in depth POWER TO THE PEOPLE
Every item in your motorhome that lights up, heats, cools, pumps, moves or makes a noise relies on electrical power to function. Even the gas-powered devices require a spark before they can spring into life.
Run out of power and you’re left with little more than a comfortable bed and lounge on wheels. You might be unable to flush the toilet. More importantly, the tonic for your gin will start to warm up. A truly terrifying prospect!
Most people massively underestimate the amount of power devices that use and when you’re looking for additional charging sources, a lot of information on the internet is of variable quality.
When it comes to product reviews, especially those on YouTube, you need to be a little careful. Many are either paid for by the manufacturer, or are a review in exchange for free goods (the rise of the all-in-one powerbank inverter box is one good example).
With so many first-timers joining the motorhome market, there are plenty of questions about power demand. But no matter what your experience level, it’s always a good idea to focus on working out how much your vehicle needs and get an idea of which devices are heavy consumers. How do you know which products to buy, and how do you work out how much power you need?
A sense of scale
Before we get into the (unavoidable!) maths, it helps to understand how a motorhome’s electrical system works, to get an idea of the scale of capacity versus consumption.
The best way is to think of it as a large bathtub of water. The water is the fixed energy stored in your leisure battery. When you plug into the mains, it’s like topping up the bath with a watering can. A solar panel is more like chucking in a mug of water every few minutes at intervals (or a thimbleful in winter). More solar panels means more mugs (or thimbles!).
A battery-to-battery (B2B) charger is like turning on the tap. In terms of power input, the B2B charger is the biggy, followed by the mains charger and then solar. Clearly the power of these items varies, but generally, this is their ratio of efficacy.
