Misery energy consumption

[Cubey]

One thing I really like about my ol' Xplorer is that it's very misery in it's energy needs. The only two things you "have" to use on 12v electric are the lights, water pump and starter motor for the built in Onan genset. <br><br>It's a slight disadvantage that the water heater (original eqipment) is 120v only, but does have a heat exchanger so the van's engine heat also heats the water which can be useful on days when the van is being driven. Or the generator can be run to heat the water at minimal cost.<br><br>The fridge is 3 way so it CAN be run on 12v but unless there is a good enough solar (for daytime) and battery (for night) system it would be a heavy draw. A 12v thermoelectric cooler might be more practical but I'm not sure. The fridge can run on propane though, so 12v isn't required but would be more energy efficient if I have enough solar and battery capacity to make up for it. I will try to use the fridge only when on the grid.<br><br>The furnace has no blower fan so it doesn't need electricity at all to operate. It uses a standing pilot so again, no electricity needed.<br><br> I have my in-dash stereo wired with a switch so it can be used without the key turned should I want to have surround sound from it through the car audio speakers but that invites more battery usage. I did it mostly for times I'm on the grid with the RV converter powered up or I have the generator running for the water heater or roof AC. <br><br>The 2700w Onan generator can power the AC or water heater but not both at once. Xplorer put a switch next to the breakers for one OR the other so you can't run both at once.. even plugged in to the grid... which kind of stinks.. but being a 6 gallon water heater, it probably doesn't take more than 30 minutes to heat up the water from cold. Gives the batteries time to recharge and allows laptop use without leeching off the batteries.<br><br>So the only real power needs I will have from a solar and battery system will be LED lights (mostly for night), a fan or two for air circulation (but I do have a 9x9 roof vent over the bed, only good if it's not raining) and a laptop [or tablet] and cell phone. <br><br>My laptop is pretty much a gaming one. It has a big AC adapter, rated 2A at 120V and outputs 18.5v, 6.5A 120W. Input calls for 100-240V - 2A. I guess it pulls 2A regardless of the input voltage. So it would take at least a 250W inverter which would pull about 20 amps at 12v. Not practical at all for extended usage unfortunately. Even a netbook would take a fair amount with a car adapter instead of an inverter.. potentially 10 amps @ 12 volts so that's not practical either.<br><br> I may have to settle for a tablet or my Android phone if I don't have access to 120v which I'm not fond of... which is why I plan to mostly be in RV parks. When I'm planning to be at Quartzsite, I'll have to settle for a tablet or phone most of the time.. and fire up my generator for times I want to run the laptop (which will also heat the water and recharge the batteries).

 

[wrcsixeight]

Miserable energy consumption!! How dare it get consumed at such a prodigious rate?<br><br>I prefer equipment miserly in their energy consumption.<br><br>DC to DC converters for a laptop are the way to go for an energy miser.<br><br>Type your laptop brand and model number into amazon and add "car adapter". &nbsp;Make sure it has a ciggy plug on it, and is not just a replacement 120v power brick.<br><br>My PWR+ for my Dell (22$) uses significantly less energy to power my laptop, compared to my &nbsp;noisy inefficient inverter powering the original power brick. &nbsp;At least 0.9 amps less, at all times, and does it silently.<br><br>I have a 120 watt one for my older Sony Laptop which was close to 70$$.<br><br>Avoid the universal models on laptops which can consume more than 60 watts. &nbsp;These are only good for recharging the battery with the laptop off.<br><br>But still, the laptop can be a huge draw, when watching a DVD or streaming a movie, mine is in the 4 to 5 amp range.

 

[Cubey]

My laptop calls for 18.5 / 6.5A ... 120W. The universal car chargers for 120W don't have 18.5v. They have 18 and 19, but not 18.5. The ones that do output 18.5v are only 65w. My laptop pulls almost twice that... so sadly, there is no such product made.<br><br>---EDIT---<br>OK ignore that, i did finally dig one up. I looked 8 months ago too and couldn't find one. It claims to pull only 5.6 amps at 12 volts.<br><br>http://www.aliexpress.com/store/pro...ith-7-4-5-0mm-connector/302194_640309189.html<br><br>But your experience may vary with that site, it's like ebay with many different sellers and a feedback system:<br>http://www.trustpilot.com/review/www.aliexpress.com<br><br>If I decide to buy from there, I will load up some money on a prepaid debit card. I don't trust my real financial info to that site. I'm not fond of those prepaid debit cards either but eh... to do once in a great while to protect my bank info, I guess it's worth it.