TimC wrote:That's interesting Scott. I am wondering if you are monitoring actual demand on your battery with an ammeter or are you looking at battery SOC in the morning before solar production?
The reason I ask is I'm wondering if you are actually using more than 25 aHr and the daytime aHr use is mostly recovered as it is consumed. I just installed ammeters in my system. I hope to figure out what my actual demand is as I'm using a 12v fridge for the full day (24hr) and try to charge electronics while the sun shines and usually by late afternoon I have a fully charged battery. Maybe if I figure out actual night demand I won't have to worry about charging everything during the day. My equipment is similar other than having 200w of panels.
Tim
saltydawg wrote:... I built my system to be hands free and not have to monitor it all the time, i see power going in or power going out and soc. Thats enough info for me. If during the day its going in, solar is working, then state of charge as the sun goes down to see where I am over all.
MickinOz wrote: assuming the amplifier is 120V 100Watts, not 120V 100 amps!
MickinOz wrote:I must get around to installing my 250W panel one day.
But it hardly seems urgent, since I really only do one-nighters.
saltydawg wrote:
Well this is the second trip and both where 3 nights, with drives of 400 miles one way. Its getting it excersize.
saltydawg wrote:MickinOz wrote: assuming the amplifier is 120V 100Watts, not 120V 100 amps!
The wattage was based on the draw the power meter was showing
troubleScottie wrote:You did not state, so not sure what you did with your inverter.
Inverters are notorious for a) being inefficient and b) being a parasitic draw.
Converting 12VDC to 120VAC does suffer from loses. Generally speaking cheaper inverters work less well. Hence the use of any many 12VDC items as possible. Especially bad is doing something like charging a USB device from an AC outlet OR running a computer off AC as it just converting back to a DC voltage, often not 12V but still DC. It would be better to use a DC based dual USB port or a 12VDC adapter/connector for the computer.
The parasitic draw is a real issue. Even when there is no load on the inverter, it still draws power. You need to disconnect it from the battery ie switch it off or remove the connections. Most inverters do not have a on-off switch. As with inefficiencies, cheaper inverters are generally worse with parasitic draw.
RJ Howell wrote:I see amp base, I see amp recovery.. What I don't see is amp use. Since you bouncing between Ac/DC it's better to discuss this as wattage.
What are you using? Time to do a Power Audit! Break it down by item and time of use. No other way to work through this, no short cuts. What do you wish to run? What does it take? How long do you wish it to recover?
Right, Wrong, indifferent... It's how I approach this. I survive on 60ah lithium, yet building up a bit more for some more convince!
Tony runs a cpap plus a few lights and a fan and is charged by noon according to him.
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 3 guests