Sizing a battery bank. Ah VS wh?
Hi again! So, I'm trying to size out the battery bank I will need for my husband and I to live off grid in a camper. We don't have tons of time or money, so that's a bit of a factor. We plan on usi...
Forum Discussion
The camper I have was already ran with 120ac electric, nothing 12v to plug into except ciggertte lighter.
I've heard about the inverter powerless, I thought most of them were 80-90 % efficient, so I'd lose that 10-20%.
Not sure what you mean by the 10:1 ratio. From what I've learned so far I've seen that different inverters draw different amount of amps depending on the wattage inverted.
Generators I've seen locally are pretty cheap, like $275 for 1500w. I'm thinking when its cloudy it may be worth having.
OldWizard said "when you want Amp-hours at 12V (instead of 120V) you need to multiply be 10, so about 31,000 Ah !" I'm confused on why I would need to multiple that if I'm using an inverter and everything I'd being turned into AC?
Thanks Piano, I didnt think about the leap the inverter would have to take from 12 as opposed to 48v. I would have liked to run a 12v system but I dont have but a month left before my lease is up. So maybe something for the future.
Also you mentioned "divide the watt-hours used in a day by 5 (example 2200 / 5 = 440 watts of panels)." Is the '5' in that formula the hours of sunlight a day? 2510/4.5 = 113
That seems like such a little amount. I thought it would be more about the solar's charging rates. Like "25amps per hour" or 25ah x 4.5hrs of sunlight = 100 amps charged in 'one day.' I havnt quite gotten to that research yet...
To clarify no electric frying pans and no toasters lol. Just a propane stove top. We will be mobile and hope not to encounter weather any less than 40 degrees (at night.)
202ah sounds kinda like a lot to me considering what we plan on running, if anyone feels like reading a list, feel free if not I totally understand lol.
Laptop x2
Mp3player charger x2
E-cig charger x2
Phone charger x2
Flashlight charger
Coleman lantern charger
Mini dehumidifier 22.50w
Small fan
Overhead lights
Coffee maker 700w (10mins daily)
4.5 cubic foot fridge (not 12v)
Printer (100-200v/.6a)
Heating pad
And a couple other odds and ends
With that I ended up with 2510wh / 202ah
That's without the coleman mach 3 AC on top.
I've heard about the inverter powerless, I thought most of them were 80-90 % efficient, so I'd lose that 10-20%.
Not sure what you mean by the 10:1 ratio. From what I've learned so far I've seen that different inverters draw different amount of amps depending on the wattage inverted.
Generators I've seen locally are pretty cheap, like $275 for 1500w. I'm thinking when its cloudy it may be worth having.
OldWizard said "when you want Amp-hours at 12V (instead of 120V) you need to multiply be 10, so about 31,000 Ah !" I'm confused on why I would need to multiple that if I'm using an inverter and everything I'd being turned into AC?
Thanks Piano, I didnt think about the leap the inverter would have to take from 12 as opposed to 48v. I would have liked to run a 12v system but I dont have but a month left before my lease is up. So maybe something for the future.
Also you mentioned "divide the watt-hours used in a day by 5 (example 2200 / 5 = 440 watts of panels)." Is the '5' in that formula the hours of sunlight a day? 2510/4.5 = 113
That seems like such a little amount. I thought it would be more about the solar's charging rates. Like "25amps per hour" or 25ah x 4.5hrs of sunlight = 100 amps charged in 'one day.' I havnt quite gotten to that research yet...
To clarify no electric frying pans and no toasters lol. Just a propane stove top. We will be mobile and hope not to encounter weather any less than 40 degrees (at night.)
202ah sounds kinda like a lot to me considering what we plan on running, if anyone feels like reading a list, feel free if not I totally understand lol.
Laptop x2
Mp3player charger x2
E-cig charger x2
Phone charger x2
Flashlight charger
Coleman lantern charger
Mini dehumidifier 22.50w
Small fan
Overhead lights
Coffee maker 700w (10mins daily)
4.5 cubic foot fridge (not 12v)
Printer (100-200v/.6a)
Heating pad
And a couple other odds and ends
With that I ended up with 2510wh / 202ah
That's without the coleman mach 3 AC on top.
