rvpopeye said:Yup ! A+
Lisahi said:Ah, PopEye! You're here too! And those inverters (?) - the things that convert 12 volt to AC, do they use energy too? I'm wondering, if I have an appliance that I really would like to use on the road, say for example, a Crock Pot (don't laugh), which says on the bottom of the appliance it uses 180 watts - what's the conversion formula for amps to watts? Also, I do realize a slow cooker is plugged in for a long time, maybe 6 - 8 hours on the low (180 watt) setting, and unless I've got lots of house battery charge or a big solar panel system and sunny days, that's probably not the best example, but still, a girl can dream, right? I do sometimes multitask: cook and drive using a CrockPot on long trips using this thing I bought at Radio Shack (is it an inverter?) that plugs into the car's cigarette lighter (12 volt?) and then I plug the normal 2-prong house plug of the Crock Pot into it. How about a laptop computer? Seems all the rv-ers have those. The laptops must need an inverter and I don't know how much amps/watts they use over an hour. Oh boy, hope I'm not making your eyes glaze over!
Awesome idea for the pressure cooker. Why didn't I think of that?!66788 said:Your answer to the amperage rating question is "maybe."
My ARB compressor fridge draws 2 amps (Amp Hours) but it only runs about 10 minutes an hour, so although when running it draws 2 amps, it would take 6 hours of constant use to equal the 2 amp draw.
As for your crock pot, forget it. Cooking with electricity calls for a huge battery bank and a lot of solar panels to support it. Inverters do use electricity in the conversion process, as they are not 100% efficient.
Think pressure cooker for your meals.
eDJ_ said:There are a large number of businesses online that sell 12 volt appliances. Like this one,
http://www.roadtrucker.com/12-volt-appliance/12-volt-appliances.htm
If you are on the road there are truck stops like "Pilot" that carry a large selection of these.
This site reviews the five most basic things to have if you live on the road.
https://www.thehealthytrucker.net/5-truck-cooking-appliances/
The 12 volt cooler may be called to question. Many here take a 36 quart plastic ice chest and
purchase 2 inch thick insulation board and build a box to put the cooler in. Thus an 8 lb bag of
ice can keep food cool for an extended period of time.
Here is a Youtube 10 day cooler conversion video that shows how it is done.
[video=dailymotion]
Thank you, very smart way to get me realizing and thinking about how much electricity I'll want to use.steamjam1 said:This is what I did trying to figure out power needs:
[img=295x365]http://www.p3international.com/products/images/main_p4400.jpg[/img]
I went and bought a Kill-a-Watt and saw exactly how much power @110V things use to run. I plugged in my coffee machine, my laptop, cell phone charger, and anything else I could think of including a dorm fridge I useto use. Then once you get the amp draw, multiply that number by 10 (General rule, Its not precise, but itll give you a ball park idea) of how many amps it will raw from a 12V battery through an inverter.
For example, My Mr. Coffee 4-cup coffee machine claimed 600 watts @ 110V. I plugged it into the kill-a-watt and saw it drew 535watts when brewing. Then its Watts divided by volts equals amps. (535w/110v=4.86a) To estimate the load to the 12v battery multiply the amps by 10. So the battery would have to supply 48.6 amps per hour to the inverter to power the 110V appliance.
Well atleast its worked pretty successfully for me. It got me to see what I could run, and a ballpark number on how long I can run it for until the low battery alarm goes off on my inverter. (1000watts)
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