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G-Live Presents: RV Power - 12 Volts vs 110 Volts • Guaranty.com

2,269 views · Published 19 August 2016 · 18:34 · Indexed 8 November 2026

Channel: Bish's RV · 2016 · Autos & Vehicles

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G-Live Presents:  RV Power – 12 Volts vs. 110 Volts                           

Marshall:  Hello and welcome to Guaranty RV’s Live Stream, we call it G-Live. We come to you fresh from Guaranty RV Super Centre in Junction City Oregon, every Friday morning at 9am Pacific daylight time. My name is Marshall White; I’m your host today. I’m joined by my co-host Quinn Larson also known as Dr. Q, because he’s our RV doctor. Good morning Dr. Q.

Quinn:  Good morning Marshall, good morning internet thanks for joining us. 

Marshall:  We have a fantastic topic today and I’m really thinking that folks are going to appreciate, because we’re going to try and explain the basics of 12 volt DC system verses the short power 110 alternating current AC system which we flip back and forth between, depending on circumstances we are out RVing and join the RV parks that we go to. We are going to jump right into it, but before we do I just want to encourage folks to please ask any and all questions. There is no stupid question on G-Live; we will do our best to get them answered for you right here live. If you do I’m pretty sure we’ll be able to reciprocate with a small gift, so stay tuned for some great entertaining action today in this 1:21 Navion, as we go through 12 volt DC verses 110 AC. Dr. Q the big thing I hear customers ask about a lot of times its air conditioner related. I’m trying to run my AC but it’s not working, why not? Is that what you saw in all your years doing RV retail?

Quinn:  Yeah on many occasions I’ve had someone ask me how to run their air conditioner, their microwave off of a solar panel, or their 12 volt system. Because the 12 volt system and the 110 system are married together through the converter, it becomes a little confusing to people. They really truly are 2 separate systems. They have some interaction but they run different components. So you can get 12 volt from a solar panel, and that will charge batteries. You only get 110 volt from a generator, but through the converter that will also charge batteries. So I think that’s where some of the confusion lies. But 12 volt is strictly your lights; it powers PC boards for appliances, it’s going to do your water pump, that sort of thing. So your 110 system is now going to be like your air conditioner, your microwave, your television, those types of components like more household components. So the systems are as I said are kind of married, and we’ve developed a cute little graphic for them, if you could drop that graphic in.  

Alright so if you look at the graphic here we’ve got 12 volts coming in from solar panel into the converter. We also have a 110 volt coming in from the shore power cord, which is your plug in cord that’s either plugged into an outlet, or plugged into a generator that’s going to provide 110 volts. Both those systems come into the converter, the converter then convert the 110 to 12 volt and distribute it. Some goes to battery charge, some goes to appliance. When the 110 system comes in its converting that down, when the 12 volts comes in its just distributing that. Then the converter also has a power distribution center built into it, which is also distributing a 110 volt. So again they are married together, and it gets kind of muddy when you talk about the converter.  The best way to describe the two systems or keep them separate is your 12 volt system is going to be automotive uses; your 110 volt system is going to be household breakers. So when you bring that 110 volt system in it does distribute some of it, but it also uses some of it to create 12 volt.

Marshall:  Seems like almost without fail I go out camping and I plug in the shore power and I can’t get my air conditioner running right out of the gate. Any advice for our viewers on something like that?   

Quinn:  Air conditioner is going to be 110 so we are going to look at our 110 components. First of all you’re going to look at the breaker on the box where you have plugged in. Sometimes parks ask you to turn those breakers off when you plug in or unplug, so that you may miss the fact that that breaker at the pole is off. If that’s not the case I would go inside and I would find my GFI, which is going to be near, actually we can go right inside. Let the camera go ahead because we are going to sneak into the bathroom here, because I’m going to show you where the GFI is. That outlet there is the GFI outlet, so I would check to make sure that hasn’t tripped. I would reset it if it had. Check my air conditioner. The last thing I’m going to do is I’m come back here to the converter box. As you can see here on this side those are your breakers, I would check those breakers. They are going to be listed, so microwave, AC. So if I wasn’t getting AC that would be the breaker I would be interested in, because again they are 110. 

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