12v Appliances

[Theadyn]

What is your most used 12v appliances?   Which ones would you not live without?   And why?

1....2....3....   GO!

 

[wagoneer]

Fridge,beer

 

[GotSmart]

What is your most used 12v appliances?   Which ones would you not live without?   And why?

For $7.40 this baby gives me hot water.

I could list all my 12 volt components that make the system possible...

 

[jimindenver]

My LED lights.

With no inverter my 12v TV/DVD player.

The 12v blower on my furnace.

 

[highdesertranger]

x2 on what wagoneer said, fridge. which of course leads to cold beer. highdesertranger

 

[SoulRaven]

12v fans, 12v A/C, & my laptop.

 

[c_hasbeen]

what brandis your 12vdc a/c?

 

[SoulRaven]

what brand is your 12vdc a/c?

Mine is home made, here's the directions:

It has to get pretty hot before I actually add ice, normally just the water is quite sufficient.  The water will cool itself overnight, and stay cool for many hours even without ice.  I suspect that the moving air over the heater core may actually help to keep the water cool also.  At sundown on a pretty warm day, even without ice, the water is still cool to the touch.

If you need ice, a big block will last 5-6 days.

This is not "my" design, it has been circulating for many years in several variations, and a lot of vandwellers and RVer's seem to use them.

There are commercial units available too, The GoCool name seems to ring a bell.

As it was described to me, you want the fan and heater core away from the ice to prolong the life of the ice.  Also that insulating the ice from the circulating water  also helps to preserve it.


150

 

[Brian_and_Jesse]

Y'know, BUSTER (our rig) was 'born' in 1988, but a good number of his parts were added in 2012, and another bunch were added this year (2015), including the 800w of solar that we're still learning how to install.

At the moment, our fridge w/freezer runs for a month on a tank of propane ($27) and can be switched over to run on electricity at the touch of a button. Part of our solar installation plan is to incorporate running the fridge on solar if we need to. No clue how to do that just yet, but we're learning by baby steps, hoping to have the solar labyrinth navigated by the end of July.

Without solar panels, we too use the cigarette lighter portal to charge many things such as cell phones, cameras, and to use our 12 volt immersion water heater. We own a bunch of solar lights that charge on the dashboard during the day and provide us with more than ample light at night as well. (I like them because they're not stationary and I can move them around as I please.)

We do have an Onan genny on board, but I begrudge the gas when the sun can do the job for free.

Can't WAIT to get these panels operational!


Jesse.

 

[jimindenver]

Our trailer's fridge has a auto button that will switch it from gas to electric anytime we have shore power or in our case the inverter running. Just make sure you only do it when the sun is high or it will drain your batteries in a short time.

 

[ZoNiE]

Beer is an appliance?

 

[ccbreder]

breakfast.

 

[VanLifeCrisis]

by far fantastic fan

 

[compassrose]

12vDC shurflo water pump. I don't have 12vDC stuff. I have an inverter.

 

[minimotos95]

I think the only thing I have that could be called an appliance is my thermoelectric cooler? Then there's the laptop, desktop, 19" TV and tools but they are all 110v. my big grill and 2 burner are propane and my single burner is isobutane.

So I guess my answer is the Coleman cooler to keep creamer and kilju cold.
Reminds me that I still need to order a 12v cord for this laptop.

 

[SternWake]

I have 2 inverters, an 800 watt MSW and a 400 watt PSW. I try not to use them, but when I do, the PSW is charging my Makita Li-ion batteries, and powers my 140 watt soldering gun. The 800 watt MSW powers my Angle grinder.

12v TV, water pump, fans, fridge, lights, Stereo. laptop power supply.

I used to have a 12v mattress heating pad i was fond of, but it only lasted 3 winters, and this winter I went without it. On low one needed 22 amp hours per 8 hours, on high it needed 55 AH plus, over 8 hours, so Significant battery power was required.

While i have 9 ciggy plugs distributed around my interior and wired with 10awg. I largely do not use them.

The exception is for a voltage controller used as a speed control for 2 of my fans, and also to power a USB recharging source.
http://www.amazon.com/PowerLine-Uni...3&sr=8-5&keywords=powerline+voltage+converter

http://www.amazon.com/Certified-App...id=1432520885&sr=8-3&keywords=usb+car+charger

These low wattage items present little issue for a Ciggy plug receptacle, but when regularly asked to pass 5 amps and above they will develop issues and start wasting power as heat.

Gotsmart your in cup water heater element, it likely would heat faster if you could bypass the ciggy plug. When my mattress heating pad still worked, its ciggy plug caused a lot of voltage drop. when I eliminated it in place of a 45 amp Anderson powerpole, it got so much more voltage it heated up much faster.

 

[sprintersnale]

Fridge, Vent Fan, Lights, Laptop Charger, Water Pump...
The less the inverter is needed, the longer between charging.