Leisure battery and inverters

[Simon fawcett]

Evening all,

I have recently purchased a VW transporter conversion and I'm getting a little confused regarding leisure batteries and inverters. I seem to get mixed answers when searching the Internet.

My camper has 85ah / 12v leisure battery and I am being told that when I'm off the grid I would need a converter to use the battery for anything. However surely if the appliances that I would like to use e.g phone charger or a 12v portable fridge which runs off 12v would be fine to plug directly into the leisure battery (obviously would have to be careful not to drain the battery).

Please could I get some thoughts.

Thanks

Simon

 

[I2C]

An inverter is required to run 240v appliances not 12v ones. They come in different sizes but if all your appliances (chargers, fridge etc.) are 12v then you don’t need one, though you might need solar if you’re not moving around to keep the battery topped up.

 

[pappajohn]

I wouldn't use an inverter with just one 85ah battery. At least a couple of 110ah batteries will be better.
A 12watt appliance will use 1amp of power from the battery.... The same appliance will use 20amps of battery power via an inverter.
Most things will run on 12v as you pointed out.
For laptops etc you can get 12v to 19v converters to run off a 12v cig lighter socket.
Only things like Ebikes, coffee machines etc need a 12vdc to 230vac inverter

 

[Landy Andy]

The rules, for us, is run everything on 12v. So as you say phones chargers, tv and stuff like that. Then if you need anything with only a 240v option you will need either inverter, generator, or to be on hook up.

For us the only thing we can’t power by 12v is the wife’s hair dryer and straighteners, and have gone for the hook up option with these.

Fitting an inverter involves work, and really you need solar to top up what you’ve taken out the batteries.

 

[mitzimad]

unless you have a medical condition that needs a 240volt machine run everything from 12v or gas

 

[autorouter]

Many low-power electronic devices like phones and laptops use low voltage DC, and can be powered and by a 'automotive adapter'. This is a DC-DC converter from the '12V' at the cigarette-lighter socket to whatever stabilised DC the device requires. Laptops usually need 19V, phones usually need 5V from a USB socket. A DC-DC converter is more efficient than getting 240V from an inverter and using a mains charger.

 

[Simon fawcett]

Thanks for all the responses, it's really helpful.

Just to confirm, we have two double 3 pin sockets (with USB) in our campervan but I am told they will not work at all without being hooked up or with an inverter even for just 12v appliances. Is this correct and if so why?

Cheers

Simon

 

[pappajohn]

Those sockets are 230v only so only work on hookup.
They can be wired to an inverter to run off the battery but the wiring is complicated needing an auto change over relay and a means of turning off the charger and fridge.
Far easier to wire an inverter to a dedicated, stand-alone socket.

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[Lenny HB]

Yes those are 240v mains sockets and will only work when hooked up. There should be seperate 12v sockets for 12v use either Cigar lighter type sockets or Hella sockets similar but smaller.

 

[Simon fawcett]

OK great, so basically if I want to run more appliances from my leisure battery I need to wire in 12v cigarette style sockets to the battery? We don't have any of them at present (apart from the vans one). We do have solar panels however which should help to keep the battery topped up.

Cheers

Simon

 

[mitzimad]

i would wire in a couple of usb sockets for phones and pads i think we have 6 in ours one near where you sit in the van as a bad weather day can empty a device pesonally i prefer hella sockets for 12 v much more reliable

 

[LesW]

I wouldn't fit any permanent USB sockets, they have limited use and are only any good for stuff that needs 5v (phone chargers).

Much better to fit 12v accessory sockets, then you can plug a USB adaptor in or anything that needs 12v to function, laptop chargers or even ebike 12v-36v adaptors.

 

[Lenny HB]

I wouldn't fit any permanent USB sockets, they have limited use and are only any good for stuff that needs 5v (phone chargers).

Much better to fit 12v accessory sockets, then you can plug a USB adaptor in or anything that needs 12v to function, laptop chargers or even ebike 12v-36v adaptors.

Disagree adaptors are bad news just inserts more unreliability into the system.

 

[Jamesh]

I wouldn't use an inverter with just one 85ah battery. At least a couple of 110ah batteries will be better.
A 12watt appliance will use 1amp of power from the battery.... The same appliance will use 20amps of battery power via an inverter.
Most things will run on 12v as you pointed out.
For laptops etc you can get 12v to 19v converters to run off a 12v cig lighter socket.
Only things like Ebikes, coffee machines etc need a 12vdc to 230vac inverter

Why would an appliance take 20 amps of 240v? Ok there is an inefficency to inverters but not of that magnitude. 20a of 12v is 240w!

My take is if you really need an Inverter use it for short bursts like a coffee maker or hair dryer ideally with the engine running.

Cheers James

 

[LesW]

Disagree adaptors are bad news just inserts more unreliability into the system.

Most of the appliances we use require 12v, so USB sockets have limited use, (and are no more or less reliable).

Never had any reliability problems in all the years I have used 12v sockets, car, motorbike and now Moho..

 

[Lenny HB]

Most of the appliances we use require 12v, so USB sockets have limited use, (and are no more or less reliable).

Never had any reliability problems in all the years I have used 12v sockets, car, motorbike and now Moho..

I only have one item in the van that needs to be plugged into 12v that is the laptop & that is normally only used when driving so plugged into the dash socket but I have 10 items that require USB, so I disagree again.

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[mitzimad]

everything is 5v now torches phones tablets cameras

 

[Scotch mist]

USB sockets can use 0.3 A per hr on standby , I found this out after fitting one on my scooter direct to the battery , it went flat after 2 weeks so now I have inline isolation switch, on my new van I fitted 12v cigarette lighter sockets & use plug in usb adapters when needed to stop unnecessary power drain

 

[Richard n Ann]

USB sockets can use 0.3 A per hr on standby , I found this out after fitting one on my scooter direct to the battery , it went flat after 2 weeks so now I have inline isolation switch, on my new van I fitted 12v cigarette lighter sockets & use plug in usb adapters when needed to stop unnecessary power drain

I agree, the only dedicated USB socket I fitted is on the dash and it goes off with ignition. All the others are high quality adapters in 12v sockets which are all unplugged when the van is at home. Some of the Chinese USB sockets are really cheap rubbish.

 

[LesW]

everything is 5v now torches phones tablets cameras

No it isn't

 

[LesW]

What we have here is people (who should know better) confusing thier opinions with fact.

 

[Lenny HB]

What we have here is people (who should know better) confusing thier opinions with fact.

That will be you then.