How many Ah
I need a battery bank to power a mini fridge 1.3 amps @ 120v for 48 hours and a electric blanket 200 watts @120v 8 hours as well as computer and cell phone charging, how many Ah will I need?
Forum Discussion
S.Davis,
I have some real experience here to relate.
A pair of GCs now T105 are good for about 36 hours at a summer music festival with an ambient above 80°F in the daytime.
A Bogart Trimetric is installed so I can monitor the house bank. We do not have an electric blanket or a television, but I put a lot of hours on a 40~60 watt laptop and the 3.5ft3 reefer is run from a msqw(CCV) inverter and that increases the power load about 5%.
If I let the bank get down to 50%, it will take 4 hours of generator that will peak at 58Amp to get the bank back to about 90~95%.
At a 3 day festival in July where we usually arrive in the evening before opening, if I run the APU for 3~4 hours the next afternoon, I will usually want to run it again the the following evening again for 3~4 hours. As we usually do not depart immediately (too many friends to visit) so I may chose to again recover the bank some but not all.
The laptop does not effect the bank recovery because if the APU is running, that is supplying it.
If you choose to persist in this madness, you have to have a good battery monitor installed. There are at least Bogart and Victonix to choose from. If it does not totalise ampere-hours in and out, it is a waste of time. This is essential for all lead-acid installations.
AGMs can charge a little faster but be sure that the converter/charger is calibrated for them. I like AGMs a lot, but I have a very limited budget to work with these days.
Matt
I have some real experience here to relate.
A pair of GCs now T105 are good for about 36 hours at a summer music festival with an ambient above 80°F in the daytime.
A Bogart Trimetric is installed so I can monitor the house bank. We do not have an electric blanket or a television, but I put a lot of hours on a 40~60 watt laptop and the 3.5ft3 reefer is run from a msqw(CCV) inverter and that increases the power load about 5%.
If I let the bank get down to 50%, it will take 4 hours of generator that will peak at 58Amp to get the bank back to about 90~95%.
At a 3 day festival in July where we usually arrive in the evening before opening, if I run the APU for 3~4 hours the next afternoon, I will usually want to run it again the the following evening again for 3~4 hours. As we usually do not depart immediately (too many friends to visit) so I may chose to again recover the bank some but not all.
The laptop does not effect the bank recovery because if the APU is running, that is supplying it.
If you choose to persist in this madness, you have to have a good battery monitor installed. There are at least Bogart and Victonix to choose from. If it does not totalise ampere-hours in and out, it is a waste of time. This is essential for all lead-acid installations.
AGMs can charge a little faster but be sure that the converter/charger is calibrated for them. I like AGMs a lot, but I have a very limited budget to work with these days.
Matt
