Monday, May 8, 2017

Final (Maybe) Battery Report

I turned the larger screen TV on at 5:30 PM last night and left it running on the inverter. Batteries were at 13 volts when I started. At 7:30 (2 hours later) I checked the batteries and they were at 12.8 volts which is 100% charge. At 9:30 (4 hours later) they were still at 12.5 volts or 80% charge! I hit the generator start button and the generator fired up without killing the inverter. This morning at 9:30 AM under a cloudy sky and drizzling rain the batteries had recovered to 13.2 volts with the solar panels. Things are exactly where I want them!

I might do the same test but with both TV's on. This would be when I want to watch a football game on one while Norma watches her stuff on the other.

7 comments:

  1. Isn't it satisfying when all your ducks line up

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  2. That is exactly what you needed glad it is working out for you.

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    1. Exactly what we needed! Four batteries is the answer!

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    2. That will do it, but we can still get by with 2, don't watch much tv though.

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  3. Good timing for me to check back into your blog....What size is your inverter?
    This week I'm working on setting up a 400 watt Pure Sine inverter, this is separate from the rigs system. I plan on powering my 32" LG TV with a separate deep cycle battery and controller. This includes the Dish receiver. I have 45 watts of solar panels and hope this works when I don't have shore power. My thoughts are with it being an additional system it will not have any effect on my two 6 volt golf cart batteries that power the house system..
    Any thoughts or advice for me?
    Thanks,
    Upriverdavid

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    1. Hi David, we have a 1700 watt MSW inverter and a 600 watt MSW. The 600 is mounted in the front overhead and was bought to run the front TV and my charging station for various phones, camera, computers, etc. When we installed the mini fridge in the cabover we found the 600 watt inverter would not handle the startup surge for the fridge. That was when we bought the 1700 watt which we installed under the dinette seat beside the batteries. I ran a 120 volt extension cord up to the cabover area to handle what the 600 watt inverter was used for previously. I also ran a 120 volt extension to the bedroom to handle the TV back there. That TV was previously handled by a 125 watt MSW inverter of it's own.

      I left the 600 watt inverter up front because I had no other use for it and it is convenient to the charging station. The old 125 watt inverter from the bedroom is now in the Honda tow car to handle the laptop and other stuff when we wre traveling in the car.

      Your plan to power the 32" TV and receiver with the 400 watt PSW inverter is good but I question if the 45 watts of solar will allow much use of it. Of course it all depends on where you are. Under the blazing Arizona sun it will perform much better than under the clouds in Seattle. Solar panels are getting cheap and you can find a 100 watt panel on Amazon on sale for $110 sometimes. You are correct that it will have no effect on the house system is correct so there is no danger of depleting the house batteries. My first solar panel array was three 15 watt panels = 45 watts. These were destroyed in a low overpass accident and Insurance replaced them with a 125 watt panel. I later added a 100 watt panel when we added the mini fridge. I unplug the fridge unless we are only parked for an hour or two under the sun. If I leave it on too long when we are parked, it will kill the batteries. Hope this helps. You will love free power!

      If I were you I would abandon the idea of the separate battery and put one or two 100 watt solar panels on the roof. Connect your inverter and 32" TV to the golf cart batteries and as long as you monitor your batteries you should have enough power to watch your TV for several hours a day.

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