Using excess electricity? - Hi-Lo camper travel trailer forum

Howard and Gert Morgan · 02-18-2012, 01:37 PM

I have a question about the draw of my 2896B when it is plugged in and nothing is turned on. We just bought the unit in October and I plugged it in when we got home. I have noticed the consumption on my electric bill has gone up quite a bit, I do not know for sure it is the Hi-Lo, but I do question it, this has been a mild winter Kansas and I do not know of anything else that would have increased the demand for electricity. Any help would be appreciated, I do not want to get started using the unit and have problems.

morpheus · 02-18-2012, 02:03 PM

I bought one of these:

after my pool pump timer failed, and caused my pool pump to run continusly for 3 weeks without me noticing any made my hydro bill go through the roof.

It cost me $100 bucks for this meter, and it works amazing.

You can input your local hydro rates, and it will estimate what your hydro bill will be at the end of the month for you, even after only a couple days of data, and it gives you real time consumption, updated about every 20 seconds or so.

The best part of this unit, it is has a function that lets you go around at test circuits.

If you ever wonder how much electricity your fridge uses? You unplug the fridge, hit the test button, and plug the fridge back in. The unit will calculate the consumption of the fridge.

You can use the same thing to test the RV.

I figure it was $100 well spent, it made me much more aware of how much things cost to run. I was amazed to see that it cost $0.75 / hour to run my dryer. I now hang dry in my basement as much as I can and only dry socks/underwear, etc..

Howard and Gert Morgan · 02-18-2012, 02:36 PM

I will probably just buy an inexpensive current meter and see what it shows, I just thought someone may have had a similar experience. Thanks for the input though.

RichR · 02-18-2012, 03:04 PM

If you are not using the HiLo on a regular basis there is no reason to have it plugged in all of the time. If you are concerned about keeping the battery charged, just plug in for a few hours every week or two. Better yet get a Battery Minder or Battery Tender and hook to the battery, either will keep the battery on a float charge and use very little electric. Actually, you may be doing harm to the battery by keeping the trailer plugged in all of the time. The converter/charger is not really designed for long term battery charging.

Howard and Gert Morgan · 02-18-2012, 04:47 PM

I have been RVing for several years and have always left them plugged in through the winter and have had good luck with battery life. I do not think the convertor should be affected, if it has a regulator built in, it should be resting except when the battery voltage is low enough to need a charge. Thanks for your input though.

RichR · 02-18-2012, 05:58 PM

It was only a suggestion. As far as power usage goes, the refrigerator and the water heater electric element are the only high usage items outside of the A/C. If you have the master power switch turned off the fridge in the DC mode would be the only thing that could be drawing power other than the converter itself. You could switch off any breakers that are presently on and see if that makes any difference.