What's HOT and COOL in RV Power Management
Wed Feb 25, 2009
An RV simply could not yield a quality lifestyle without having access to continuous, uninterruptible electrical power. In response, the RV industry has a need for auxiliary generators, inverters/chargers and solar power systems. There is a continuous movement to improve existing products and to introduce new ones that will further fuel RVing. We will address the three main categories and a listing of some of the latest and greatest state-of-the-art products being offered on the market today.
GENERATORS
Auxiliary generators, also referred to as gensets for RV camping, range in size from 1,000-watts up to 20 kilowatts. These can either be air cooled or water cooled. They generate 60-cycle 110-volt and 220-volt residential-style power for AC-powered appliances and equipment. They include an internal combustion engine that is coupled to a device housed inside a stator that, when rotated, generates 110-volt power. The fuel source for the engine can be gasoline, propane (LP) or diesel. Many are portable and weigh just a few pounds so they can be hand carried, while others weigh several hundred pounds and are structurally integrated into the RV. The amount of noise they make is measure in decibels, or dBA. The lower the dBA number, the quieter they operate. Some are fixed-speed generators that operate at a constant RPM. Others are variable-speed generators which employ a permanent magnet alternator in combination with an inverter to lower noise levels and weight.
INVERTERS/CHARGERS
In the simplest terms, inverters take 12-volt DC electricity from a battery and convert it into 60-cycle 110-volt AC. They can be as small as 200-watts, portable and plug into a power port or cigarette lighter. They can also range up to 4,000 watts, like those used in luxury, custom-coach conversions powering a 13,5000-BTU air conditioner off the house batteries. The cost is variable from a few dollars up to several hundred dollars. Chargers take 110-volt AC from shore power or the genset, and convert it into DC for battery charging.
SOLAR POWER SYSTEMS
RV solar systems include solar panels that utilize the sun and convert that energy into DC current which is then stored in batteries. A charge controller operates the flow of DC current from the solar panels to the battery.
