Keeping some power on when parked: Vista NPF

[FloydBishop]

I have a new Vista NPF, and I’m trying to keep some power to the coach while I’m parked so I can keep my security camera connected to the internet. My internet is a router with a cell chip in it, and it needs to stay powered on.

I had my inverter on and the router plugged into a hot outlet (one of the TV outlets). Everything was fine, but then the feed stopped. I checked it tonight thinking I drained the battery or something, but the inverter was just turned off. I turned it back on and everything seems fine now.

Am I doing something wrong? Does the inverter time out after a while? Battery charge was totally fine, so I’m at a loss.

Electrical is not something I know a lot about. Any help is appreciated!

[creativepart]

Running the inverter without anything connected will deplete the batteries in a few days, if that long. Having it on and powering even small items will only hasten that drainage.

The only way to do what you want is to connect outside power to the coach.

Even if you have lots of solar panels the sun doesn’t shine all the time and the inverter uses plenty of power just idling.

Perhaps the inverter has its LVCO (Low Voltage Cut Off) set from the factory and you, without realizing it, depleted your batteries to that voltage and the inverter cut off automatically. Then I’d guess you have some solar maybe from the factory that has recharged the batteries making you think everything is alright???

Here’s what your Operator’s Manual says about this:

[Morich]

Sounds like you need to keep the RV plugged into at least a 15 amp(household type?) outlet as a better way than letting the inverter use battey power to make the AC! The inverter will quickly drain the batteries as well as therte are various sneaky little drains that will also do it. Some safety equipment like cO and propane detectors are on the coach batteries and then on the chassis batteries there are things like any raido preset, auto door locks and the big one can be the steps. One big drain can be the light under the steps which is easy to miss in daylight!

[BobC]

First, you're building in inefficiency using your 12V batteries to run an inverter, running your router and camera off 12V or so of DC via "wall wort" power transformers, not to mention the parasitic loads mentioned by Morich.

If connection to shore power isn't possible, it would be better to run DC to DC but, before we know how well that will work, we need to know the exact power consumption of your router and camera. Providing us with the exact model numbers will help us be sure. Secondly, I'd run these off a completely separate, and switched, battery connection so you can leave your main disconnect switch off, eliminating the parasitic draws.

Secondly, you'll need some way to replace the power used, if you have solar, this would work but, it's not 100% effective due to weather, etc.

Personally, I'd even consider a totally separate, and properly sized battery to power all this, with it's own solar feed. Solar controllers that will power two battery banks are available. No matter how small the draw, it will eventually run down your battery(ies) without a charging source.

[Ray,IN]

All replies are correct. Trying to invert 12VDC to 120VAC, then use a wall--wort to convert 120VAC back to 12VDC is really wasteful. 12VDC inverted to 120VAC requires 10X the amperage draw from the battery bank, then there s the inefficiency involved.
All that together can rather quickly draw enough from the battery bank to reach the LVCO. When that happens and the inverter turns itself off, the battery bank rebounds and appears to be well above the LVCO.

[Phil M]

I have an older Vista 26he. Shortly after the purchase, I discovered that the solar panel on the roof was a trickle charge to the starter battery only. And the ac power from the house didn't charge anything. Solution; went to Harbor freight and purchased a 12v, 4amp charger/maintainer for $39.99. Plugged into an ac power outlet and run to the house batteries. Problem solved.

[creativepart]

Originally Posted by Phil M

I have an older Vista 26he. Shortly after the purchase, I discovered that the solar panel on the roof was a trickle charge to the starter battery only.

That’s a function of your coach’s age. Winnebago stopped putting that 10-15 watt solar trickle charger on the roof quite awhile ago. It was kind of a gimmick to claim they had solar on their motorhomes. But it did work OK for chassis battery charging in uncovered storage.

Now, many newer models like the NPF models come standard with plenty of solar panels charging the house batteries. The vista NPF comes standard with a Solar panel battery charging system (3 x 115W roof mounted solar panels and 30 amp charge controller)

[Morich]

I think most of us are leaning toward the same points that plugging in is best. But then, this is a constantly evolving field with solar being one of the new features changing really fast.

So the answers will likely also change really fast but we are missing some really important details before making major decisions. The term "newer" doesn't really tell us which exact RV, so we really can't look at specs to see what power setup is involved, so much more exact details may be needed, even down to a serial number as electronics ARE one of the areas which change and often that change is made between the early year build and later.

I'm not just jerking you around when I say the drawings with specs may involve looking at first year, model and even down to the 7th digit of serial number being 1 or 2 as that is the way things are sorted on the website!
As you've found, you are in a whole new field and answers from five years ago are not going to be reliable!

What I would want to do, is first look for an AC outlet to plug into as a quick and easy, but that depends IF there is one!
Solar may be available and adequate but only in some places at some times of year, so a thing to question?

From there I would want to look at how much power is reasonable to expect the solar to give you and then also how much power is reasonable to expect to be drawn out.
Specs on both in and out are needed to estimate whether you will have a positve or negative.

Knowing exactly which RV, we can likely spot info for the solar gain, if that is the way to go. Then each item you will need to keep running will have a label somewhere giving the acceptable power needs for each item .

Parts listing for the RV:
https://catalog3d.winnebagoind.com/menu/Parts.htm

Possibly no need to get down to minor guesses/estimates as things may be obviously too far off to work or possibly so good, that concerns are no problem.

The old question of how many gallons go in the tank versus how many come out is a big thing! There are somewhat cheap and easy ways to cut the load of the RV as built but the load from the new equipment added will be a big one to study before deciding if it is practical.
Lots of ways to go on security, from the system you have in mind to going with some form of alarm which sets there ready to alert without drawing power full time!

More info needed!

[creativepart]

Originally Posted by Morich

So the answers will likely also change really fast but we are missing some really important details before making major decisions. The term "newer" doesn't really tell us which exact RV, so we really can't look at specs to see what power setup is involved, so much more exact details may be needed, even down to a serial number as electronics ARE one of the areas which change and often that change is made between the early year build and later.

Hey Richard, the OP said it was a NPF Vista. These are a brand new model. So, likely a 2023 model. I'm not sure what year these started.

Current NPF models (National Park Foundation) have 320amp hour Lithionics lithium Iron Phosphate battery packs. And this model Vista also has 3-115w Solar panels and a 1000w inverter.

Here are all the details:
https://www.winnebago.com/models/pro...ss-a/vista-npf

So, it's right for the OP to think his setup would power his electronics for a good while. And, if in full-sun it might do this task just fine. But, the inverter does use a fair amount of power just idling.