Newbie with an a/c or electical question

[sweet61]

hello there fellow campers,
Me and my wife just bought a "new" pop up camper. I love to go camping however my wife doesn't particularly like the humidity of Texas. So I bought a re-furbished 1989 coleman sequoia pop up. The canvas is practically new while the roof and ceiling has been replaced completely. It also has a newer 2002 15,000 btu A/C on the roof. We absolultely love it and can't wait to try it out this weekend. But now i have a couple of questions as I have never owned a camper of any kind. One is that I don't know how many appliances that I can run at one time. Right now there is only the A/C and the new lights, but would like to put in a refrigerator and microwave. Can I run these at the same time or at least the A/C and refrigerator at a campsite with electricity. Also can i just use a cheap refrigerator from walmart or do i need to buy an rv specific one?

[clemlaw]

If your camper has a 30-amp cord (the one with the big "RV" plug on it) and you're plugged into a 30 amp outlet, then you'll be fine.

The air conditioner generally has its own 20 amp circuit breaker, so it doesn't count against what you have plugged in to the other outlets, which have their own 15 amp breaker.

If it's an older camper with a standard 15 amp household outlet (or if it's plugged into a normal household outlet through an adapter), then you're probably over your limit when you're running all three.  If that's the case, then I would temporarily turn off the air conditioner when using the microwave.  I think the fridge and air conditioner will be OK running at the same time, although that would be pushing things slightly.  You might consider running the fridge from an extension cord plugged into a different circuit on the post outside.

RV fridges (which generally can run on 120 volts, propane, or 12 volts) start at about $500, so there are quite a few people who do what you're planning on, and using a much cheaper dorm fridge.  As long as you have hookups, that's a good solution.

[MicroCamper]

clemlaw and I were both replying at the same time, so there may be some redundancy...

There are a few basics that are going to define your power capacity in your RV.
One is the capacity of the electrical system in the camper.  Hopefully you will be able to find a plate on the power panel that will tell what the capacity is.  My guess is 30 amps or less at 110 volts.
The next thing is the capacity of the "shore power" cable that you use to connect your camper to the campground power supply.  If you use a cheap, light duty cable, then you limit the system to the capacity of the cable.
Then there is the campground circuit that you attach to.  Most have a 15 or 20 amp residential style outlet and a 30 amp outlet.  Some also have a 50 amp circuit for big RVs.  If you use the 15 or 20 amp circuit, then you restrict your capacity.

How much power is required?  Well, start looking at every electrical appliance and find the electrical supply requirements for each item.  If it lists amps, then just add them up.  If all it has is watts, then divide by 120 (volts) to determine amps.  When you exceed the capacity of the campground circuit, the shore power cable, or the camper's electrical system, then you've got too much stuff running.

Now, when you start running multiple things at once, you've got to balance the load on the electrical system.  The system probably has several circuits.  Mine has three or four 15 amp circuits with a 30 amp power system.  Obviously, I can't run all circuits at capacity, because that would exceed the 30 amp system capacity.  You may only have 25 amps of total load, but if it's all trying to run on one circuit, then the breaker on that circuit will "trip".  So, don't plug too many things into one circuit or outlet.

Regarding the refrigerator, yes you can use a cheap refrigerator.  What you give up is the ability to run easily on 12 volts or propane.  However, you can run it on 12 volts using an inverter.  The absorption cooling systems in the RV refrigerators work very well and require much less energy than the freon cycle systems in the cheaper refrigerators, but they have their own peculiarities as well.  I've got a portable "RV style" refrigerator, and I'm very happy with it.  So far, I haven't needed to run it on propane, but it's nice to know that I can.

I hope this helps.

[sweet61]

Thank yall very much. I didn't know that campsites had more than one plug at each site, that'll come in handy. I figured that i would have to unplug something to run the microwave. but it's good to know that i can run the fridge and a/c at the same time. thank yall.

[clemlaw]

I should probably clarify on what the campground has.

Most of the time (but not always), the power pole will look like this:

http://www.airstreamcentral.com/content_images/2/rv%20pedastel.jpg

Most PU's use the middle plug.  The one on the left is a 220 volt/50 amp plug for the "big rigs".  If your cord fits the middle plug, you basically have nothing to worry about.

If you plug into the one on the right, then you will be limited in what you can use.

What I need to clarify is that if you have the camper plugged in to the top outlet on the right, then it really won't help very much to plug an extension cord into the bottom outlet, since you are limited by the breaker for that outlet, since they're both running from the same circuit breaker on the post.  (It will help matters slightly, because it will limit the amount of voltage drop in the cord going to the air conditioner.)

If the camper is plugged into the middle outlet, then the outlet on the right will give you "bonus" electricity through a separate extension cord.

On very rare occasions, the outlet on the right won't be there.

[bradnailer]

Not to be nosey but you might mention where you are headed.  Someone here might have camped there before and can give you some insight on the campsites. 

Congrats on the new experience.  Good luck!

[sweet61]

We will probably be camping at the Brazos Bend State Park south west of Houston