inverters - too much battery drain? - Fiberglass RV
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Old 07-17-2008, 09:12 PM   #1
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I have a 600W inverter hooked up to the battery in my trailer. I use it to run one of those under counter GE radio/CD player units. is the inverter drawing way more than it's worth. it wouldn't be on more than an hour a day... just to get the weather and hear a little music.
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Old 07-17-2008, 11:07 PM   #2
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I would suggest you go out and buy a D/C car stereo CD player and speakers. It will take up much less space and will not drain your battery nearly as fast as an inverter will. Adding a solar panel will help keep your battery bank charged up. Your inverter could be used for computer and small power tools etc. for short lengths of time, provided you have good batteries and a means to charge them. You never want to drain your batteries to less than 50% charge as they will never hold a good charge after that. I recommend using 6 volt golf cart batteries in a series to make 12 volts. They can be drained and recharged many many times without ruining them.
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Old 07-18-2008, 08:57 AM   #3
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I suggest you get a 75-150 watt inverter which will probably have much less of an internal power need, but in general, unless you're a Power Dry Camper, I wouldn't worry about the 600 watt unit being a big load.
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Old 07-18-2008, 09:10 AM   #4
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anytime you can replace a 120v item with a 12v item ... do so. And there are darned few items you CAN'T get in 12v.

Inversion will always have inefficiencies.

A hint for your computer (If it's a laptop)... run it off the battery.. NOT inverted. Run the battery to nothing if you wish... plug it into your car to charge, yes, with an inverter, while the comp is OFF. Charging this way uses diddly and only takes an hour or so to be up and running again.

I have a 100 watt inverter for just this purpose, and I haven't dented my car battery with it... ever.

But.. back to your radio.. get a car system as suggested, or you could even get a "survival" radio that has a dynamo recharge. Thats all I use for news etc. I even have unpowered computer speaks attached to it for small sessions of music if I choose.
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Old 07-18-2008, 09:52 AM   #5
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good advise. I guess i was after the compact look. some re-thinking to do now... including solar recharging which would solve all my woes.
thanx folks

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anytime you can replace a 120v item with a 12v item ... do so. And there are darned few items you CAN'T get in 12v.

Inversion will always have inefficiencies.

A hint for your computer (If it's a laptop)... run it off the battery.. NOT inverted. Run the battery to nothing if you wish... plug it into your car to charge, yes, with an inverter, while the comp is OFF. Charging this way uses diddly and only takes an hour or so to be up and running again.

I have a 100 watt inverter for just this purpose, and I haven't dented my car battery with it... ever.

But.. back to your radio.. get a car system as suggested, or you could even get a "survival" radio that has a dynamo recharge. Thats all I use for news etc. I even have unpowered computer speaks attached to it for small sessions of music if I choose.
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