? How does that work?
Hey Tom,
Do you mean when plugged into the solar generator, or if you’re charging the batteries with a separate solar panel/charger?
If you plug the RV into the solar generator, your RV thinks you’re plugged into shore power and your batteries will start to charge. If you have a separate panel charging the RV batteries at the same time as a solar generator is plugged into your RV, they will both charge the camper batteries.
Jesse
Hi Jesse,
Great info, I was looking at a solar generator (Jackery 1000) and looked everywhere to see if it would charge my onboard 12v batteries if I plugged my RV directly into the 1000w solar generator. Do you know how fast or how many amps I would top up my batteries if left the trailer plugged into the solar generator before it dies? I would mainly use it for emergencies for charging trailer batteries for longer trips when dry camping instead of running a noisy gas generator.
Hey Eric, sorry for the late reply.
I have two 70Ah batteries on my trailer, and if I plug the camper into the Explorer 1000 the converter/charger uses about 200W to charge my batteries, and about 30-70W when they’re close to fully charged and trickle charging. Since it never stops trickle charging I don’t leave it turned on 24/7, but it usually takes 5-7 hours to drain the Jackery if I don’t plug in several things to the outlets in my camper.
So it’s going to depend on your converter/charger and how many amps it can handle, I bet you can find this info in its manual. From 100 to 0% via the inverter in the Jackery I would expect around 60-70Ah, but it depends on how fast you drain the battery.
Hi Jesse, no worries!
Thanks for the explanation, I also have two batteries at 77Ah each. I think the solar generator option may just work for us, my wife doesn’t like the noisy generator idea since the neighbors are fairly close in provincial parks. We just don’t want to run out of batteries for our longer dry camping trips, we’ve done 4 nights last summer but we were very strict on energy usage (limited water pump and lights usage) so I think having the solar generator we can definitely get by on a couple 5 night trips we have booked this summer. We also like that if we wanted to watch TV for an hour or two or use our coffee machine (900w) we can just plug it into the solar generator!
I don’t plan on buying solar panels because we don’t do too many dry camping trips, so the solar generator should work perfect for us for our usage. I’m currently deciding between the Jackery 1000 and Bluetti EB150.. but I think I’m leaning towards the Bluetti as it has 1500wh vs 1000 and both are very close in price. I’m thinking the 1500wh will be better for us as I just want to have more energy capacity as we don’t plan on charging it with solar panels during our trip.
If we do happen to go for a drive, the Jackery does have the car charging adapter but I believe I can just plug in the Bluetti wall charger into my F150’s truck AC 110v (400w max) outlet to charge the unit?
Thanks,
Eric
I understand, yes the Bluetti EB150 would be perfect for your needs. The Bluetti can also handle a lot more solar panels than the Explorer 1000, in case you choose to buy a panel or two later on. The only big advantage with the Jackery is the weight, but most days I would rather have an extra 500Wh and deal with a heavier power station.
Yeah, just charge it while the vehicle is running. I didn’t know that they could output up to 400W, that’s neat.
That’s good to hear regarding the solar panels, if I decide to purchase in the future. And yes, I did toss the weight factor around, 16lbs difference is pretty big! But the extra 500wh won me over, the solar generator will most likely sit in the same spot.
I’ve seen videos from Hobotech where he mentions how to charge the Bluetti in a vehicle using the wall outlet plugin. He talks about the BESTEK 12v 300W Pure Sine inverter you can buy on Amazon, and just plug into 12v outlet. But I can’t seem to find info on why I can’t just plug the Bluetti directly into my trucks built in AC 110v outlet which says right on it 400w max. I understand not all vehicles have this outlet so the BESTEK inverter purchase would work for others but curious if I can just use my outlet.. I’m not familiar with Pure Sine technology.. not sure if I can damage the Bluetti while charging if my trucks outlet is not a Pure Sine Inverter?
Ah I see, yes it’s probably a Modified sine wave inverter and not a pure sine wave. Whether it would work or not depends on the charger and the quality of the inverter. Since the charger converts AC to DC it might work just fine, but it would be a little bit of a gamble to try since it could damage the charger.
The problem with the Bestek inverter is that you need to connect it directly to the truck battery to get the full 300W, since most 12V cigarette ports can only output 10A. If you plugged the Bestek in and used the Bluetti charger it would most likely blow a fuse since the Bluetti charger is rated at 160W.
So what options do you have? Well, I can’t say I recommend it but I would still test the charger in the truck, just watch the Bluetti and see if it starts charging or not. Or you could get a small 100W solar panel. Or you can get the Explorer 1000 which comes with a car charger, or get the newer Explorer 1500 that has a 10%-off coupon right now (JACKERYE1500). The 1500 has 1488Wh and a 1800W inverter so you could run the microwave, but it costs more.
Those are very good points, honestly it may not be that much of a deal breaker for me as I can’t see ourselves going out for drives during our dry camping trips to have to car charge the unit.. will be too busy biking, hiking, swimming lol. Our longest ride would be back home which then I will charge the generator completely with the wall charger and have it ready for the next trip!
I believe the new Jackery 1500 is only available in US right now, I’m in Canada. But like you said if I do need to charge the unit during our trip, easier to purchase a solar panel and set it up on our site vs trying to go for a long drive.
Thanks for all your help, greatly appreciated!
Thank you for writing this article. It is so informative and there doesn’t seem to be much out there so it really fills a much needed gap of info.
Im curious why the power station wasn’t able to run the 900W microwave even though the Yeti 1000 has a 1500W inverter?
Hi,
It’s because the 900W number is the output power. The input power required is higher than the output, in this case around 1400W. The most steady wattage I could get out of the Yeti 1000 was 1300W, which is why it wouldn’t run my specific microwave.
The Yeti 1000 is pretty old by now, and the latest power stations do come pretty close to the listed inverter rating.
That was one excellently and comprehensively written piece.
You should try to get it published.
Thank You!
Hi
Thank you for your kind and useful information .what do you think of Yeti 6000x ?can i run a 11.000 BTU air-conditioned on it or still not?Or if you can suggest any other alternative powerful solar generator ?
I wanna run my AC and wanna go just for green energy this is why i am just keep searching that if solar generators is good enough for my Promaster camper van
Thank a you lot
Hi,
The Yeti 6000X is great and has a lot of capacity, but I don’t think it can handle a 11,000 BTU AC unfortunately.
I’d recommend taking a look at the new Ecoflow Delta Pro or Max, which would be able to do it. They were just recently released though so it might be hard to get one anytime soon.
Remember that an AC uses a lot of energy, and even the largest power stations like the Yeti 6000X would only run for a couple of hours.
Hi, We have a travel trailer and recently purchased the Jackery 1500 with 4 – 100W Solarsaga panels. We are planning to connect the trailer 30amp cord via the adapter to the J1500. I read a lot about the power loss from connecting this way but we don’t have the knowledge to do any wiring and we don’t want panels on the roof as we try to camp in the shade. Our primary concern is running the RV fridge on propane. We don’t need TV, microwave, AC, or even the water heater or water pump. We just want to keep the fridge running on propane which needs 12v power. Do you think the J1500 will be able to run the converter and supply power to the battery to run the fridge on propane for at least 24 hours? We can then hook up the solar panels, or charge the Jackery in the truck if no sun, each day. We also have a Jackery 500 which I wondered if we could connect the J500 via a 12v battery charging cable directly to the 12v battery to keep the 12v battery charged and not pulling that energy from the J1500. What are your thoughts on utilizing/maximizing both our Jackery’s for the trailer? Thanx.
Hi,
Yes, that will be more than enough to keep your RV batteries charged up to just run the fridge and lights. If you only leave it on for an hour or two a day to recharge the RV battery, the Explorer 1500 should last a couple of days before needing a recharge.
If you leave it plugged in for 24 hours it would drain the 1500 since the converter will trickle charge even if the battery is fully charged.
If you want to leave the Jackery plugged in without charging the batteries you might be able to turn off the converter charger by flipping a switch by the converter fuse box. Then you can switch it on as needed, that’s how we do it.
Sure, I believe that would work with a 12V to alligator clamps adapter (click to view on Amazon). You could use it with either of the two power stations to trickle charge the RV battery. I haven’t done it myself, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work as long as the voltage is safe (the 12V port on the Explorer 500 & 1500 outputs a regulated 13.4V) and only used with 12V sources that won’t output more than 10A.
I have a Jackery 2000 Pro and wonder if there’s any kind of converter I could purchase that would work similarly to the plug I have that plugs into the power at RV parks, but instead of plugging in there, use the converter to plug into the Jackery 2000 while it is charging (2 hours to fully-charged) passing through electricity as it is also charging the lithinum ion battery to build up for my next charge. Is there such a adaptor available for purchase? I know most national parks or boondocking situations don’t want generators on at night because they are so darn noisy and the Jackery is smooth as silk, just does its job and doesn’t bother anybody. Any suggestions on where I might find that type inverter to turn my Jackery 2000 PRO into a beast that could run my Class A? Thank you for any suggestions or help you’re able to offer.
Hi,
As far as I know, the Explorer 2000 can’t pass-through electricity in that way to where you’ll be able to get 30A or 50A through it. They advertise pass-through as a feature, but I don’t think it’s true pass-through.
You can plug the Class A into the Explorer while it’s charging, but you’re going to be limited to the 2200W (22A) the inverter can output. That means that you won’t be able to run things like the air conditioner, but the outlets will be powered and it should be fine running the microwave.
If it’s a 30A Class A, you need this adapter to plug it in (click to view on Amazon) or if it’s a 50A you need this one.
So if bought a 2000 Watt Solar generator I would be able to plug our camper directly into the generator using a 30 amp to 15 amp connector? So I could power our lights, fridge, and fans, basic kitchen appliances…but probably not the AC. I have zero knowledge about solar and how it works. It is confusing to me and I don’t understand the terminology when I am trying to read and understand what “Solar” people are talking about. I am interested but confused.
Hi,
Yes you could, but I don’t recommend powering the fridge with electric on a power station because it will drain the battery fast. We still have our fridge set to propane, but other than that we power everything with the power station.
To charge the solar generator you’re going to have to buy panels and put them temporarily outside or permanently on your camper roof. We have done both, and the wiring from the roof panels come down via the fridge vent.
Thanks for post and pic. I’ve been trying to figure out how to power the truck camper while having a Delta Max 2000 inside without running a cord out of an open window, or God forbid, a hole drilled in the outer wall of the camper. The DM has 20 amp outlets but do accept 15 amp plugs. You really should make a YouTube video for us five year olds. 😄
Haha yes. I second that
I have a Jackery 1000 and was going to charge my trailer battery by plugging the 30 amp cord into a n adapter and into the Jackery. I plugged in the adapter into the Jackery then plugged in a circuit analyser before plugging in the trailer. The circuit analyzer is showing the polarity is reversed. I’m concerned about doing damage to the converter in the trailer or the Jackery. I see that people plug into the Jackery, but I would like to know if anybody can explain what I am seeing.
Hi
Do you know how many watts of solar you can plug in to a 1000 watt Go Zero generator ?
Thank you for all the above information it is very helpfull for me. I have been trying to figure this out for a while .
Thanks
Drew
Hi – We are just testing out the new Jackery 2000 for shore power. When we plug our travel trailer shore power line into the Jackery, the Jackery display shows that its outputting 1200-1400 watts (which would last about an hour and a half). The trailer’s 12V battery appears fully charged, and nothing is turned on in the trailer. Any thoughts on why the output is so high? The trailer has a Xantrex Freedom X 1200 Inverter, and one built-in 100W panel feeding the 12V battery via a Go! Power setup.
Would appreciate any insight you can share.
Hi,
Make sure the fridge and water heater isn’t on. If the fridge is set to “auto” it will use electricity when available, same with the water heater.
Depending on the water heater, you might have a switch on the heater itself. My water heater uses around 1400W on electric which is why I suspect it’s that.
I assume the Xantrex inverter is turned off as well. One thing I would try is to turn off the converter/charger in the trailer. I do this with a switch by the breaker panel inside my RV, but it’s not possible on all campers.
Let me know how it goes or if you’ve found a solution.
We have the same problem with a Jackery 1500. Works fine on its own, but a circuit analyzer shows an open ground and a neutral ground bonding plug does not work (circuit tester still shows open ground). When we use a 15-30 amp adapter to connect to the camper (2022 Nucamp T@G), the Jackery starts discharging about 685 watts even though nothing in the camper is using power. Jackery support has been unable to tell us why a neutral ground bonding plug has no effect. They were good enough to send a replacement unit and still the same difficulties. All testing on the camper is A OK and works fine when we use a 15-30 adapter to plug into a garden variety 15 amp house receptacle. Any solution, even insight that it we just can’t get it to work as we’d like, would be greatly appreciated.
Hi,
Hmm, I am really curious as to why this happens.
If possible I would get an electricity usage monitor like this by Mecheer (click to view on Amazon), then plug it in between the house receptacle and 15A to 30A adapter and see what the output wattage reads. Then you’d know whether it’s the Jackery or the trailer that’s causing it.
We are total newbies at Rving. We are looking at a GZ 1000x to power our new to us Airstream Sport 16. Would I use the same sort of extension cord that I use to plug the trailer to shore power at our house? (We currently do that with our teardrop…have the adapter.)
Hi,
Yes, that’s correct!
Another question: we have a battery disconnect switch in the trailer. If we “disconnect” the battery while the GZ is plugged into the trailer will that eliminate the trickle charge issue?
Thanks!
Hi,
Yes that should work, and the Goal Zero should be able to power the trailer lights, etc.
Would using the trailer rv battery quick disconnect stop the trailer from trying to charge the batteries when your plugged into the solar generator? Since there would be nothing to charge wouldn’t that be like turning off the converter charger on the trailer?
Hi,
Yes, that should do the same thing.
If I am running a coffee maker…will it use less power if I plug it in directly to the GZ vs. plugging it into the 110 outlet (while the trailer is being powered by the GZ)? Thanks again…your information is so helpful and easy to understand!
Hi,
No, the coffee maker will use the exact same amount. If it’s higher when plugged into the trailer there must be something else using power as well.
Question from another 5 year old:
I am a simple camper, don’t need much power. I discovered in my new camper the camper battery doesn’t get a trickle charge while being towed. It is frustrating as I don’t store my rig where I can plug it in.
I use solar panels (60W) but they don’t seem to keep the battery charged. The only things I need power for in my trailer are LED lights, USB device charging (ipad and phone) and the MOST important, my MAXXAIR deluxe fan. This fan simply beeps at me if the battery isn’t charged enough ( I think I read 75% !! WTF, right?).
So does a 500 – 800W Jackery with its 3 options for recharging itself sound like it would be a good fit?
What do you recommend?
Thank you thank you thank you
PS I agree, you are a treasure to the electrically challenged like myself.
Hi,
If the main reason you’re considering it is to be able to charge the camper batteries I think it would be a better investment to buy a larger solar panel to charge the 12V camper batteries directly.
Sure, you could get a Jackery but you’re going to be charging a battery with a battery, which is not very efficient.
But it also depends on how much you use your Maxxair fan, mine requires around 30W which means it uses at least 720Wh if I keep it on for 24 hours. Do you happen to know what your camper batteries are rated at in terms of amp-hours? If not you can tell me what it says on top of them and I might be able to figure it out.
Very good information here. I have a camper with a solar package. I believe the panel on the roof is 100Ws. I have a led acid battery that i will soon upgrade to a 100Ah lithium battery. My main concern is my 12V fridge. The solar kit should be good enough as long as the sun is shining. If not, then will a 1000W solar Generator be good enough to keep the fridge running and charge the battery. The park that I want to dry camp allows gas generators to run for 2 hours in the morning and 3 hours at night. So if, I run the gas generator in the morning, and use the solar generator plugged into the 30Amp connector the rest of the day and recharge in the evening with the gas generator, will that run my, 12V fridge, lights, water pump, propane furnace, and two hours of TV for three nights? I will run the Coffee pot in the morning with the gas generator.
Hi, sorry for the late reply.
It’s hard to say without knowing how much the panel on your camper produces in a day, it’s going to depend on location, how it’s angled (if at all) and also what solar charge controller is being used.
If you’re going to upgrade to a lithium battery, you need to make sure that the solar charge controller between the panel and the battery supports lithium, and that the converter charger in your camper supports lithium.
The solar generator might make it possible to do what you’re asking, but only if you can quickly recharge the solar generator while the gas generator is running. How many hours does it take to recharge the solar generator with its AC charger?
What’s going to drain the battery the most is the 12V fridge and the furnace fan. I’d get my hands on a good solar generator, like one from EcoFlow that can recharge quickly, and do some tests for a couple of days to get an estimate of how much power everything requires. Then you can decide whether upgrading to a lithium battery or investing in more solar panels would be a good idea.
I’m happy to help further if you have any questions.
Jesse:
An electric novice here. I have a small teardrop whose electrical system is powered by an ACDelco Voyager Marine/RV Battery system (95 AH). I just purchased an EcoFlow Delta 2 (with plans to later on purchase solar panels) and am thinking that I can use the Delta 2 to recharge the ACDelco battery via the electrical cord that brings in shore power to the RV. And when I get the solar panels I can recharge the Delta 2 as it recharges the ACDelco (I hope!).
Is this possible or even practical? The wiring setup for my Vintage Trailer Works XTR Off-Road is pretty simple with an exhaust fan, interior and exterior lighting and USB plugs for charging phones, etc. There are no plans for other electrical devices to power at this time.
Thanks for any assistance you might be able to give me.
Hi,
Yes, it’s possible. You are going to be charging a battery with a battery though, which means electricity is going to be wasted.
Is the Delta 2 going to be used at home or in other ways later on, or why do you feel the need for a power station at all? You could just get a panel that will keep you camper battery charged.
Thank you for this post, its more than my newbie RV brain can absorb. Bear with me. I ordered the EcoFlow River2 Max and two solar panels. My 2003 RV has a regular gas gennie and marine battery setup. In situations where there is no shore power (i.e. boondocking), am I right that I simply set up the EcoFlow power station connected to the solar panels, and then plug my RV into it using the 15a to 30a adapter you linked so meticulously above? I am accustomed to simply charging up my 2003 system at home, plugging the power cord into to plug inside the power box on the outside of the RV (so the gennie powers the house power when it is on) and then just using house power sparingly until its dead. The previous owner said something about how the gennie will recharge the house battery but that has not proven to be true. I’m a too mystified to even ask the right questions. Thanks for you help. All the RV service centers see “$$$” when I try asking them and then perform services that do nothing to change the situation and I end up camping with no power by day three.
Hi,
Yes, that’s exactly how you would do it. But I wonder if your RV battery is toast, if you have been discharging it to empty several times. The most common camper batteries shouldn’t be discharged below 50%, otherwise they wear out quickly and can’t hold much of a charge anymore. Unfortunately it’s not that known, so a lot of money is wasted because some buy new batteries every other year due to this.