Can a Power Station Run an RV?

30 A vs 50 A: how much power the RV is built for

KOA and Camping World give the same ceilings: 3,600 W for a 30 A RV and 12,000 W for a 50 A RV. A 30 A cord carries one 120 V hot wire (3 prongs). A 50 A cord carries two 120 V hot legs of 50 A each (4 prongs), which is why Cummins describes it as rated at 240 V. KOA adds that a 30 A RV plugged into a 20 A outlet through an adapter is limited to 2,400 W.

Those are the most the hookup supplies, not what your rig uses at every moment. Still, they show the scale. Most current models in our database are rated well under 3,600 W of continuous output.

The rooftop air conditioner

This is the load that decides most RV power questions, so it gets its own numbers. An older Dometic spec sheet for its Penguin 13,500 BTU rooftop units lists:

• Compressor rated load: 11.5–12.4 A, plus 3.1 A for the fan, at 115 V. That works out to roughly 1,700–1,800 W while cooling (our multiplication, an upper bound).
• Compressor locked-rotor current: 50–60 A. For an instant at startup that is several thousand watts.
• Minimum generator size: 3.5 kW for one unit, 5.0 kW for two.

Our appliance list only has window units, so there is no rooftop AC kit here. As a check, plug a Window AC (8,000 BTU) into the finder and you’ll see how quickly a smaller unit uses up a battery. A rooftop unit draws more than twice as much.

Absorption fridge or 12 V compressor fridge

Many RVs come with an absorption refrigerator. Dometic describes the type as having no moving parts, running on gas, AC or 12 V DC. On electric it is a steady heater, not a cycling compressor: Dometic rates its RM 2350 absorption fridge (an Australian 240 V model) at 175 W on AC, and a replacement 120 V heater element sold for select Dometic absorption fridges is rated 135 W. Norcold’s manual adds that the fridge should be level while parked and needs about eight hours to cool before you load food. On a power station, run an absorption fridge on propane and save the battery.

A 12 V compressor fridge is the opposite. Our figure for one is about 18 W averaged over a day (the car-fridge-12v line in the kits), and it plugs straight into a DC port.

Why a power station isn’t a whole-RV system

A portable station powers what is plugged into its own outlets. Running the coach’s built-in circuits from one means plugging the shore cord into it, which only works within the station’s output and puts everything on those circuits on its inverter. A few models in our database list an RV outlet for this. Check your RV maker’s and station maker’s manuals before trying it, and have anything permanent wired by a qualified RV technician or licensed electrician.

For boondocking, the limits are time and sun rather than amps. The Bureau of Land Management generally caps dispersed camping at 14 days in any 28-day period, and the solar charging calculator shows whether your panels can keep up for that long.

Tips

• Run the absorption fridge on propane and keep the battery for electronics.
• Plug Starlink Mini and the 12 V fridge into DC ports. Starlink lists the Mini as running on 12–48 V DC or 100 W USB-C PD.
• Stagger big loads. A microwave and a coffee maker at the same time can exceed the output of many mid-size stations.
• Count your rooftop AC separately. If you need it, you need shore power or a generator rated for it.

Questions

Other uses

• What Size Power Station Do You Need for Camping?
• What Size Power Station Do You Need for a Hurricane?
• Using a Power Station as Backup for Medical Devices

Sources

1. koa.com/blog/different-rv-amps
2. blog.campingworld.com/learn-to-rv/30-amp-vs-50-amp-whats-the-difference
3. cummins.com/en-na/generators/rv-generators/power-basics
4. newpar.newmarcorp.com/instance1Env99NEWMAR/html/images/os2136PenquinLO.pdf
5. dometic.com/en-au/professional/product/dometic-rm-2350-9600029484
6. elkhartrvparts.com/products/dometic-s-heater-120vac-135w
7. knowledge.tiffinmotorhomes.com/Technical_Support/Resource_Library/All_Component_Manuals…
8. blm.gov/programs/recreation/camping
9. starlink.com/public-files/specification_sheet_mini.pdf