How many ah would i need in my batteries for 135 watts of power??
Is it a good idea to convert my battery power--> 12V. to 115 volt to make it more convenient to charge stuff?
Also can I use a converter to convert stsndar 115V from my house into 12V to use on my camper?
Solar panels
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Solar panels
by vitya-velik » Mon Oct 26, 2015 1:01 am
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Re: Solar panels
by troubleScottie » Mon Oct 26, 2015 5:48 am
In reverse order,
Yes a convert changes shore power/household voltage AC to DC for charging. Lots of variations on this. You want a smart charger -- minimum 3 stage charger. Again lots of variations to draw from. You need some sort of charging system to recharge the batteries even if you are only charging at home.
There are inverters which converts DC to AC. There are lots of discussion on them, how they work, issues with inefficiencies, etc. For many items it is inefficient to convert from DC to AC back to DC. A good example is a phone charger. A USB outlet ( roughly 5VDC) and cable is more efficient than AC charger.
There are lots of discussion on whether to have or not have AC, etc. Generally, most TD have DC for a large majority of the electrical components. Lights, water pumps, water heaters, refrigerators, radio, television, fan all can be found in a DC variant. They are generally smaller, more power efficient and easier to install. With the exception of LED lighting, generally they are more expensive than the AC equivalent. Certain items -- namely air conditioning more or less require AC/shore power/generators to be run. Most people put in AC for this and general addition of items while camping with power eg microwaves, coffee machines, etc
A lot depends on what you are wanting to use and how you want to camp eg boondocking, glamping, etc.
Your first question requires more information. AH is amp-hours. 135 watts is Amp times volts or roughly 12 volts times 12 amps. Your battery depends on how long and how much current is drawn for your various items. For example, running a 3 amp item for 2 hours need 6 AH. Using 12 amps per hour for 24 hours will consume 288 AH each day. You need detemine the amperage for all devices and estimate how long you will use them every day. Remember, you will not run most items all the time. Even something like a refrigerator will not use the same number of amps as listed as it is cooling only part of the time.
Your battery AH is the 20 hour AH rating divided by 2. One should not discharge the battery more than 50%. So a 100 AH battery will provide about 50 AH. For continuous 12 amp draw, you are looking at only a little over 4 hours of power before must recharge your battery.
Yes a convert changes shore power/household voltage AC to DC for charging. Lots of variations on this. You want a smart charger -- minimum 3 stage charger. Again lots of variations to draw from. You need some sort of charging system to recharge the batteries even if you are only charging at home.
There are inverters which converts DC to AC. There are lots of discussion on them, how they work, issues with inefficiencies, etc. For many items it is inefficient to convert from DC to AC back to DC. A good example is a phone charger. A USB outlet ( roughly 5VDC) and cable is more efficient than AC charger.
There are lots of discussion on whether to have or not have AC, etc. Generally, most TD have DC for a large majority of the electrical components. Lights, water pumps, water heaters, refrigerators, radio, television, fan all can be found in a DC variant. They are generally smaller, more power efficient and easier to install. With the exception of LED lighting, generally they are more expensive than the AC equivalent. Certain items -- namely air conditioning more or less require AC/shore power/generators to be run. Most people put in AC for this and general addition of items while camping with power eg microwaves, coffee machines, etc
A lot depends on what you are wanting to use and how you want to camp eg boondocking, glamping, etc.
Your first question requires more information. AH is amp-hours. 135 watts is Amp times volts or roughly 12 volts times 12 amps. Your battery depends on how long and how much current is drawn for your various items. For example, running a 3 amp item for 2 hours need 6 AH. Using 12 amps per hour for 24 hours will consume 288 AH each day. You need detemine the amperage for all devices and estimate how long you will use them every day. Remember, you will not run most items all the time. Even something like a refrigerator will not use the same number of amps as listed as it is cooling only part of the time.
Your battery AH is the 20 hour AH rating divided by 2. One should not discharge the battery more than 50%. So a 100 AH battery will provide about 50 AH. For continuous 12 amp draw, you are looking at only a little over 4 hours of power before must recharge your battery.
Michael Krolewski
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