12v lights

[Carmel Clown]

Hi all. Dummy question of the day. I know that the lights in the trailer are 12V because they work when not connected to shore power. I assume that they still run off the batteries if I have shore power too because the shore power voltage would fry them. Correct? Thanks.

 

[Ron in BC]

The shore power, in effect, goes to a battery charger and inputs 13 or 14 volts to the batteries and the nominal 12V system, not 110V. So no danger using any 12V device while connected to shore power.

Ron

 

[C&G in FL]

Sharon, a couple of terms you will hear: converter and inverter. Every Escape has a converter. As Ron stated, the converter takes 120 v ac power to 12+ v dc power. An inverter takes 12 v dc power from the battery and converts it to 120 v ac so you can use ac appliances when you are not connected to shore power.

 

[huskersteffy]

For a deeper dive, I've found this website called "The 12 volt Side of Life" to be a great tutorial on 12 volt RV systems.

http://www.marxrv.com/12volt/12volt.htm

 

[rubicon327]

My father's 1999 Scamp had one 18" 120V under cabinet light over the dinette table that only worked on shore power. Never could figure out why they did that instead of 12V DC that you would have at all times. I assume that Scamp no longer does this for various reasons.