| Author |
Message |
Kevin Hatch
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 27, 2006 - 2:20 am: | |
Seems to be a popular topic as of late! I have a GM 4905 with 2 roof top airs and house heat for now. It just has the 2 8-D batteries now. I'm just about finished installing the 7.5Kw genset. The bus has a small fridge. and microwave, as well as the basic small stuff like tv, dvd, etc. I plan on using 110v lighting, as I remodel. I'm still undecided on a water heater but I'm leaning more toward instant electric. I also plan on getting an AIMS 5Kw inverter. I would like to power everything (?) off of the inverter while driving or running the main engine, then switch to the genset or shore power when parked. Will these batteries work for all that, or do I need to add more/seperate batteries? Also, how often should my set-up need recharged? Should it be able to sustain off of the alternator, or will I need to be running the battery charger regularly? |
FAST FRED
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 27, 2006 - 5:51 am: | |
No way to power air cond or instant hot water off batteries , unless youre planning on a few tons of them.
You should have a second set of house batts AND a monitor to keep ahead of dead batts that need frequent replacement.
The pax side of your coach has heavy wiring from the Alt that used to run those 80A blowers.
If you weigh the coach front & rear as well as side to side you may find you can get 4 or 6 Trojan L-16 in that area , on a slide.
A small noisemaker on the other side to balance.
Should be easiest to live with.
FAST FRED |
Donald Lee Schwanke (Dontx)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 27, 2006 - 8:12 am: | |
I think he meant to run the appliances when on the highway thru the inverter off the original alternator, then off the power pole or genset when parked, in which case he COULD skip the Trojans, which won't last very long heating water and AC heat strips anyway. |
Kevin Hatch
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 27, 2006 - 9:34 am: | |
You're right Don. Sorry I didn't clarify. I'll use the genset if I need that much power. I did figure that the inverter might run one ac, maybe. Is that incorrect? Will the ac drain the battery faster than the alternator can keep up? |
Jerry Liebler (Jerry_liebler)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 27, 2006 - 10:10 am: | |
Kevin,
If you'll be running AC off of the bus alternator you should opt. for a good sine wave inverter. A Trace SW 4024 will easily power one AC and usually 2 from the engine's alternator, which puts out over 6.5KW. With this inverter you can run all loads (up to 60 amps) through the inverter and avoid the tough decisions over what the inverter will power. I have a similar setup but in a 12 volt bus (7.5KW generator, SW2512, 50 amp shore) and I use 4 L16 batteries for the house power. Because I have a 12 volt bus I don't have the power available that you do but I still run over 2Kw of AC while driving.
Regards
Jerry 4107 1120 |
Donald Lee Schwanke (Dontx)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 27, 2006 - 3:30 pm: | |
I am sure the pure sine wave is a better thing to run AC off of, but many of us ran the roof airs off the "modified sine wave" or non pure sine wave inverters. I could not tell the difference between power pole, genset, or engine alternator thru a 2500w Heart non sine wave. Never had a failure either. AC were Coleman 15,000 btu jobs. |
Marc Bourget
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 27, 2006 - 6:02 pm: | |
Has anybody ever "scoped," the compressor with a infrared thermometer, an AC run on "pure" vs "modified" sine wave to see if the modified runs at a higher temp? |
Jerry Liebler (Jerry_liebler)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 27, 2006 - 6:49 pm: | |
Marc,
Modified sine wave is like lipstick put on a pig, by marketing, they are 3 state wave outputs(+,0,-....).
I haven't done the test but I can predict by applying a little engineering. The 3 state wave has a little over 20% of it's energy in harmonics which all become heat while 75-90% of the fundamental becomes work out of the motor. This implies, relative to a true sine wave, the heat generated will be about 2x for inefficient motors and about 3x for very efficient motors. That harmonic energy came from the batteries so the three state inverters are always 20% less efficient in powering motors and appliances with transformers, like microwave ovens.
Regards
Jerry 4107 1120 |
FAST FRED
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, February 28, 2006 - 6:06 am: | |
Has anybody ever "scoped," the compressor with a infrared thermometer, an AC run on "pure" vs "modified" sine wave to see if the modified runs at a higher temp?
No but I have used a watt meter to see how much juice a fridge uses on a cheapo invereter and the PP.
The estimate of 20% longer is right in line with my results , on a cheapo house fridge.
The use of a thermometer in the discharge of an air cond would show a difference in cold produced , but I have no carbunkle to test .
FAST FRED |