by daveesl77 » Tue Oct 31, 2017 8:15 am
I had the old HF 800 watt, 2-cycle generator (we now have the 2,000 watt Predator inverter generator from HF). I have a 1,200 watt Centech MSW inverter (also HF). We use a Rural King (Exide) farm duty, deep cycle battery (I think it is 80ah). We also have 150 watts of solar panels.
We have a 3.2 ft3 Haier dorm fridge in the camper and had a really old Haier 5k BTU AC. For years now the inverter/battery system has run the fridge with few problems. When traveling, we charge the battery with the minivan, when stopped solar. The old 800 watt gennie ran the fridge just fine. The inverter would not start the old AC without a capacitor.
I bought the exact same hard-start capacitor you have on the left side of your picture and put it in the old AC, gennie ran it up just fine. Once I started the ac the first time on shore power/generator, then the inverter/battery system could run it, but it used a lot of power. During hurricane Irma, that little generator actually ran the Haier fridge, an Igloo icemaker, a 19" lcd tv and a floor fan. It was loud as hell, but it worked. No go on using it for both the fridge and ac.
I have since bought the 2k Predator generator ($399) and a new 5k window unit from Rural King ($99). Sold the little gennie to my neighbor ($50). The Predator can run everything I have, at once. This includes a small 400 watt crock pot. The inverter/battery setup can run the fridge and icemaker, as well as some 12v fans, but not the AC with the fridge. It can run the AC by itself. That Predator 2k generator is fantastic. It is very, very quiet in Eco Mode. Sips gas, as I used a total of 2.5 gallons with over 25 hours of use in our last camping trip.
With the 150 watts of solar and the new MPPT controller, as long as I get about 5 hours of sunlight, I can keep the fridge running indefinitely at about 30 degrees F. with outside temps in the 80s-90s.
Now, as to whether or not a 1,000 watt gennie or 1,000 watt inverter system can run both the fridge and AC, that will be a really close call. Use a Kill-a-Watt meter to see what each individual appliance uses over the course of say 2 hours, then test both at the same time over say 4 hours. This gives you an average hourly use.
Under normal conditions, you will find that an initial, first time, start up may fully bog down the system, so don't try to initially run both at the same time. Start one, let it run for say 20 minutes the turn it off. Start up the other, let it run for 20 minutes. Then you can either keep the 2nd appliance running and restart the first, or shut down the second. This frees up the compressors and puts less start load on the system. Once you run up a compressor, then it can usually sit for anywhere from 24 hours to a week. Try to keep the time between starts low or do the sequence start.
YMMV
dave