Easy Start By Micro Air
I wanted to run my 13.5 Dometic AC on my generator but having only a 2000 watt Honda EUI, it was either buy a bigger generator or try the Easy Start from Micro Air. I decided to go with the Easy St...
Forum Discussion
“If you want to be able to boondock all year round and run at least one AC you will need that large battery bank 1200ah in lithium would cost you a bundle. Throw in 1500 watts of solar on the roof and some nice Victron electronics and you into a 25k+ solar system not counting labor.”
To some extent I somewhat agree, but (non-intuitively…), if one thinks about it in terms of power consumed vs power recovered ‘over time’ (considering peak and non-peak daylight harvest hours), then (assuming using LFP’s) it becomes more of a battery capacity (think, water well bladder-like) ‘balancing act’ of what goes in - vs what goes out over a time (i.e. usable battery capacity vs consumption vs harvest rate), whereby often a sufficient capacity reserve exist and restoration (if not even to FULL) is achieved before or by noontime while temps are still within a fairly comfortable range
Quite naturally this will vary with the vagaries of weather, one’s own rig, equipment, etc, but in this way I’ve found that quite often an assumed 1 to 1 direct ‘in vs out’ energy ratio is seldom a requirement…
Here’s just one admittedly anecdotal example using a 11kbtu air cond (9.5a, low fan), 660w solar, two 200a/hr LFP (load tested to an ‘actual’ 215a/hr per…), a 2/3rds air cond duty cycle, with a 2/3rds harvest rate, while assuming batteries starting out at say 90% SOC, this, for a single slide-out Truck Camper:
400a/hr LFP rated capacity, between (example only) 90% - 20% SOC = 280 usable a/hr range (yet from ‘actual LFP experience’, still a somewhat conservative number as voltage plateau remains fairly flat throughout discharge)…
95a (dc) air conditioner @ 2/3rds duty cycle = approx 57a/hrs (dc).
23.5a (dc) hourly adjusted harvest = a 33.5a/hrs hourly run deficit…
In view of the aforementioned ‘balancing act’, (just) 280 usable a/hrs / 33.5 a/hr deficit = an approx 8hrs run time (compressor cycling)…
Note however that over such hypothetical 8hr extended run time, harvest will not be static…
Conversely, a simple 1-to-1 energy ratio paradigm would suggest that a whopping 950w of solar might be required to maintain energy parity (in the longer view, not necessarily so!), and remember that shortly thereafter, sunrise charging will typically resume!…Point here is, depending on a few other multi-dimensioned variables, immediate energy parity is not always necessary, and can often be achieved both simply and passively - where the budget permits…Again, in this scenario it becomes obvious that LFP’s have the clear advantage - Just Saying :)
3 tons
To some extent I somewhat agree, but (non-intuitively…), if one thinks about it in terms of power consumed vs power recovered ‘over time’ (considering peak and non-peak daylight harvest hours), then (assuming using LFP’s) it becomes more of a battery capacity (think, water well bladder-like) ‘balancing act’ of what goes in - vs what goes out over a time (i.e. usable battery capacity vs consumption vs harvest rate), whereby often a sufficient capacity reserve exist and restoration (if not even to FULL) is achieved before or by noontime while temps are still within a fairly comfortable range
Quite naturally this will vary with the vagaries of weather, one’s own rig, equipment, etc, but in this way I’ve found that quite often an assumed 1 to 1 direct ‘in vs out’ energy ratio is seldom a requirement…
Here’s just one admittedly anecdotal example using a 11kbtu air cond (9.5a, low fan), 660w solar, two 200a/hr LFP (load tested to an ‘actual’ 215a/hr per…), a 2/3rds air cond duty cycle, with a 2/3rds harvest rate, while assuming batteries starting out at say 90% SOC, this, for a single slide-out Truck Camper:
400a/hr LFP rated capacity, between (example only) 90% - 20% SOC = 280 usable a/hr range (yet from ‘actual LFP experience’, still a somewhat conservative number as voltage plateau remains fairly flat throughout discharge)…
95a (dc) air conditioner @ 2/3rds duty cycle = approx 57a/hrs (dc).
23.5a (dc) hourly adjusted harvest = a 33.5a/hrs hourly run deficit…
In view of the aforementioned ‘balancing act’, (just) 280 usable a/hrs / 33.5 a/hr deficit = an approx 8hrs run time (compressor cycling)…
Note however that over such hypothetical 8hr extended run time, harvest will not be static…
Conversely, a simple 1-to-1 energy ratio paradigm would suggest that a whopping 950w of solar might be required to maintain energy parity (in the longer view, not necessarily so!), and remember that shortly thereafter, sunrise charging will typically resume!…Point here is, depending on a few other multi-dimensioned variables, immediate energy parity is not always necessary, and can often be achieved both simply and passively - where the budget permits…Again, in this scenario it becomes obvious that LFP’s have the clear advantage - Just Saying :)
3 tons
