Well, almost two years into the journey I continue to learn new things about our RV. In this case it is the inverter. I knew that we had an inverter and I knew its basic function – to convert 12V DC current into 120V AC current. However, I never quite figured out when it was used. I initially thought that ALL of the 120V outlets would be available when boondocking, but I almost immediately realized that the battery would last about a minute (and would probably explode) if was used to power the 3 TVs, the microwave, the coffee maker and the toaster oven. And it was obvious, when the AC power went out, that all we had left were the 12V lights. None of the outlets worked.
Or so I thought.
Three days ago the refrigerator suddenly and unexpectedly showed (via the idiot light on the front panel) that it was operating on propane rather than the 120V electricity. Yesterday I investigated and discovered that the outlet into which the refrigerator was plugged was dead. Later yesterday we discovered that the water heater was also not functioning when using electricity – we had to switch that to propane, too.
So what was wrong? Clearly it was an electrical problem and likely one that affected both the refrigerator and the hot water heater. I checked the breaker box, but there was no breaker for either the refrigerator or the hot water heater (which in itself was pretty surprising and not something I had noticed before). So first thing this morning I got online and Googled “399BHS refrigerator power failure” and came across some interesting articles involving… wait for it…
THE INVERTER!
Turns out that the inverter is used to power the refrigerator and, on some RVs, the hot water heater. This is a good use of that particular kind of AC power because it is on while traveling. This makes a lot of sense. If the refrigerator didn’t have electric power while traveling – and if you did the recommended thing and turned off the propane (to make an explosion in a collision less likely) – then your frozen food might not be so frozen when you arrived after a long day of travel. The hot water heater is less vital, but if you like to take a hot shower when you stop for the night, it might be nice to have the heater active while on the road.
The inverter has its own fuses, so anything that runs off of it would not be found in the breaker box, which explains why I didn’t find the refrigerator or the water heater there.
I also learned that one of the kitchen outlets is on the inverter circuit used by the refrigerator, so there is, in fact, one 120V outlet that will continue to work while on the road or when the power goes out. I’m not sure how I will use that information, but I think it is valuable knowledge. For example, if we were boondocking (not likely) and I needed to recharge my laptop, I could use that outlet.
All of this newfound knowledge seemed to point the finger pretty squarely at either the inverter or the battery as the source of the refrigerator and water heater failures. I inspected both the inverter and the battery this morning and didn’t see any obvious problem. But as the lifetime of a battery is about 5 years and since our RV was built in 2009, I am betting on a bad battery. I will replace it and see if that helps. If not, I will have to call in a repair guy and check out the inverter.
But in any case I now better understand the role of the inverter in the anatomy of an RV. And that makes me feel just a wee bit smarter.