Power question

[Tjhaga]

I have a 2018 AS Interstate 24GT. We have 4 house batteries plus 3 solar panels on roof. Can my grandkids watch TV and have cabin AC going while I’m driving? Do I need to change any settings or are things automatic with the inverter?
Also could the heater be used over night in say 45 degree weather if not plugged in?

[Lafitte]

You’re kidding , right ?
I mean about grandkids riding in trailer.

[Delcolight]

Okay.. first off kiddos both human or fur babies.. NOT a good idea to let them be in the trailer at all.. No seat belts or restraints of any kind..
2 no you cannot run the AC in the configuration it requires waaayy to many amps and you will let the magical blue smoke out from the wires, your tow rig supplies power the the trailer while moving.
3. Running the heat on batteries with what you have stated for a night or two should not hurt. Best bet is to use the propane.. I say this only because some heat units are both ac and heaters.. heat pumps..

[SSquared]

In the original post, the OP says he has an Airstream Interstate motorhome, not a trailer!

Since I don't have an Interstate, I don't know the answer. I know that in some models of Interstate, the answer is to run the built-in generator while going down the road, and the generator provides the power to the rooftop air conditioner.

Tjhaga, are your solar panels and house batteries original as they were installed by the factory? What size and type are the batteries? What size are the solar panels?

And I see this is just your second post. Welcome to Airforums! We are glad to have you with us. And yes, we sometimes don't read all the posts carefully.....

[Delcolight]

Two points.... My apologies

[uncle_bob]

Hi

You should be able to run the generator while in motion. That would give you plenty of power to do pretty much anything. For just the TV, the inverter is all you would need. I believe the heater can run on propane. It should do fine overnight in the 40's.

Bob

[LilPeanut]

Here is my belief (I have an atlas, not an interstate but they should be similar enough).

Yes.

Run the generator to run the AC. Let the generator ‘get ready’, usually about 15-30 seconds. Don’t turn on the AC and TV at the exact same time. But you can certainly run them both without damage while you are driving down the road. People run generators while driving often.

Couple of points, try to start with full batteries or the generator will try to charge the batteries as well and give that emerge need a higher priority than the AC. You can’t charge batteries in bulk mode, run the AC and TV. The ‘power brain’ will ‘shed’ the AC demand. More batteries won’t help. These units shed loads rather than supplement power from ‘other sources’ like batteries. When the generator is running, that is all the power you have to work with.

[uncle_bob]

Hi

The usual qualifier applies to all this:

Airstream does things a lot of ways and they change between models and years. In some cases they change in the middle of the year. Coming up with exact info would mean having the same van.

That said, you should be fine with the generator.

Bob