Cargo trailer life

[candjmc]

Hi all
We're making good use of cargo trailer for now, (until our next toy )
I found tiny fridge and wanted to run lights ect, I have two brand new 6 volt batteries, also 90 watt solar panel. What size power inverter would you all suggest

[candjmc]

Yeah I won't rely fully on solar power, I will bring a generator, thanks for the advice

[colliehauler]

You will not have enough solar to keep your battery charged. Your frig will run day and night. Your panel has to run the frig and charge the battery during the day along with the power draw of the inverter itself. Then add lights, tv and any other use and you will not have enough. Then your panel's only charge full rate when sun is directly on them. Add a rainy day or overcast and even less charging power.

I would go to the Boone docking thread on the forum and ask what you will need. They have far more experience then I.

[candjmc]

Ok so a 3000 watt regular inverter is not a good idea. 1000 watt pure sine inverter although they are pricy

[colliehauler]

Others may explain better than I. A Modified Sine Wave clips the top and the bottom of the wave off. A Pure Sign Wave does not. Pure sign wave is know as clean power like at your home. This causes less interference in electronics, but the trade off is higher cost. A Modified sign wave can cause a hum or buzz in some electronics but is cheaper to buy. The correct size has already been covered by WESTEND.

[candjmc]

There's so many inverter, canadIan tire has a 3000 watt inverter for 300 dollar's, I'm trying to understand the difference between a sine and generic inverter

[candjmc]

Sorry an msw inverter?

[candjmc]

I found this one Xantrex XPower 1000 Inverter GFCI local

[candjmc]

Would 1000 watt xantrex run samll tv and a fridge? Not that I have tv but if I did

[westend]

candjmc wrote:
Thanks gdetrailer, so I have been shopping around. ..of course the place that sells battery also sell a 1000 watt inverter, he said it would be plenty buy hey sell what you have correct. ..he also said a bigger say 3000 watt inverter in inefficient which I do not understand that reasoning? I have 3000 watt one i can get for about 150 bucks

I run a small 120 V fridge in my trailer. 600W Samlex would not overcome the startup draw. 1000W Xantrex Prowatt doesn't blink. I'd suggest to bypass the MSW inverters and get a decent pure sine inverter. It won't take more than the loss of one electronic device to show the difference. Larger inverters can be less efficient because of a higher idle draw and you will have a lot of that running a compressor fridge.

[candjmc]

Thanks gdetrailer, so I have been shopping around. ..of course the place that sells battery also sell a 1000 watt inverter, he said it would be plenty buy hey sell what you have correct. ..he also said a bigger say 3000 watt inverter in inefficient which I do not understand that reasoning? I have 3000 watt one i can get for about 150 bucks

[Gdetrailer]

candjmc wrote:
Maybe small tv fridge is 88 watts

That is the "run" wattage, startup surge wattage will be pretty close to 700W-800W.

Some folks have had success with 800W inverters but in reality 1,000W-1,200W (2,000W-2,400W SURGE rating)inverter will ensure a successful fridge startup.

To handle the large startup surge current you will also need to use rather heavy ga of wire, something like 2ga or better and keep the 12V side from the inverter to battery as short as possible. The typical 10 ga wires they give with cheap inverters simply will not do when dealing with high surge currents. Minimizing the voltage drop from battery to the inverter is key to keeping the inverter from shutting down under the surge.

I used 1/0 and have no more than 6ft total wire (three feet for positive and three feet for the negative).

Make darn sure you add in a FUSE for the wire FEEDING the inverter, place it close to the battery as possible. Size the fuse to the wire size..

[candjmc]

Maybe small tv fridge is 88 watts

[colliehauler]

Look at the frig for watts used. Then we can give you a better answer. Do you plan on small tv or other 110V items? Lights will be 12v not run by inverter. Would go with led light bulbs for less power draw.

[corvettekent]

How many watts does the fridge use? You should get a pure sine wave inverter bigger than what the fridge uses. Your lights should be 12 volt LEDs.