Help! Need advice on battery and accessories ?

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FreeNmyChevyVan4/93

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Hi all, first I have to say can't wait till next RTR!! Met soooo many great people!
Okay, I live in 93 Chevy high top van. I finally bought the renogy portable 100watt solar panel thingy. I'm having trouble deciding on a battery, 50ah,? 100ah? and not sure what else I need. This whole electric thing has me in a tizzy!!?? 
My needs are small, cheap 12v fridge, laptop, phone, 2 12v fans, fantastic breeze.  I might add a tv.....any advice would be greatly appreciated 
Mary aka Sarge
 
Two six volt batteries in series connection. If wet cell, EGC2 from Batteries Plus Bulbs or Sam's club.
 
With those small needs you could get away with a $100 group 27 deep cell if you keep your usage in check.
That assumes you're talking about a danfoss compressor 12v fridge and not a mini-fridge or thermoelectric.
 
If the batteries are inside your living area, you should use an agm battery, wet cell flooded lead acids off gas corrosive fumes that may affect your health and corrode items nearby . A good group 31 or 27 100 ah deep cycle battery will work with the 100 watt panel. 100 watts of Renogy is not enough power for a good 12v fridge, you really need 200 watts with a fridge. There are Trojan battery vendors in major cities, I highly recommend Trojan, their resting voltages seem to be higher than most batteries (12.8-12.9). I saw a big performance gain going from a previous marine deep cycle Costco battery to a deep cycle Trojan.
 
Itripper said:
I saw a big performance gain going from a previous marine deep cycle Costco battery to a deep cycle Trojan.
That's likely because it wasn't actually a true deep cycle batt. I don't think Costco sell any in 12V.

Itripper said:
A good group 31 or 27 100 ah deep cycle battery will work with the 100 watt panel.
Gideon33w said:
With those small needs you could get away with a $100 group 27 deep cell if you keep your usage in check.
First off IMO no one should recommend automotive-sized 12V for deep cycling without listing the 5-10 specific brands you can trust.

Otherwise people think from all the fraudulent labelling that you can buy a true deep-cycling batt from auto supply or big box retail, and so throw their money away.

Second, again IMO, running a fridge 24x7 requires over 200AH of storage, unless also carrying a genny and(/ or lots of) solar, or driving many hours every day. And using accurate SoC monitoring, not just voltage.

Unless the user understands they are murdering the bank, getting a fraction of it's potential lifespan. Which is a valid choice, as long as it is an informed one.
 
John61CT said:
That's likely because it wasn't actually a true deep cycle batt. I don't think Costco sell any in 12V.

First off IMO no one should recommend automotive-sized 12V for deep cycling without listing the 5-10 specific brands you can trust.

Otherwise people think from all the fraudulent labelling that you can buy a true deep-cycling batt from auto supply or big box retail, and so throw their money away.

Second, again IMO, running a fridge 24x7 requires over 200AH of storage, unless also carrying a genny and(/ or lots of) solar, or driving many hours every day. And using accurate SoC monitoring, not just voltage.

Unless the user understands they are murdering the bank, getting a fraction of it's potential lifespan. Which is a valid choice, as long as it is an informed one.
Thanks, my fridge is a very cheap $80 12 volt, I am VERY interested to know what the trusted battery brands are. I've been online for days and I think I'll get the best info from you guys. And this might sound naive but I am not educated in this subject at all..but how do I plug in my 12v appliances to this battery?
 
that sounds like it's not a refrigerator but a cooler. those won't work in hot temps and they are energy hogs. do you have a link to it or how much power it uses? highdesertranger
 
Re brands, flooded or AGM?

FLA cheaper, more robust, standard charge profiles, able to get SoC with hydrometer, but charge slower, vertical only, more off-gassing

AGM accept faster charge, can install sideways, no maintenance but need careful charging specs, don't last as long, need a BM for SoC
 
FreeNmyChevyVan4/93 said:
And i can assume by everyines response that a 50ah is just not enough?
Not even close, those aren't small needs at all, you need to calculate daily AH budget closely if you want to be conservative, otherwise I'd say two pairs of 6v.
 
Okay, I pulled the trigger!! Ordered a renogy pure gel deep cycle agm 100ah......any comments appreciated ???
 
highdesertranger said:
that sounds like it's not a refrigerator but a cooler.  those won't work in hot temps and they are energy hogs.  do you have a link to it or how much power it uses?  highdesertranger

Yup, I believe you're right. I would like something better but I can't afford a good one right now. It's on my wish list. I just got solar panels and a battery. I'm on a fixed income so I'm working slowly to fulfill my needs and wish lists
 
Thanks to everyone for the tips, I got the renogy pure gel agm deep cycle 100ah...im definitely going to need help setting all this up and WHAT SIZE INVERTER should I get? Do I need a fuse thingy? Any other accessories?
 
OMG my brain is going to explode from reading about battery stuff!!! Not retaining all this info?
 
You need to read a basic solar/battery article on this website to help with some of the lingo, and so do I need to read one...lol
 
Whoa there Nellie! Cancel any orders if possible and take time to absorb, learn & weigh the decision first.
 
If you use your 12v thermo electric cooler, assuming you started with a fully charged 100Ah battery, it will be 50% depleted in about 8 hours.

So you are stuck with Ice and a cooler, or Ice in that thermoelectric cooler, and ony plugging it in while you actually drive.

Othewise your loads should be handled by 100Ah AGM. By the way there are Gel batteries, and there are AGM batteries, but there are not Gel/AGM. I hope Renogy is not marketing such Unicorn tears.

100 watts will likely prove inadequate, especially portable as they only work when you set them up. 100 watts permanently mounted on the roof would harvest much more energy.

For comparison, I have a pretty refined system. My loads are this 90 watt (max) laptop, my 12v compressor fridge( extra insulated, well ventilated) computer fans LED lights and a TV, with 200 watts of solar on a 90AH high$$ Northstar AGM battery. The battery is my ONLY battery, for house and engine turns 4 years old in Novemeber has over 550 deep cycles on it, and still performs well.

BUt My alternator can always recharge the battery as fast as possible as I control the electrical pressure( voltage), and I have a 40 amp plug in charger which can also basically charge the battery as fast as possible. HIgher ampergae might shave off 20 minutes total from the minimum 6.5 hours from 50%. My solar panels are controlled by a programable MPPT controller.

Your first battery is likely doomed to early failure as your recharging is not really enough, and we also do not know how much you will use the laptop, nor the fans and at what speed the fans will run which will have huge effects on battery capacity and recharging capacity required.

While my laptop can draw 90 watts, it averages about 35 when its battery is fully charged. My laptop basically uses 3x more electricity as my 12v compressor fridge would in an hour period.

The topic of living on 12v is pretty convoluted and there is lot to learn to maximize battery life, but don;t get overwhelmed. Less than ideal just means replacing the battery more often, and in many cases this is much easier than going to extremes to maximize battery life.

I would just recommend one keep this in mind, a happy battery is a cool and fully charged battery. Use any and all charging sources whenever convenient to get the battery to as high a state of charge as possible.

How long the battery lasts is dependent more on its charging regimen, rather than the quality or perceived quality of the battery. True deep cycle batteries can be a LOT better, but only when good recharging exists. A crappy battery and a top quality battery will both be killed by insufficient recharging/chronic undercharging with the top quality battery perhaps going only a smidge longer before rolling over and giving up.

Worry about top quality battery acquiring when you can recharge them properly. YOu will not really have that until you get some more solar on your roof, or be able to plug into the grid somewhat regularly, but you definitely should utilize the alternator. Alternator charging is far from perfect, and the efficacy will vary hugely depending on the vehicle and its voltage regulator, but it can accomplish a lot with a depleted battery and good thickness copper between alternator and depleted battery.

A battery discharged to 50% might be able to be recharge to 80% in under an hour with a high amperage charging source, but 80 to 100% cannot be accomplished in less than 3.5 hours, and that is at ideal voltages. Vehicles usually only allows ideal voltages briefly after startup. The voltage the vehicle allows will vary widely amongst different vehicle platforms.

Johnct51, lets not scare her by telling the OP that they need to precisely calculate an electrical budget, and to return the battery bought. The loads can be estimated and the battery can be made to work for a period of time. The OP is not looking to set up ideal right off the bat and does not need to be overwhelmed with your ideal approach.

The 12v thermoelectric cooler has got to go though, or only used as a regular cooler and plugged in only when driving. 100 watt of solar could only power that round the clock if the sun never set and there were no other loads.
 
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