Power switch next to the door
 

Hello All, I’m a New Motorhome owner and trying to get use to our 2019 Hurricane 34J.
Due to the pandemic, we didn’t have our walk around and had to learn on our own to things work.
I’m curios to know a little bit more about the power system and how you folks use it.
My first question is about the kill switch on the stair wells. When plugged in to the house, the red light comes on. Should I still press the switch after I’m plugged in?
The reason I’m asking is that when we plug it in without hitting the switch, the breaker box remains silent without any fan noises, but as soon as we turn on the switch, the fan comes on.

Any tips would be sincerely appreciated!

when it's 'off', when you don't hear anything, you are not allowing power to get to the batteries to charge them, which is why you might hear humming, or a fan, etc.

when you are plugged into power, there's never a reason to turn 'off' your RV, leave it on, electricity never hurt any RV!

the only real reason to turn 'off' the RV, or technically to 'disconnect' the batteries, is when it's in 'storage', or parked somewhere without any power, when you are not camping or otherwise using it. This keeps small phantom draws from drawing down the batteries.

Welcome to the forum! :thumb:
Yes: whenever you're plugged into shore power or driving the RV: that button should be "on".
The red light only shows you where it is. It isn't an indicator of it's status.

The Fan ones on on the breaker when I hit the switch on the stairwell. I just noticed that today as I went to check the house battery and the vehicle battery.
The vehicle Barrett was at 12.1V and as soon as I hit the switch, it went up to 13.4V and the fan on the breaker kicked in. Is that normal?

Yes, the fan you hear is on the Converter/Charger. It comes on under load to keep it cool. Once your batteries charge back up the fan should go off unless you turn on a bunch of lights at night.

I'm not sure anything is ever "normal" on a motorhome. Always something that's different. But in your case:
The 12.1 V reading is the voltage from your house batteries. That's low. It should be 12.5 to 12.6 if they are fully charged. I usually don't get too concerned until that reading drops below 12.1 V. That reading will vary depending on the charge of your house batteries.
When you hit the switch, the electricity is then "allowed" into your motorhome. At that point, the built in charger recognizes your low battery levels and kicks in to charge them. A 13.4 V reading is indicative of a trickle charge. Again, that reading may vary depending on your charger and how low your battery charge is. When the charger kicks in, the fan will start too.
What you are describing is seen quite often - probably about as normal as it gets. With that said, this is very generic information and there certainly can be other suggestions too.

the Electricity that yukongrant is refering to is 12 volt DC power not 120 volt AC. 120 has nothing to do with the 12 volt battery disconnect.:thumb:

Glad you got your answers and welcome to the forum