LCD and DVD Install
02-15-2008, 04:15 PM
#11
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Sounds like there's plenty of invertor users out there. diggster69 I'm sure you are having success with your invertor because you say you are. The situation you describe is fairly easy on batteries. You're not opening and closing the fridge door during the time you mentioned so it probably doesn't run too much. And, four batteries is a pretty healthy battery setup. If you want max invertor power use 6 volt golf cart batteries hooked in series. Run 4 batteries in a series parallel hookup. Talk about some current, that's the hookup. That's a great battery combination for invertors.
Never, ever, ever place an invertor in the engine room. That's a recipe for disaster there.
The electrical math simply does no lie though. It's just more energy efficient to run 12VDC components when you can. They are readily available. Go to SAM's. Many of the LCD TV's they have will run fine on 12VDC. They come with a wall wart plug in power supply to plug into the wall outlet but many are putting out 12VDC.
It is an indisputable fact though that the invertor being between the load and the supply reduces the efficiency because there's not an invertor made that operates at 100% efficiency.
deboatmon
Never, ever, ever place an invertor in the engine room. That's a recipe for disaster there.
The electrical math simply does no lie though. It's just more energy efficient to run 12VDC components when you can. They are readily available. Go to SAM's. Many of the LCD TV's they have will run fine on 12VDC. They come with a wall wart plug in power supply to plug into the wall outlet but many are putting out 12VDC.
It is an indisputable fact though that the invertor being between the load and the supply reduces the efficiency because there's not an invertor made that operates at 100% efficiency.
deboatmon
I will agree that this time of year there would not be much load, but in the summer it gets well over 100-110 degrees.
My old 12 vdc fridge would drain the batteries overnight and it was less than 1/2 the size.
02-17-2008, 12:58 AM
#12
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Sounds like there's plenty of invertor users out there. diggster69 I'm sure you are having success with your invertor because you say you are. The situation you describe is fairly easy on batteries. You're not opening and closing the fridge door during the time you mentioned so it probably doesn't run too much. And, four batteries is a pretty healthy battery setup. If you want max invertor power use 6 volt golf cart batteries hooked in series. Run 4 batteries in a series parallel hookup. Talk about some current, that's the hookup. That's a great battery combination for invertors.
Never, ever, ever place an invertor in the engine room. That's a recipe for disaster there.
The electrical math simply does no lie though. It's just more energy efficient to run 12VDC components when you can. They are readily available. Go to SAM's. Many of the LCD TV's they have will run fine on 12VDC. They come with a wall wart plug in power supply to plug into the wall outlet but many are putting out 12VDC.
It is an indisputable fact though that the invertor being between the load and the supply reduces the efficiency because there's not an invertor made that operates at 100% efficiency.
deboatmon
Never, ever, ever place an invertor in the engine room. That's a recipe for disaster there.
The electrical math simply does no lie though. It's just more energy efficient to run 12VDC components when you can. They are readily available. Go to SAM's. Many of the LCD TV's they have will run fine on 12VDC. They come with a wall wart plug in power supply to plug into the wall outlet but many are putting out 12VDC.
It is an indisputable fact though that the invertor being between the load and the supply reduces the efficiency because there's not an invertor made that operates at 100% efficiency.
deboatmon
The advantage to inverting the 12dc to 120ac is in line loss, when running heavy loads. (BTW the Xantrex ProSine line is 95% efficient). If we use the previous analogy of 1 amp at 120 and 10 amps at 12v, they both amount to the same amoount of power, 120w. My 27" LCD, amp, and speakers draw about 480w with the volume at max, which equals 40 amps at 12v! -look at the current!
If I want to power my TV in the front of the berth, that's 30' of cable - do I want to run #6 to avoid all of the ineffiecencies of smaller cable? And, we all know AC was developed specifically to rid us of the inefficiencies of running high amperage DC over any distance....just my two cents.
02-17-2008, 01:49 PM
#13
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Read this and PM him to see how it worked out. I haven't seen any follow up posting as far as the results.
http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/s...6&highlight=ac
http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/s...6&highlight=ac
02-18-2008, 11:26 AM
#14
) You have some sort of "Off grid" 110v system going on there?? Do you have some sort of PV panel charging the batts then running inverters to power what you need??? You have sparked my interest! i'm looking at doing a few "out of the box" things to power and heat my garage at home
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-Wally
Money can't buy happiness, but it can buy horsepower. And I've never seen a sad person hauling a$$!
02-18-2008, 04:21 PM
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Dude! what do you have going on there in the pic? Looks like the battery backup systems we used to have when i worked at Motorola (yours is on a way smaller scale thorugh ) You have some sort of "Off grid" 110v system going on there?? Do you have some sort of PV panel charging the batts then running inverters to power what you need??? You have sparked my interest! i'm looking at doing a few "out of the box" things to power and heat my garage at home
) You have some sort of "Off grid" 110v system going on there?? Do you have some sort of PV panel charging the batts then running inverters to power what you need??? You have sparked my interest! i'm looking at doing a few "out of the box" things to power and heat my garage at home 240v at 60amps for 20 hours is the rating on the system, all off the shelf Xantrex stuff and real easy to install. I'm using the grid whenever it's available, and genrator to power up the battery bank after it gets down to 80%.
Grid power is not reliable in our area, but I'm stuck with it until I find 15k for the solar panels I need.
I was planning to put a smaller system in the boat, but I'm too busy spending $$ on the engines for this season.
02-18-2008, 10:39 PM
#16
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Thanks for all the help guys. I am only going to be running my LCD off the inverter and I was looking at these two:
http://www.donrowe.com/inverters/xs400.html
http://www.4lots.com/index.asp?PageA...rodID=470&HS=1
The specs on my LCD show it's AC power consumption at 45w....Is a 300 watt inverter enough juice ?
http://www.donrowe.com/inverters/xs400.html
http://www.4lots.com/index.asp?PageA...rodID=470&HS=1
The specs on my LCD show it's AC power consumption at 45w....Is a 300 watt inverter enough juice ?
Last edited by LZH; 02-18-2008 at 10:55 PM.
02-19-2008, 03:48 PM
#17
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Thanks for all the help guys. I am only going to be running my LCD off the inverter and I was looking at these two:
http://www.donrowe.com/inverters/xs400.html
http://www.4lots.com/index.asp?PageA...rodID=470&HS=1
The specs on my LCD show it's AC power consumption at 45w....Is a 300 watt inverter enough juice ?
http://www.donrowe.com/inverters/xs400.html
http://www.4lots.com/index.asp?PageA...rodID=470&HS=1
The specs on my LCD show it's AC power consumption at 45w....Is a 300 watt inverter enough juice ?
Take it from an electrician - there are "thresholds" within the technology that allow the consumer to get the best ROI (return on investment). If you need advice for a bigger system, I can help.
If, your requirement is simply a 45w running load, the rule of thumb for inrush current is 300%, so you need something that can handle 3 x 45x = 135w (surge rating). The 300w unit will be fine - remember they do create a little heat, so don't put it under the dash next to the wife's leg, or you'll be in trouble!
02-21-2008, 02:03 PM
#18
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nwimbush -
Thanks for the help man....I was wondering if possibly I could use another power cord; the type that has the wall wart in the middle....and run this thing directly off 12v power ? I spoke to someone at Sharp in the tech support department and they gave me the standard line "the unit was designed to only run off 120v ac power".
Thoughts ?
Thanks for the help man....I was wondering if possibly I could use another power cord; the type that has the wall wart in the middle....and run this thing directly off 12v power ? I spoke to someone at Sharp in the tech support department and they gave me the standard line "the unit was designed to only run off 120v ac power".
Thoughts ?
02-21-2008, 03:41 PM
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nwimbush -
Thanks for the help man....I was wondering if possibly I could use another power cord; the type that has the wall wart in the middle....and run this thing directly off 12v power ? I spoke to someone at Sharp in the tech support department and they gave me the standard line "the unit was designed to only run off 120v ac power".
Thoughts ?
Thanks for the help man....I was wondering if possibly I could use another power cord; the type that has the wall wart in the middle....and run this thing directly off 12v power ? I spoke to someone at Sharp in the tech support department and they gave me the standard line "the unit was designed to only run off 120v ac power".
Thoughts ?
LZH - no, you were on the right track before with the little inverter, but i have never heard of a wall wart....
02-21-2008, 06:53 PM
#20
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