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Parasitic power drawUpdated an hour ago

Under these conditions:

  • An RV (including any model of Airstream) is plugged into any of the Sorein Power Station's inverter outlets. 
    • inverter outlets include the four 20-amp outlets and the TT-30 outlet
  • The Sorein Power Station inverter is turned on

A user will see some amount of power draw on the main display of the power station. This draw represents the amount of power being used by the RV at that moment.

There will be some power draw even when all of the RV's appliances are turned off. This can cause confusion for the user, because the user thinks that there should be zero power draw.

The power draw is the result of electrical devices in the RV are always on, when there's AC power being supplied to the RV. Examples include:

  • The RV's built-in power converter/battery charger. The power converter converts the AC input power to 12 volt DC power for the on-board batteries. Since all 12 volt DC-powered items in the RV take power from the batteries, anything that uses DC power is indirectly relying on the power converter. The power converter is always on, unless the circuit breaker that supplies it is switched off.
  • A control (circuit) board in the refrigerator (even if the refrigerator is operating in in gas mode).
  • An electric compressor in an electric-only refrigerator.
  • The propane leak detector.
  • Circuit boards in water heater, stereo, powered awning, and other devices.
  • The RV's built-in inverter (if turned on).

This background power use is sometimes called:

  • parasitic draw
  • vampire drain
  • standby power use
  • idle power.

A certain amount of parasitic draw is normal. The amount varies according to the type of RV and the appliances it has installed, so there is no consistent amount of parasitic draw. Typically the parasitic draw shows as less than 100 Watts on the Sorein display panel, when the RV's on-board batteries are fully charged. 

In addition, the inverter in the Sorein Power Station consumes a certain amount of power whenever it is turned on, even if nothing is plugged into it. This power usage does not show on the Sorein display.

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