I lost 120V power early this morning, so I had a chance to confirm that my 12V system and battery monitor were working properly.

Had I not had the battery monitor, I would have been very confused and frustrated since all my battery readings put me at about 11.5V, or a completely depleted battery! But the battery monitor was a lot smarter, telling me I had about 99% capacity and could keep going for about 29 hours at my current rate of consumption!

As for what was on, two LED lights, two regular bulbs, the fridge (switched to propane), and the water pump. I was drawing about 6AMPs. I decided to confirm that standard RV bulbs are power suckers and switched one off. My power consumption immediately dropped by a full two amps!

This informal little experiment has confirmed that switching to all LED bulbs will pay for itself quickly!