Forum Discussion

cubbear's avatar
cubbear
Explorer
Jan 01, 2015

Batteries needed fo 1500 watt inverter

hair dryer-toaster-microwave for short periods of time what do I need for batteries?
  • Your best answer is "It depends"

    "It depends a lot on how long you plan on using each one vs. camping time. I have a 2kw Prosine"

    I too have a Prosine 2kw but only have two Costco GC batteries

    How do you plan on charging the batteries?
  • If space/ventilation are not factors, I would go with four 6v's, for reasons as stated by BFL, and a pure sine wave inverter.
  • You can run with two Wet batteries if they are above 75% SOC when you do it, otherwise the loaded voltage will hit the 11v alarm. With four Wet batts you can do it all when down to 50% at start.

    With AGMs you can do it with two batts to 50% from reports on here, so that's the way to go if you have a small rig with limited battery space.

    If the 1500 is MSW it will want about 110a for a 1550w MW,(and run it slow but get the job done--unless it won't.) but a PSW inverter will want all 1550w,(and run it normally) and draw 150a, so that inverter could be too small depending on the size of the MW and whether the inverter is PSW or MSW.
  • Hi,

    I'd go with AGM 12 volt jars wired in a balanced manner. Or a single 8D agm.
  • wa8yxm's avatar
    wa8yxm
    Explorer III
    The general rule is 200 amp hours (C/20 rate) per kilowatt.

    For a 1500 you may be a bit anemic on the Microwave, but 1 pair of GC2 may do it, 2 pair would be better, more pairs = more operational time.
  • I recommend four or more batteries to run those items.
    Also recommend sine wave inverter with microwave.
    Make sure you check input power on that microwave etc.
  • It depends a lot on how long you plan on using each one vs. camping time. I have a 2kw Prosine, I run 6 140Ah AGM's.

    I went on a 5-day dry camping trip a while back and decided to see how long I could go without any kind of care as far as conserving batteries. Ran the coffee maker every day, tv, laptop, satellite, icemaker, etc, and on day 4 the inverter was squealing about low voltage.

    My inverter also has a 3-stage 100amp charger, so ran the Honda for a couple hours and was good to go for the remaining day and a half.

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