Thor Forums

[TurnerFam]

I think that most of us have learned, at least over time, or by personal experience and stories from others, that many, many 'salespeople' at rv dealerships are just that, salespeople, and are NOT experienced RVrs, probably have never owned an RV, and generally should not 'assume' they 'know' things that they have little to no real-world experience with.

Many can confuse a Converter, which is common to many RVs, with an INVERTER, which does exactly the OPPOSITE, and is not part of most RVs... at least not the smaller ones.

A Converter simply uses 120v Shore Power, when you are plugged in, to 'convert' that power back down to 12volts, so that your onboard 12v lights, fans, appliances, furnace, water pump, etc can then use THAT power instead of your batteries.
It also, at the same time, CHARGES the batteries. And, yes, it is quite capable of charging the batteries - no additional 'charger' needed.

An Inverter, though, gives you 120v power when you are NOT plugged into the campground. It uses the batteries to 'invert' 12v power UP to 120v power for your outlets, microwave, residential FRIDGE, etc.
Some smaller RVs might have a small inverter, to power a TV while traveling or off-grid,
but most don't. The Converter is all they have.
Some larger RVs may have an Inverter, ESPECIALLY if they come from the factory with a Residential 120v 'household' type FRIDGE, since that type of fridge is ONLY powered by 120v power. These same RVs may only have this power to the fridge, and not to anything else, depending on the size of the Inverter.
A few other mid-size RVs, with residential fridges, will have a larger Inverter to power both the Fridge AND one or several other 'outlets', but not all. It will probably also still have a 'Converter/Charger', like most any other RV.

And, for the big boys, they have VERY LARGE inverters, generally at least 4 house batteries, and the Inverter powers ALL outlets within the RV, and even has it's own integrated BATTERY CHARger, which is more efficient than the typical 'Converter' that most other RVs will have.


You are wise to divert your questions to this forum, and us experienced RVrs, versus the typical 'salesperson' at an rv dealership.