Driveway Boondocking

I'm visiting with family, the nearest campground is $45 a night.


I decided to stay in their driveway instead, we had to get a "permit" from the homeowners association.  The first night I stayed parked at the curb because we needed to rearrange everyone's cars. I was inside the house most of the day and did not worry about electrical usage in the RV. My control panel showed that the batteries were fully charged.  When I went into the RV at night, I wanted to turn on a small space heater for about 30 minutes before I went to bed, I do not leave it on while sleeping.  I flipped the switch for the inverter and plugged the heater into the outlet marked "inverter".  The heater did not seem to have as much power as when I was plugged into electricity.  It took the chill out of the air (about 20 minutes) and I turned it off.


I looked at the control panel for the Inverter and it said low battery.

The other control panel said the batteries still had a full charge.

This electricity stuff is confusing to me.  The lights inside the RV work with the Inverter switch "off". I think I need to switch the Inverter on when I want to use that one outlet.  I know that the microwave and refrigerator will not work unless I plug into electric power or use the generator.  I did not have my power cord plugged into the outlet inside the electric cord storage compartment, would this make a difference?


I'm wondering why I was getting two different readings? I tried reading a book "RV Electrical Systems", but have a hard time concentrating on all of the diagrams and stuff written in this book.

I need sometime to come into the RV and say, "do this" and "don't do this" and "this is how this works".


I have an appointment at Camping World on December 29th to have some vent covers installed and to have maintenance done on the generator, maybe they will be able to give me some hints on how this system works.


I want to stay at Padre Island National Seashore this winter and they do not have electrical hookups.  I am not ready to have solar installed at this time, and I'm not even sure if there is a reputable company in Texas to do a solar installation.


I want to know more about how all of this electrical stuff works before I put out money for solar panels. 


I am now parked in the driveway..... and plugged in at the garage.