Measurements of TM electrical loads

[ShrimpBurrito]

I measured all the electrical loads in the TM recently. Ray (Caver) had measured many of these loads already, and posted them in this thread:

http://www.trailmanorowners.com/foru...ead.php?t=1907

Since the formatting in that post is corrupted, I have reposted his results here:

Phantom Load (gas detector, radio, battery monitor, etc.): 0.12
Porch light: 1.04
Overhead: 1.48
Bathroom light: 2.1
Fan speed 1: 1.13
Fan speed 2: 1.55
Fan speed 3 :2.03
Refrigerator: 10.62
Refrigerator fan: 0.41
Bathroom fan: 0.36
Furnace Blower: 2.7

With the exception of my fridge, my measurements were all within a few tenths of an amp of Ray's. Interestingly, my fridge consumes less power at 9.1 amps vs. Ray's 10.62.

I took the following additional measurements:

Radio: 0.4 - 0.8, depending on volume. Tape deck power consumption is negligible
Toilet: 4.1
Water pump: 4.5
Propane water heater (when heating): 0.6
Antenna preamp: 0.2

Additionally, with the battery at a state of maybe 1/2 - 2/3 of full charge, I plugged in the 30 amp cord to power the converter. My converter is the older style Magnetek 6300Q. It charged the batteries at the following rates:

Immediately upon hookup: 9.5
Within 10 minutes of hookup: 8.8
With 10 amp side-mount A/C turned on: 5.7
With A/C and fridge turned on AC: 4.9

The converter consumes power at the following rates (with no load other than the phantom load):

8.3A DC charging current consumes 202 watts at 120VAC
6.9A DC charging current consumes 172 watts at 120VAC

FWIW.

Dave

[wbmiller3]

Good info, thanks for posting.

Yeah - thanks much for reposting. I've printed a copy which I'll 3 hole punch and add to the binder that I keep in the TM. I have an Engle refrigerator/freezer which we often leave in the truck which is much easier on power consumption than the 3 way refrigerator in the TM. I guess if I'm boondocking the refrigerator should be the first thing not to use - the Engle or even an ice chest would sure add to the time before we need a recharge. - Camp2Canoe

On propane, the fridge uses almost no electricity - and it doesn't use all that much propane, either. It is by far the best way to keep things cool when boondocking - as long as you use it in gas mode.

Any idea what the draw is for the 13.5k btu ac?
I am trying to figure out if the Honda 2000 will run it as it will put out 16.7 amps. I'm assuming that is not enough to power the ac, but I have read in the forum that some folks have actually done it. Thanks if anyone knows what it is.

Many Coleman/RVP specs are listed here:
http://www.coastdistribution.com/PDF...uct%20Page.pdf
(Caution: the specs may differ some for old units.)

Page 4 shows my Coleman RVP MACH 3+ 8333
ranging from 1595 to 1924 watts. (see fine print for testing conditions).

For testing all your 120v devices the Kill-A-Watt meters are really cheap now. Costco was selling them.

I assume the watts needed go up with old units and high altitude.

I would love to see some actual measurements by TM owners, I haven't had a chance to check mine yet...

[ShrimpBurrito]

And the A/C will require significantly more power to start vs. its running load. Installing a larger capacitor in the A/C to help, but I don't have any direct experience.

I think others here do, however, so hopefully they will chime in.

Dave

[Wavery]

Originally Posted by moaboy

Any idea what the draw is for the 13.5k btu ac?
I am trying to figure out if the Honda 2000 will run it as it will put out 16.7 amps. I'm assuming that is not enough to power the ac, but I have read in the forum that some folks have actually done it. Thanks if anyone knows what it is.

I had a Coleman PopUp with a Carrier AirV, 13,500BTU A/C unit. The AC unit would start and run with our Honda EU2000i generator. However, it would over-load and cut out after a short time.. I installed a "Quick start" capacitor and the 2nd or 3rd time that it would cycle, the generator would over-load and cut out. I then wired the A/C directly to the generator, by-passing the trailer's converter and the A/C ran fine.

Bottom line........it can be done (barely) but the A/C unit must be carefully balanced and wired directly to the generator and nothing else can be run at the same time.

My neighbor has the Honda genny and it seemed to run my Carrier AirV without modification. It was hit and miss on start up though. Best results were obtained by not having the Honda in economy mode (or whatever it was called). I had poorer results with my more powerful Yamaha genny. Regrettably, the Yamaha does not let you manually set economy mode. However, my results improved greatly when I added an extra capacitor to the AC. I have not operated the AC (or the genny actually) since doing these tests in the first few weeks after I bought the TM. I guess that proves that you don't need some of these extras living on the Central Coast even though we dry camp. If we decide to start hitting the desert in the summer, I may add a switch on the inside of the RV that isolates the converter but I need to think about what would be the optimal approach.

At home in San Jose, CA at elevation 200 feet my Honda 2000 will start the a/c in my 2005 TM 2720, but if I turn the a/c off, wait a few minutes, and then turn the a/c back on, then it will trip the Honda breaker.

I get the same result plugged into a 20 amp circuit in the garage using a 30 foot 30 amp extension cord.

This was tested by just plugging the TM cord in.

The batteries were fully charged, so the converter should not have been drawing much. The fridge was off. All lights and the radio were off, including the roof top antenna (red light). CO and CO2 detectors were on.

My conclusion is that the Honda 2000 is too small for my a/c.

I do not have a hard start capacitor. That might help.