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The old girl

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Nov 10, 2013
15
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I have a VW T4 Compass. Have an inverter to fit, 1000w continuous if req. I am in two minds to just connect to the leisure batt, put another batt in series or another batt as a stand alone and charge as req, anybody any thoughts on this.
 

Ed Excel

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Nov 27, 2012
870
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Ribble Valley
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23,815
MH
Coach built
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Started 2007
Don't connect two batteries in series, you'll produce 24V. I would connect it to your leisure battery, with a sensible sized fuse to limit its use and battery drain.
 

pappajohn

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Aug 26, 2007
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depends on what you plan on running off the inverter and what means you will use to recharge the battery/ies.

If used to its full potential (1000watts) it will draw around 83amps per hour from your battery/ies which means around 20 minutes use from a single 110ah battery

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johnp10

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Oct 12, 2009
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I've read a lot of posts here about inverters.
I have a 12v/240v radio, tv/dvd and sat decoder.
I can charge phones and laptop form 12v system.
Management has gas hair straighteners.

I think an inverter in my case would be a waste of time and money?

Or am I missing something?
Is there a hidden benefit or is it another toy?
 

funflair

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Dec 11, 2013
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I've read a lot of posts here about inverters.
I have a 12v/240v radio, tv/dvd and sat decoder.
I can charge phones and laptop form 12v system.
Management has gas hair straighteners.

I think an inverter in my case would be a waste of time and money?

Or am I missing something?
Is there a hidden benefit or is it another toy?

Hi John

You seem well sorted, but our microwave wont run on gas or 12volt, there again it might just be another toy BUT what's wrong with toys, Boys toys at that.

Martin
 

johnp10

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Oct 12, 2009
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Hi John

You seem well sorted, but our microwave wont run on gas or 12volt, there again it might just be another toy BUT what's wrong with toys, Boys toys at that.

Martin

Nothing wrong with toys, Martin.
Never thought about a microwave, but we don't have one, so I reckon I'm sussed.
Cheers.:thumb:

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Allanm

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Jun 30, 2013
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Microwave? Boys toys? I've just bought a radio controlled quadcopter. That a boys toy!
Allan
 

johnp10

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Oct 12, 2009
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Hi John

You seem well sorted, but our microwave wont run on gas or 12volt, there again it might just be another toy BUT what's wrong with toys, Boys toys at that.

Martin

Just a thought, Martin / PPJ....
How much power does a microwave draw?
The only thing we use the one at home for is thawing stuff and making sauces, scrambled eggs, etc.
Quite an underused bit of kit, really.
 

scotjimland

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Jul 25, 2007
2,091
9,067
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Timberland
Microwave ovens.. ?

Useful on an EHU .. (save a bit of gas)

otherwise just a waste of space and payload.. motorhome ballast.


Inverters.. ?

ask the question.. Do you REALLY need one .. or is there a better solution.. ?

Some are converting 12v to 230v then back to 12v .. wastes a lot of energy ..

Laptops, phones, tablets, can all be power direct from 12v with an adapter.. cameras can also be charged with a suitable 12v adapter..

using one to run a microwave oven is madness unless you have a huge battery bank..


when off grid,, first choice of power is LPG, second 12v, third (for emergencies) genny,

In all the years of motorhoming, including 3 years full time in our RV .. never needed solar or used a genny .. (had one on board, a 4kw lpg, ) and we did a lot of off grid camping.. only using sites or aires with EHU very occasionally..

we had a built in microwave that we used as a bread bin

KISS

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Last edited:
Apr 22, 2013
911
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Cotswolds
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25,654
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Since 2011
Just a thought, Martin / PPJ....
How much power does a microwave draw?
The only thing we use the one at home for is thawing stuff and making sauces, scrambled eggs, etc.
Quite an underused bit of kit, really.

There is a Baumatic 800W microwave fitted to our MH.
I emailed Baumatic as I couldn't see the rating plate. They replies to say it took 1250W but warned that it was designed for mains use and would not say whether it would work on a modified sine wave inverter.

I decided I was only going to fit out the van once and opted for a 1500W sine wave inverter. When I run the microwave the inverter displays the output power as 1.28kW. I have a battery monitor aand that says its taking 127Amps.

We only use the microwave for reheating say for 5 or 6 minutes, say one tenth of an hour. So takes about 13Ah out of two 105Ah batteries. easily within their capability and we have complete independence.

Gordon
 

pappajohn

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Aug 26, 2007
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Just a thought, Martin / PPJ....
How much power does a microwave draw?
The only thing we use the one at home for is thawing stuff and making sauces, scrambled eggs, etc.
Quite an underused bit of kit, really.

the power rating of a microwave is generally the output power....the amount of power used to cook food.

The input power, the power need to run the thing, could be 50% more.

M/wave cookers are extremely inefficient but as they are used for relatively short periods it seems an acceptable inefficiency
 
Sep 23, 2013
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I have a VW T4 Compass. Have an inverter to fit, 1000w continuous if req. I am in two minds to just connect to the leisure batt, put another batt in series or another batt as a stand alone and charge as req, anybody any thoughts on this.
To get back to the original question :winky:, it does very much depend on what you want to use it for.

Although the Compass is a 'proper' motorhome, rather than a standard VW campervan, I imagine space & payload are both at a premium So although a 1000w inverter would normally suggest at least one more battery, that may not be the answer if you won't normally use the inverter's full output for more that a few minutes.

As has already been said, if you do add another battery, it should be connected is parallel, not in series. If you are in any doubt about how to do the wiring, get an auto electrician involved. It's not so much that you are likely to electrocute yourself with the 230v side of things, but more that without the right wire sizes, fuses etc, the 12v wiring will cause a fire. Inverters pull very high currents on the 12v side & can generate a lot of heat if not installed correctly.

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