AGM Batteries and Inverter - What Is Best For My Needs?

Sure you can go that way. However it will take a couple of hours to put back the energy into the battery from running the hair dryer for a few minutes. Same with the coffee maker.

It would be better to run a small 2,000 watt Honda generator for such high wattage appliances, then run the TV or other low wattage things with the inverter. But whatever you want. . .

The Honda is about $995 at a place like this. Mayberrys.com Ask about delivery costs, as that can get expensive. I think this place is free shipping, but don't have current information.

Honda 2000 watt is only about 49 pounds, and you can pair two of them to make 4 KW and run a air conditioner.

If you really want to use a inverter to power the hair dryer, microwave and coffee maker, it is possible. A pair of 105 AH batteries will each hold about 1,200 watts, but only use about 80% of that for long battery life, so about 900 watts can be used from each.

The microwave would require pure sine wave power, while the hair dryer and coffee maker will not. Pure sine wave might be a 1800 watt Prosine, or Outback inverter about the same size. SunElec.com sells both inverters and solar panels.

Instead of running a noisy generator for a hour or two to make up for the power used, you might like to have a pair of 150 watt solar panels on the roof. My RV uses 35 AH daily to run the CO and propane detectors along with the refrigerator. That is about what one of my 120 watt solar panels can put out in a day. I have a total of 400 watts.

The Honda generators are very quiet, less noise than your truck at idle.

Good luck!

Fred.

Absolutely no benefits to using AGM batteries with a truck camper. AGM do not require venting and can lie on their side but that is not what is found with the factory battery compartments. More expensive does not mean better.

I agree with both Golden HVAC and wintersun.

Buy two 6 volt wet cell deep cycle batteries and an inverter/converter. Using a Honda generator for times of high amperage use is a very good suggestion. If the price of the Honda is not in your budget, then one of the cheap Chinese knock-offs at less than half the price might work. Keep in mind they are cheaper for a reason.

Solar panels are a more expensive and complicated solution, but are totally quiet and can charge the batteries up to 100%. (Your generator will charge wet cell batteries quickly up to 80%, but then it is very slow for the last 20%.)

I have 2 group 31 Deka AGMs in my AF 1140. Installed them in 2010. Nicest thing about AGMs is they are maintenance free. I think Deka is made by East Penn so they are probably the same battery. After 4 years they are still going strong and I am very pleased with them.

While some will not see a value for AGM batteries, the following advantages are why I have 440Ahr of AGM batteries in my TC, which is used both summer and winter for boondocking.

Charge acceptance rate for AGM batteries are significantly higher than flooded lead acid batteries, resulting in less generator time / fuel needed to recharge to ~90% SOC when it isn't sunny.

Under normal charging conditions AGM batteries don't vent allowing them to be inside (if you are comfortable with this). A 60-70F battery has significantly more Ahr capacity than a cold battery, in a vented, unheated battery compartment. Don't have to replace a non-temperature compensated converter / charger with a temperature compensated one and temperature sensors, if you store the batteries in the heated camper.

Non-venting AGM batteries don't spill sulfuric acid from the battery into the compartment, independent of orientation.

Non-venting AGM batteries can be placed out of the way, without the concern for access for the routine maintenance of adding water to flooded lead acid batteries.

Self discharge rate of AGM batteries are less than flooded lead acid batteries. Significant if you don't use your battery during the winter. Discharged battery electrolyte freezes and destroys the flooded lead acid battery. AGM batteries maintain their charge, and even if frozen, not sustain damage.

The AGM batteries have a key difference to wet cell batteries in that they can be recharged up to three to five times as fast. If you get a charger sized for the task, you can put back the energy for the hair fluffing almost as fast as she uses it, with that little Honda generator or by driving and charging from the alternator. I would look for a 2,000 watt pure sine inverter, a 50 amp or so charger (built in or a separate converter type unit) and I like 230 amp hour 6 volt golf cart batteries, four of them in series/parallel for the 12v bank.

Brian

I have Lifeline gpl31xt 125AH AGMS in my setup. It is a sexy battery, very well made. They are expensive though, around $350 each but free shipping.

The charts at Lifeline show you will get about 1000 cycles for a 50% depth of discharge (DoD). Thus you have about 125AH available from a two battery system, which is 1500 watt-hr. Figure an inverter runs at 90% efficiency and you have available 1350 watt-hr.

You could run a hair dryer for 5 min at 1500 watts and use up 125 watt-hr. 5 min microwave would use up about 100 watt-hr.

So don't take a shower more than about 5 times a weekend and don't eat more than 6 tv dinners and you are good to go.

Golden_HVAC wrote:
It would be better to run a small 2,000 watt Honda generator for such high wattage appliances, then run the TV or other low wattage things with the inverter. But whatever you want. . .

The Honda is about $995 at a place like this. Mayberrys.com Ask about delivery costs, as that can get expensive. I think this place is free shipping, but don't have current information.

Fred, I appreciate your recommendation on the Honda EU2000 and I laugh only because I ordered one just yesterday from Camping World. They are running a special until August 18th of, $999 plus free shipping. I thought that was a pretty good deal. But I should also clarify when I would be wanting to run these appliances without the generator. I would only be wanting to do this when camping overnight at places like Walmart, rest areas or truck stops and not pull out the generator so not to look too much like we are camping. Once we arrived at our destination, I would be pulling out the generator. My current Onan 2500 is very noisy and with the mechanical problems I've had with it, I just want to remove it from the camper and then carry the Honda in the generator cavity. My plan is to remove it, get it serviced and then sell it. It only has 16 hours on it but just don't like it. I also barowed a friends Honda 2000 and it was able to run the AC we have in the camper.

A question I should probably ask, is it then even necessary for me to have AGM batteries if only needing them to run appliances on these quick, overnight stays? I'm thinking I would still require a good inverter.

As for the solar panels, many of the places we dry camp are so wooded, I'm not too sure if solar would work very well for us.

Thanks, Ken

Less required charging time means lower battery capacities. AGM's typically have less amps it can hold in it's bank account.

covered wagon wrote:
Less required charging time means lower battery capacities. AGM's typically have less amps it can hold in it's bank account.

Only slightly lower capacity vs flooded. Maybe 2% to 5% lower. Charge rate up to 5x faster than flooded.