Inverter problem

[Hymerboy]

My inverter is making a continuous beeping and I’m not getting power from it. I read that it’s probably because the leisure battery is low however the control panel says it’s fine. I’m off grid at the moment but will be hooked up tomorrow, hopefully all will be well again. Is it just me or does anyone else find problems every few days? We’re in Spain for 90 days and it’s been one thing after another.

 

[Lenny HB]

Proba ly is low voltage, your panel will show the voltage at the battery. The voltage at the inverter will be lower due to volt drop on the cables, may well have been fitted with undersized cables.

What are you running with the inverter watts wize?
What size and type of battery bank?

 

[Hymerboy]

Proba ly is low voltage, your panel will show the voltage at the battery. The voltage at the inverter will be lower due to volt drop on the cables, may well have been fitted with undersized cables.

What are you running with the inverter watts wize?
What size and type of battery bank?

HI lenny, Just been on hookup a few days after a long run, the batteries are all fully charged and the inverter works on charging the phones but not on our lasses hair drier ,it makes a beeping beeping noise and the drier tries to work with a pulsing on/off sort of thing. It just seems to have started acting up after being on a site with reverse polarity, would that have damaged it ? Jack

 

[599]

probably not big enough battery bank hair dryers do give the battery's some stick & the beeping like lenny said batteries are down . bill has a short lead he made up for reverse polarity just incase its a common thing in Europe

 

[Lenny HB]

HI lenny, Just been on hookup a few days after a long run, the batteries are all fully charged and the inverter works on charging the phones but not on our lasses hair drier ,it makes a beeping beeping noise and the drier tries to work with a pulsing on/off sort of thing. It just seems to have started acting up after being on a site with reverse polarity, would that have damaged it ? Jack

Reverse polarity has nothing to do with it.
The hairdryer is a much higher load so you will get a bigger volt drop, sounds like your batteries are shot.

What is the wattage of the hairdryer?
What type of batteries and how big?

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[Gizmouk]

In addition to Lenny HB questions ...
What's the rating (power output) of the inverter ?

 

[Stealaway]

HI lenny, Just been on hookup a few days after a long run, the batteries are all fully charged and the inverter works on charging the phones but not on our lasses hair drier ,it makes a beeping beeping noise and the drier tries to work with a pulsing on/off sort of thing. It just seems to have started acting up after being on a site with reverse polarity, would that have damaged it ? Jack

A 100w hair dryer wont be happy on a 1000w inverter plus you are drawing over 100A from the batteries while ever the hair dryer is switched on.
Not a good idea IMHO

 

[599]

he has give no information what his setup is how many battery's what amp's are they what is the inverters wattage has he any solar panels . bills always said go big as you can put as many panels on the roof as many batteries as you can fit & a big wattage inverter.

 

[pappajohn]

A 100w hair dryer wont be happy on a 1000w inverter

?

 

[Lenny HB]

he has give no information what his setup is how many battery's what amp's are they what is the inverters wattage has he any solar panels . bills always said go big as you can put as many panels on the roof as many batteries as you can fit & a big wattage inverter.

I have asked him twice.

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[599]

I have asked him twice.

& did you get an answer

 

[Lenny HB]

& did you get an answer

Not really.

 

[599]

Not really.

lenny this is the problem we try to give our advise to the people we are trying to help don't tell us all the facts its hard doing guesswork '
i am bills gofer pass me this pass me that hold this shine the torch here but i store the knowledge he has & its nice to pass it on after all we was all learners

 

[Stealaway]

?

Oopps --- needs another 0

 

[Hymerboy]

Reverse polarity has nothing to do with it.
The hairdryer is a much higher load so you will get a bigger volt drop, sounds like your batteries are shot.

What is the wattage of the hairdryer?
What type of batteries and how big?

Hi Lenny,
I have two solar panels 1.00 X .40cm I can't tell the capacity, I also have two leisure batteries approx 40cm x 20cm also cant see the capacity as the are quite well hidden and I'm not about the take the van to pieces to find out. According to the readout they have 14.4 volts and 100 pc AH , The hair dryer is 1350-1600 watt. The inverter does charge the laptop and phones but won't work the hairdryer as it used to. So it sounds like I'm just going to have to live with it. Many thanks for your replies. Not so much for some of the snide remarks from other people.

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[Richard n Ann]

Hi Lenny,
I have two solar panels 1.00 X .40cm I can't tell the capacity, I also have two leisure batteries approx 40cm x 20cm also cant see the capacity as the are quite well hidden and I'm not about the take the van to pieces to find out. According to the readout they have 14.4 volts and 100 pc AH , The hair dryer is 1350-1600 watt. The inverter does charge the laptop and phones but won't work the hairdryer as it used to. So it sounds like I'm just going to have to live with it. Many thanks for your replies. Not so much for some of the snide remarks from other people.

Ann likes the Babyliss Big Hair. It's only 750w and I think it has a lower setting too

 

[Lenny HB]

Hi Lenny,
I have two solar panels 1.00 X .40cm I can't tell the capacity, I also have two leisure batteries approx 40cm x 20cm also cant see the capacity as the are quite well hidden and I'm not about the take the van to pieces to find out. According to the readout they have 14.4 volts and 100 pc AH , The hair dryer is 1350-1600 watt. The inverter does charge the laptop and phones but won't work the hairdryer as it used to. So it sounds like I'm just going to have to live with it. Many thanks for your replies. Not so much for some of the snide remarks from other people.

Not surprising you have problems. The batteries are probably 100ah giving you 200ah.
Running the hair dryer at 1600 watts allowing for inverter efficency will draw around 147 amps.
Idealy you shouldn't load the batteries at more than the C5 rate which for your batteries is 40 amps. So to run your hair dryer you need to add another 5 batteries, although for short term use you could get away with an additional 3 batteries.

It certainly explains why your batteries are goosed.

 

[599]

like lenny said you have to go big if you want to use things like hair dryers / microwaves they hammer your batteries

 

[Raul]

Those batteries have performed well beyond their capability, until worn out prematurely due to misuse and abuse.
It’s like asking 2L per second of flow out of a 2L bottle, but the bottle can only give you so much through the bottle neck. Same with battery discharge. Divide total battery capacity by 5, and that’s all you should draw out of them or less.

 

[Hymerboy]

Not surprising you have problems. The batteries are probably 100ah giving you 200ah.
Running the hair dryer at 1600 watts allowing for inverter efficency will draw around 147 amps.
Idealy you shouldn't load the batteries at more than the C5 rate which for your batteries is 40 amps. So to run your hair dryer you need to add another 5 batteries, although for short term use you could get away with an additional 3 batteries.

It certainly explains why your batteries are goosed.

Hi Lenny,
As you realize I'm new at this game. You were right batteries are goosed. I'm in the process of buying some more 2 @ 110 ha ? When I bought the van the owner told me that the only reason he had an inverter was for his wife's hair drier so I'm now wondering what is the point of having an inverter if she can't use it or de we need a much less powerful hair drier?. If I may ask one more thing, because my sat tv does not work here in Spain I have been using my laptop to watch tv and when I'm not on hook up I have plugged it into the inverter, would that have damaged the batteries? also when travelling between sites I have been charging the laptop thro the inverter Is that ok?.

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[Reallyretired]

You can get a lower wattage hairdryer. Ours is around 1000W on full but on its lower setting is just 300w. Just takes a bit longer.

 

[Lenny HB]

Charging the laptop will be OK but very inefficient far better to get a 12v charger.

 

[chrisandbev]

have a look at the laptop leads, my one is 12 volt so i can charge without the inverter

 

[autorouter]

It's more efficient to run a laptop from the 12V leisure battery, using a 'car laptop charger' They come in various power ratings, for example 65W, 90W, 100W. Look at your existing adapter that runs from the mains, it will probably have a wattage rating written on it. The car adapter should be the same power or higher.

A 'universal' adapter comes with a set of different power plugs, choose one that is suitable and gives the same voltage as the mains adapter. The amps doesn't matter, the laptop will take whatever it needs, as long as the power is enough. Something like this, there are 65W and 90W versions too:

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[Hymerboy]

It's more efficient to run a laptop from the 12V leisure battery, using a 'car laptop charger' They come in various power ratings, for example 65W, 90W, 100W. Look at your existing adapter that runs from the mains, it will probably have a wattage rating written on it. The car adapter should be the same power or higher.

A 'universal' adapter comes with a set of different power plugs, choose one that is suitable and gives the same voltage as the mains adapter. The amps doesn't matter, the laptop will take whatever it needs, as long as the power is enough. Something like this, there are 65W and 90W versions too:

Outtag Mini Car Charger 100W Universal Laptop Power Supply 15V 16V 18.5V 19V 607595797034 | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Outtag Mini Car Charger 100W Universal Laptop Power Supply 15V 16V 18.5V 19V at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products.

www.ebay.co.uk

I have 3 12v sockets in the cab, one is live all the time which I use for the sat nav, another is a cig lighter and at the side of that is another which we use for the phones when travelling, my leisure batteries are disconnected at the moment and the other two socket only work when the ignition is switched on, in other words I dont think I have any sockets that run on the leisure batteries?

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[autorouter]

I have been using my laptop to watch tv and when I'm not on hook up I have plugged it into the inverter, would that have damaged the batteries?

Two things that are bad for batteries - leaving them for more than a few days in a discharged state, and high amps during charge and discharge.

It's a good idea to make sure they are 100% charged at least once a week, even if they only stay at 100% briefly.

If you divide the battery Ah capacity by 5, that should be the limit of the ingoing and outgoing amps. So for 200Ah of battery, keep the amps below about 200/5 = 40A. In terms of watts, that's 40 x 12 = 480W.

So to answer the question, a laptop probably takes 100W or less, so that won't cause any battery problems.

 

[MisterB]

to the OP, sorry for jumping in on your thread ... but perhaps my situation may throw some light on your set up.

autorouter - you have given me advice previously (along with a couple of others) and i have nearly sorted out getting my microwave to work via an inverter. My calculations are 260Ah/5 = 52A ...... 52 x 12 = 624W ...... my microwave is 700W - though i could run it at less than 100% power.

it all works fine - ive tried it on full power for 3 minutes and it all works as i hoped. just needed to check that its 'within' tolerances (though of course not looking for a guarantee) - would you think thats ok for short bursts or should i look to be using at it a lower power setting?

i have a DPDT relay on order to make the change over when not on EHU as advised, should the default be inverter supply unless on 240v ?

 

[cyberyacht]

A 700w microwave will actually draw about 1100w. For those sort of demands, it really needs lithium batteries. It's asking a bit much from conventional ones.

 

[MisterB]

it really needs lithium batteries. It's asking a bit much from conventional ones.

i have a few more jobs before i can consider lithium, my on board charger doesnt support lithium - only lead and agm - but i dont want to go off topic or hijack the OP's thread. when i get to that stage i will read the many posts on how best to proceed and listen to the advice from members on the forum who understand a lot more about the process than i ever will !

until then i will try to 'nurse' my current batteries through my intended use.

 

[autorouter]

in other words I dont think I have any sockets that run on the leisure batteries?

I think with a laptop and phones etc you will find a few 12V sockets very useful, much more use than a big inverter. Also the sockets will take USB adapters for the phone/satnav etc. It's not so difficult to fit some 12 sockets.