Running 12 Volt Appliances on Generator While Boondocking

One of our members wrote in, what appliances run on the 12 volt system? Now that's an important question especially if you're going to boondock, you want to extend the life of your batteries. It's important to know what appliances are going to draw from that. Interior lights are the first thing. They'll all draw off the battery.

Makeup lights in the bedroom, they take a lot of power, your appliances even the ones that are running off of LP, still need battery power to open the gas valve and to spark. So you need 10.5 volts, at least in that battery. So you've got your stove top, three burner range on the newer ones, four burner on the old ones, the oven, even the refrigerator that's running on the LP mode. We'll take a draw battery power. Your water heater is going to take battery power running off of LP.

And you're also going to take and use some battery power using the TV through an inverter, vent fans in the bathroom. Any of your powered vents will also draw from the battery. Sometimes your LP leak detectors will do it as well. So it's important to identify the different appliances, the different features that you have inside that RV. So, you know exactly what's going to draw from that battery and you'll be able to calculate how long that lasts while boondocking.