Hi to all you travellers out there we are in a slight quandary about two things solar and inverters i have heard a lot about all of them and still none the wiser?? looking to travel in 18 months from Mackay anti clockwise around aust could any one help me make the right discussion we have a coaster bus, 24 volt and the house has 12 volt .The bus has a charger that powers both not a problem as we drive! we have 4 off 110 amp hrs battery's deep cycle . has any one out there got any good ideas on what to do when we are sitting down taking in the view and not moving .
Welcome to the forum. I can't help you with your query, but it is nice to see your hear. Are you really travelling with "v" 5 kids? All the best with that, and I'm sure someone will be able to provide the details for your query.
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20ft Roma caravan - Mercedes Benz Sprinter - SA-based at the moment. Transport has no borders.
Management makes the decisions, but is not affected by the decisions it makes.
As elliemike suggests this is an often discussed topic on this forum...
It's my view that using inverters is best avoided if there are alternative solutions, eg 12v TVs, 12v power supplies for laptops, etc. Also, any appliance that requires a large inverter to power it will quickly drain a battery system.
There are two types of inverters.....
1. Cheaper "Modified Sine Wave" (MSW) (erroneously named in my opinion, but that's another story). It is unwise to power sensitive electronic devices from MSW inverters as there is a risk of damage and may in some cases void warranty.
2. "Pure Sine Wave" (PSW). Unlike MSW inverters these closely resemble the AC that's supplied from the mains. Unless an inverter is specifically described as "Pure" sine wave, one should assume it is not a PSW inverter. It is ok to power sensitive electronic devices from a PSW inverter.
In my set up, I have a 120 watt solar panel permanently on the roof of the van, which puts power back into the 120 amp hours gel battery. Mostly by 10am next morning, after watching a 12 volt flat screen lcd tv coupled with a 240 volt satelite system and running a few lled lights, the house battery is full again. We also run a washing machine, which is 240 volt only, on the 1200 watt inverter. The washing machine runs for about half an hour with no problems. I believe without the solar panels to back my system up, we would not be able to free camp for as long as we like. We've just come back from Darwin taking two months, and was only in Darwin van park for two weeks. The rest of the time we free camped. The above system gives you so much freedom, the only problem we had was getting enough water at some places.
With solar you need to carefully consider your power requirements then plan for the times when your solar isn't at it's most efficient, ie; cloudy/rainy weather or too hot etc.
SOme of the biggest killers of batteries is running them down too far, not charging them up properly, just to name two. There is quite a few types of batteries so you carefully need to consider those.
Plenty of investigation and research required.
My tip for you: don't skimp on wiring size. Mild overkill is the way to go.
-- Edited by jack biggles on Friday 12th of August 2011 08:41:47 AM
