Running a 120v a/c unit off starter battery

westend wrote:

jrnymn7 wrote:

Peg Leg wrote:
Back in the 70's I used to work on the repair bench in Delco Remy's alternator plant. The stator and rotor determine the alternators output. I remember changing my 77 pickup from a 37 to a 55 amp alternator. They used to stamp the output on the outside of the case.

What are you running for house batteries? Add a house battery or two and with a isolator and run the inverter off of them while the alternator charges them.

i have four transcanada 6v golf cart batteries in series/parallel for 440 a/h. are you suggesting charging them off the alternator along with a couple more? i don't have room for more batteries in that compartment, nor is there much room anywhere else. my best bet may be to put a larger battery where the starter battery is, as suggested earlier, and go with a separate system just for the a/c.

there are some pretty high output alternators available now; like 200 amps; which may or may not raise wiring issues?

If you have that size of battery bank, it would be better to use that large bank of batteries. You can use your original alternator but I would suggest you either upgrade to a higher output alternator or add a second. The load from the battery bank can be fed through an outboard rectifier fed from an alternator. That would keep some of the heat issues out of the alternator.

I sure hope you can succeed in this as I'd like to do it myself, not so much for transportation mode but boondocking in warmer climes. I have 235w of solar, now, and that can be upgraded fairly easily. I also have a Xantrex Prowatt 1000W inverter. It seems to be a good piece of hardware. I'm somewhat surprised that the Xantrex can overcome the lock rotor draw of the A/C. My 80w dorm fridge was too much of a load for a 600W Samlex inverter.