Sabatical
Well-known member
@IGBT
That's awesome! You inspire me.
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That's awesome! You inspire me.
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so i can use a microwave but not brew coffee?
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highdesertranger
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how many amps is the breaker rated for? the most I have seen is 50a for a resetting 12v breaker. highdesertranger
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Sabatical said:
Into the mystery 13 was author,
"Super Light Weight Van Dwelling Build Full Size vs Astro vs Class A" is the episode, around the 9 minute mark.
He has one on a solar panel and lithium battery instal as well...
Sabatical
Well-known member
You know i am thinking it is 50 amps and as i'm sitting here thinking about my math, i think that's a bit small and probably the culprit.highdesertranger said:
What size would you install? It has a 2400w surge capacity.
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Sabatical
Well-known member
I just looked it up and my breaker was doing exactly what it was supposed to due to my using an insufficient wire size.
A 1000w continuous inverter should have a 200a fuse or 175a breaker on 2/0 wire.
I am surprised by this info, although most here may be shaking their heads at my naivety. I'm getting my education here.
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A 1000w continuous inverter should have a 200a fuse or 175a breaker on 2/0 wire.
I am surprised by this info, although most here may be shaking their heads at my naivety. I'm getting my education here.
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Sabatical said:
Um....
Yeah.
GEAUX- PRIUS Cowboy
Geauxfrugal
Sabatical said:
I have done experiments on this and your BEST BET to boil water is to use a true fire. JET BOIL has great time but you don't have to spend that much to get nearly the same results. A $10 burner and special pot will get your 2 min boils and when I was brewing coffee that was what I wanted good coffee but most of all FAST. Complications with my diabetes has caused my coffee to become terrible I can't add the stuff I like to so I said TEA IT IS. Now I just brew a pot of tea a day with a family teabag. I use stevia sugar for baking to sweeten my tea and a shot of lemon juice once the tea cooled. It taste like the tea in a can but better. I leave a link to the pot I own that gives me the fastest boil time I can get. If the fuel is your issue they say find the fuel at Chinese food stores it is a fraction of the price. I would hate to smutt up this pot using wood. http://www.gofastandlight.com/Olicamp-XTS-Fast-Boil-Camping-Pot/productinfo/CO-L-XTSPOT/
Yes but that's a proper setup made up of top-notch components, most people would buy a 3-5 times "bigger" system for less cost, likely skimp on wiring and CP components too, then wonder when things don't work.IGBT said:
I use the Energizer inverter recommended by AKRVBOB.
Mr Coffee Four Cup rated 650 Watts.
The amp draw to heat the water is 45 amps for about three minutes. It then drops to a very low amount of draw.
Short cables of the manufacturer's recommended gauge to the inverter. The inverter is on the outside of the battery cabinet.
One pot is not enough to drop the batteries, 2x group 29, significantly. I have to do three pots in a row to draw the batteries down some. [Do not try this at home, it will probably kill the coffee maker.]
I use the Blue Sea block fuses of the recommended sizes.
Mr Coffee Four Cup rated 650 Watts.
The amp draw to heat the water is 45 amps for about three minutes. It then drops to a very low amount of draw.
Short cables of the manufacturer's recommended gauge to the inverter. The inverter is on the outside of the battery cabinet.
One pot is not enough to drop the batteries, 2x group 29, significantly. I have to do three pots in a row to draw the batteries down some. [Do not try this at home, it will probably kill the coffee maker.]
I use the Blue Sea block fuses of the recommended sizes.
Trebor English
Well-known member
Sabatical said:
The size wire you need depends on how long the wire is. If you put the inverter 6 inches away from the battery #6 might be fine and is much easier to work with.
The power companies use high voltage transmission lines. The idea Tesla had was to use AC and transformers to step up the voltage then send the watts with low current over skinny (cheaper) wire. Edison wanted to use DC and put a power plant on each city block. You have low voltage DC which means high loss to transmit the power. Put the inverter at the battery then run the 120 volts at one tenth the current to get the watts to the coffee maker with one tenth the wire size.
Air conditioners, refrigerators, and anything with a motor will have a high starting surge. Computers and microwaves have starting surges. Tungsten incandescent lamps have a surge while warming up. Resistive loads like coffee makers, rice cookers, toaster ovens, have no starting surge. It takes 600 watts to run and it takes 600 watts to start. The inverter, like a computer or microwave, has a starting surge but not the coffee pot.
You can't have electricity without math. #6 wire is .4 milliohms per foot. Two one foot pieces of #6 wire, one for plus, one for minus, is .0008 ohms. At 50 amps (E=IR) the voltage drop is .04 volts. That is negligible. You can use 2/0 wire if you have hurt feelings about crummy #6 but the performance will be the same. Now if you put the inverter 10 feet away from the battery (20 feet round trip) 4/0 wire won't be as good as 1 foot (2 round trip) of #6. Bigger diameter wire helps but cannot make up for length that is unnecessary. Is there a reason the inverter has to be far from the battery? You can have it far but 4/0 wire is almost 1/2 inch diameter, heavy, expensive, and not as good performance.
You want a fuse not a breaker. If the circuit is overloaded and the cost of replacement fuses is too much a breaker will, at high cost, save the pennies that fuses cost. It is better to fix the circuit than to adapt to overloading it. Breakers have many parts that can fail. They can fail open circuit, safe or they can fail closed, fire hazard. Breakers have more voltage drop than fuses. Some people like breakers so they can use them like a switch. Don't do that, repeated tripping of the breaker will get it to failure sooner, on purpose.
My advice is before you spend kilobucks on kilowatts of sine wave inverter or replace battery or add solar try this first. Put the inverter where you can wire it with #6 or #8 wire as short as possible and then try brewing coffee. The plus and minus wires don't need to be the same length. The only reason to make either wire any longer than the absolute shortest possible is to keep it safe. Sharp edges of steel will cut insulation. There may be other hazards. You need to be able to check and add water safely.
If the inverter is fused internally and the wire is run in a manner where it cannot possibly make a short circuit, for example the wire is only 5 inches long and cannot possibly reach any other conductor, then it may be reasonable to not have an additional fuse. The wire needs to be protected from other conductors reaching it. A good example of this is where people wire a pair of golf cart batteries in series with a short unfused jumper between the batteries. It is too short, even if a bolt falls out, to reach anything.
And a good quality inverter like Magnum makes a huge difference, but the Chinese cr^p is now SO cheap people just think the good stuff is "outrageous".
So if you do buy cheap, at least get 2-3x the watts you think you need, and maybe it will be good enough. For a while. . .
So if you do buy cheap, at least get 2-3x the watts you think you need, and maybe it will be good enough. For a while. . .
Sabatical
Well-known member
I was talking with an electrician buddy at work and he brought me some 2 gauge that was leftover from a side job. I'll do some knife sharpening in return for it.
I ordered some lugs and a breaker this morning.
The inverter is mounted under a cabinet that is on the opposite side of the campers power center from the batteries. It would be difficult to get it closer and not be too close to the batteries.
I found that youtube video on the fridge install and then read the instructions on the website. I am super excited to add an electric fridge and possibly an induction cooktop when we eventually build a new home on wheels. This poor camper is showing it's age. At that time we will bump the solar to 520w and the battery bank to 450ah.
The only thing left on gas will be the wave heater.
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I ordered some lugs and a breaker this morning.
The inverter is mounted under a cabinet that is on the opposite side of the campers power center from the batteries. It would be difficult to get it closer and not be too close to the batteries.
I found that youtube video on the fridge install and then read the instructions on the website. I am super excited to add an electric fridge and possibly an induction cooktop when we eventually build a new home on wheels. This poor camper is showing it's age. At that time we will bump the solar to 520w and the battery bank to 450ah.
The only thing left on gas will be the wave heater.
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