Some observations on battery usage with inverter

[belfert]

The guys forgot to unplug the fridge on my bus last weekend so the empty fridge ran on inverter for more than 48 hours.  I figure I still had 30% battery capacity left when I got the fridge turned off and the bus back on shore power.  I have a battery bank with around 800AH capacity.

The interesting thing is when I am boondocking with six to eight people I often can't even make it 24 hours before the generator has to run for several hours to charge the batteries.  We usually have several laptops, radio, lights, and other stuff running.  What I think really uses battery is the 12 volt cooler my friend brings that uses Peltier technology for cooling.

[Stormcloud]

That 12 volt cooler will draw all the time.its a big user of amps-hours

[Scott & Heather]

Wow. I wonder if I can get our fridge to run that long. How many batteries in your stack?


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[akroyaleagle]

Are you sure about the 800AH? That seems pretty small! What size is the fridge? Freezer?

The killer is opening and closing the fridge. It takes a lot more to keep it cool if it is opened often.

The portable cooler is probably 12V. You are trying to take 12V, Invert it to 115V, then convert it back to 12V. Tell your friend to buy the 12V adaptor for the cigarette lighter. That will help considerably. I have 4 of those freezer/warmers. All of mine are really 12V. They have the in line box like computers, printers and the like which is a converter. It's the same as portable drill chargers etc.

[Ednj]

I have 6 floor scrubber batteries that make up my house bank (1850's I think).
Running through a 4024 and I can usually run on the batteries for 3 days before my auto start for the generator starts.
I run 1roof air off the inverter while driving plus everything else like the fridge, stereo,tv and xbox.
The bus engine alternator keeps the house bank charged no problem

[belfert]

I have six batteries.  Fridge is 15 CF.  It is Energy Star rated and takes less power than the original 10 CF fridge I had.

The 12 volt cooler was running on straight 12 volt.  It was not running through inverter.

[luvrbus]

I have the Norcold 100 lb fridge/frezzer that uses a compressor 110 or 12v it will run for over a week on a g24 12V  battery the Peltier system does use a lot of amps depending on the modules