Video Transcript for “How to Use an Inverter on an Airstream | Pete’s RV Quick Tips (Airstream Edition)”
Randy: Hey guys, Randy with Pete’s RV TV today. Another Airstream quick tip for ya. Today I want to talk about inverters. So inverters are really cool things. I get excited when I talk about ’em. Inverters actually take 12 volt DC battery power and make a 120 volt AC voltage so we can operate things like our TVs, our laptops, even a CPAP machine by using our batteries.
We gotta know a little couple things [00:00:30] about inverters, though, so we don’t overtax them or blow fuses or have troubles with ’em down the road. So inverters are measured, typically, in wattage. The inverter that comes on the Airstream is about a thousand watt inverter, and it’s offered on most models, minus the Sport and the Basecamp. They can be ordered, and come standard with a few other ones.
So anyway, thousand watt inverter, so we wanna make sure that we don’t plug something too big into that inverter, i.e. like a coffee pot or a hair dryer. Those are typically measured in wattage and if you don’t know the wattage of your [00:01:00] coffee pot, look on the back side of it. That’s not really what an inverter was intended for. Plus, it would be a huge draw and drain our batteries very quickly.
But if you wanted to watch a TV, or you wanted to plug in a laptop or even you wanna use a CPAP machine or something small like that, that’ll be just fine. If you’re not 100% sure, or the device you want to plug in is listed in amps, you can look at uh, a watts law chart here, and there’s one here and there’s also watts law calculators you can get for your smartphone, things like that. So if you put in the amperage it’ll tell you how many [00:01:30] watts it is, going to be drawing from your inverter.
The inverter in the Airstream turns on very easily. Pretty much hit that little button that says on and off and our green light will light up and at that point we are energizing a convenient circuit using our battery power. Now, when you plug this Airstream into shore power, there’s no need to have your inverter on because the shore power’s going to pass right through that inverter and power that convenient circuit for it.
And you’ll know the outlets around your Airstream that are powered by the converter circuit, or the inverter circuit, excuse me, ’cause they’ll have a little [00:02:00] sticker on ’em that will say ‘inverter circuit’. Kind of looks like the little GFI stickers you see, on outlets in your camper as well.
So, when you’re using your inverter, know that you are drawing on the batteries, so keep an eye on that. Also, don’t use anything too big that’s going to blow some fuses or potentially hurt that inverter. Know the wattage of the device you’re plugging into the circuit before you turn that inverter on.
Thanks for watching Pete’s RV TV with Randy today. I look forward to seeing you on the road, and remember, your adventure starts here.
The video of this presentation by Pete’s RV Center is available here
