DC Amps December 03, 2010, 11:48:00 am Yahoo Message Number: 118823Last month, I demonstrated that I often confuse DC and AC amps. So at great personal risk I offer the measurement of DC amps for various items. If you have a battery monitor, you can do your own measurements, but if you have not installed one for whatever reason and are curious about what each item uses.... The measurements are applicable to a rig delivered in September, 2007. Other lights, radios and TV's may vary.Puck light (w LED bulb) .1 [was .7 with halogen] TV Antenna boost .1 Inverter (Idle) .3 Personal fan .7 Endless Breeze (low) 1.2 [med 1.8, hi 2.7] Fantastic Fan (low) 1.2 Dash Radio 1.2 Light (Auto bulb) 1.5 Fluorescent 2.9 Furnace fan 3.5 TV 4.2 Watching TV with one light on and the furnace running burns a lot of amps.I plan to convert the Fluorescent's to LED.
Re: DC Amps Reply #1 – December 03, 2010, 06:53:15 pm Yahoo Message Number: 118827QuoteDash Radio 1.2 TV 4.2 The above two appear to be too low. That's only 14 watts for the radio and 50 watts for the TV. And isn't true that the dash radio use the engine battery and not the house's?
Re: DC Amps Reply #2 – December 03, 2010, 07:04:51 pm Yahoo Message Number: 118828Quote Dash Radio 1.2 TV 4.2 "The above two appear to be too low. That's only 14 watts for the radio and 50 watts for the TV. And isn't true that the dash radio use the engine battery and not the house's?" No, Sam, the radio works off the house batteries.Chris
Re: DC Amps Reply #3 – December 03, 2010, 07:27:07 pm Yahoo Message Number: 118829Thanks Chris. I didn't know LD re-wires it.
Re: DC Amps Reply #4 – December 04, 2010, 12:24:59 am Yahoo Message Number: 118831Is this for all LDs? And does that mean the 12v also always runs off of house batteries? Surely would save me some stress because the xm radio is hooked up to that 12v plug and uses the original radio for antenna and speakers.Denise
Re: DC Amps Reply #5 – December 04, 2010, 12:27:17 am Yahoo Message Number: 118832"The above two appear to be too low. That's only 14 watts for the radio and 50 watts for the TV." Sounds about right to me. I measured less than 1 amp (12W) power consumption with my new JVC dashboard radio, and a smallish (13"-15") flat-panel TV could reasonably be expected to use about 50W.Andy Baird http://www.andybaird.com/travels/
Re: DC Amps & XM radio power Reply #6 – December 04, 2010, 10:56:23 am Yahoo Message Number: 118838Quote "Is this for all LDs? And does that mean the 12v also always runs off of house batteries? Surely would save me some stress because the xm radio is hooked up to that 12v plug and uses the original radio for antenna and speakers. "Denise Denise, someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the 12v outlet(s) on the coach dash are powered via the under-the-hood battery. So if you are using a dashboard outlet to power your XM radio, then you may run the risk of running down the coach battery. If you are powering the XM radio through the radio and using the radio's 12v electric draw, then it will draw on the house bats. Which way are you set up?Chris
Re: DC Amps & XM radio power Reply #7 – December 04, 2010, 12:10:13 pm Yahoo Message Number: 118840Right now we have a 12v extension cord for the xm radio for power because we were thinking that the 12v in the cab was like you say, powered by the under the hood battery. Stringing that springy extension cord from there to the 12v above the dinette is not attractive nor practical. One bump and it unplugs itself. The xm radio is plugged into the cab radio for antennae and speakers. We do have a boom box thing that we could use instead but that runs either on batteries or shore power. Fine if we are plugged in to shore power but we dry camp a lot too.Denise
Re: DC Amps & XM radio power Reply #8 – December 04, 2010, 12:25:05 pm Yahoo Message Number: 118841On Sat, 04 Dec 2010 16:56:09 -0000, "chorst_2000" wrote:QuoteDenise, someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the 12v outlet(s) on the coach dash are powered via the under-the-hood battery. You are correct Chris. I knew one of the outlets was connected to chassis battery, but I was not sure both were. I just verified both outlets are on the chassis battery. Please remember this as I am sure to forget it.And I have no idea which LD's have two dash outlets.Cheers, Don
Re: DC Amps & XM radio power Reply #9 – December 04, 2010, 03:59:33 pm Yahoo Message Number: 118847"I believe the 12v outlet(s) on the coach dash are powered via the under-the-hood battery. So if you are using a dashboard outlet to power your XM radio, then you may run the risk of running down the coach battery." Correct. While the dashboard *radio* is powered by the coach batteries, the dashboard *12V outlets* are powered by the engine battery. Anything left plugged into those dashboard outlets, if it draws power when you're not driving, can run down the engine battery if left on long enough.Andy Baird http://www.andybaird.com/travels/
Re: DC Amps & XM radio power Reply #10 – December 04, 2010, 09:06:05 pm Yahoo Message Number: 118851That's so weird. I wonder why LD re-wire the dash stereo and not the outlets?
Re: DC Amps & XM radio power Reply #11 – December 04, 2010, 10:10:09 pm Yahoo Message Number: 118853"I wonder why LD re-wire the dash stereo and not the outlets?" The dashboard stereo is powered by the coach batteries so that you can have music throughout the coach while camping, without worry about running down the engine battery. That's why there are speakers in the rear of the coach as well as in the cab, and the radio has a remote control so you can operate it from the coach. The dashboard 12V outlets are left as Ford wired them, and I'm guessing that's because they're intended for cab accessories, such as a GPS receiver, that are used while driving.Andy
Re: DC Amps & XM radio power Reply #12 – December 05, 2010, 08:09:28 am Yahoo Message Number: 118855One solution would be to run a new 12V line to the cab area to provide coach battery power for your XM radio. I've run two lines,
Re: DC Amps & XM radio power Reply #13 – December 05, 2010, 10:31:35 am Yahoo Message Number: 118859That's why there are speakers in the rear of the coach as well as in the cab, and the radio has a remote control so you can operate it from the coach. Whoaa, that remote control idea is a new one to me, Andy. When I've had my "curtain" (thanks to you for that idea)down behind the cab seats I've been forced to lift it up and poke my head under to adjust the radio. So, two questions: first, in my 1995 is a "remote" something standard I should have gotten when I bought my rig used? And second, does it need line of sight to work or would it work through the "curtain"?Thanks for any information you can provide.Chuck - Bellevue, WA 22' 1995 FL
Re: DC Amps & XM radio power Reply #14 – December 05, 2010, 10:47:36 am Yahoo Message Number: 118860"in my 1995 is a 'remote' something standard I should have gotten when I bought my rig used?" I don't know for certain, but the radio they were installing in 1995 may not have come with one. If you have the owner's manual for your radio, it should say. Otherwise, you'd have to replace the radio with a newer one that includes a remote. "does it need line of sight to work or would it work through the 'curtain'?" Unfortunately, all the remotes I've seen included with car radios have been of the infrared type, so they won't work through a curtain. That's one reason why I built a completely independent audio system for the back of my coach.Andy Baird http://www.andybaird.com/travels/
Re: DC Amps & XM radio power Reply #15 – December 05, 2010, 12:48:23 pm Yahoo Message Number: 118865Thank you very much, Andy. I'll check the manual, which I do have. Just never noticed anything
Re: DC Amps Reply #16 – December 06, 2010, 05:55:31 pm Yahoo Message Number: 118889QuoteThe above two appear to be too low. That's only 14 watts for the radio and 50 watts for the TV. And isn't true that the dash radio use the engine battery and not the house's? Note that the dash radio may be rated at "50W per channel" or some such, but unless you are blasting to entertain the campground, actual power to the speakers may only be a half-watt or less. As far as the TV, according to our battery monitor, our new LED edge-lit 22" LCD TV draws typically less than 2A. Our old 13" LCD analog tuner TV set drew about 2.5A, and before that, our 9" CRT model used close to 5A.Steve
Re: DC Amps Reply #17 – December 06, 2010, 07:57:34 pm Yahoo Message Number: 118894You're right. I just verified those numbers. Thanks.
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