Want to go off piste for a couple of days, will it run fridge on its own? I know it does water pump and some lighting. Haven't given it much thought up til now.
What services will my leisure battery run?
- Thread starter ChazandZoe
- Start date
It provides control voltages to the fridge in support of its gas operation (Similarly so for the boiler/heating) and any other 12V loads (Including your water pump(s)).
The most onerous load is likely to be halogen lighting and your TV.
Ian
The most onerous load is likely to be halogen lighting and your TV.
Ian
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DBK
LIFE MEMBER
Depends what sort of fridge you have. If it's s compressor type, not gas, then you still might be OK if you have plenty of battery capacity and ideally solar power. For example the Scottish converter East Neuk Campervans fit a 230Ah battery for their models with a compressor fridge.
Just give it a try and if the voltage gets down to 12.0 start switching things off.
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pappajohn
LIFE MEMBER
Run your fridge on gas if it's capable.
Don't have every light in the van turned on, turn off areas you aren't using at the time... Toilet, kitchen etc.
Water heating on gas, it won't heat on 12v.
TV may be 12v or 230v...only switching on will tell, if it works its 12v.(or inverter using battery)
You don't need a porch/awning light if you're indoors.
If watching TV don't have ALL the lounge area lights on.... Every little saving helps
Don't have every light in the van turned on, turn off areas you aren't using at the time... Toilet, kitchen etc.
Water heating on gas, it won't heat on 12v.
TV may be 12v or 230v...only switching on will tell, if it works its 12v.(or inverter using battery)
You don't need a porch/awning light if you're indoors.
If watching TV don't have ALL the lounge area lights on.... Every little saving helps
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RobWid
Free Member
Hi
As above - if running your fridge on gas the 12v supply is minimal.
Not sure you’ll notice your water pump consumption - I haven’t!
I Replaced all my lights with LEDs now minimal consumption.
I don’t have a TV?.
My Propex Heater fan is my biggest consumer now and important at this time of year (blown air heating won’t work without 12v
My investment into a solar panel and 110 ah battery - the largest I could squeeze under my seat works well enough for me even in winter and living mostly in my van.
But I’d also say adapt your life to work around you consumption. I go to bed early or stay out at the pub. I don’t sit around in the van all day and so use little for those hours.
If I had the funds to improve I’d double my solar panel and my battery storage and even considering investing in Lithium.
I also suggest that gas supplies are as much of an issue as electric and I’m just doubling up my capacity and moving over to refillable so I do t have to run the tanks dry before changing. Also find getting the smaller cylinders can be difficult in some locations in winter.
Hope this helps.
Rob
As above - if running your fridge on gas the 12v supply is minimal.
Not sure you’ll notice your water pump consumption - I haven’t!
I Replaced all my lights with LEDs now minimal consumption.
I don’t have a TV?.
My Propex Heater fan is my biggest consumer now and important at this time of year (blown air heating won’t work without 12v
My investment into a solar panel and 110 ah battery - the largest I could squeeze under my seat works well enough for me even in winter and living mostly in my van.
But I’d also say adapt your life to work around you consumption. I go to bed early or stay out at the pub. I don’t sit around in the van all day and so use little for those hours.
If I had the funds to improve I’d double my solar panel and my battery storage and even considering investing in Lithium.
I also suggest that gas supplies are as much of an issue as electric and I’m just doubling up my capacity and moving over to refillable so I do t have to run the tanks dry before changing. Also find getting the smaller cylinders can be difficult in some locations in winter.
Hope this helps.
Rob
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OP
OP
Cheers for all that, hopefully won't need heating as we are going to Cartagena, fridge is a big thetford that auto selects. I do have solar also. Haven't had the van long, so still finding out about it.
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Minxy
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- Aug 22, 2007
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Wimp!
We don't have heating on at night, ever, we just have 2 duvets and I wear a hoodie to keep my bonce warm ... it does help, though, if you have a hot body nearby so the heat emanates from them to you ... I've got a nice furry one called Tazzy. 
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Generally speaking your 12 Volt leisure battery will run all of your 12 Volt appliances and some 240 V appliances through an inverter.
Some fridges will run from a 12 V supply but in almost all cases needed to be further supported by Solar Power or some other form of back up. The type of leisure battery also plays a big part in this as Gel batteries for instance can be safely discharged a lot lower and last a lot longer than a Lead Acid battery, which should never be allowed to be discharged more than 50% of it's total capacity
In essence, you need to do some maths to establish what you can run and for how long without causing irreparable damage to your leisure batteries. This information below will help you do that.
Broken Link Removed
How Long Will my Batteries Last? Unfortunately, this question cannot be answered without knowing the size of the battery bank and the load to be supported by the inverter. Usually, this question is better phrased as "How long do you want your load to run?", then specific calculations can be made to determine the proper battery bank size. Formulas and Estimation Rules 1. Watts = Volts x Amps 2. Battery capacity is expressed by how many Amps for how many hours a battery will last - Amp-Hour (A.H.) capacity 3. For a 12-Volt inverter system, each 100 Watts of the inverter load requires approximately 10 DC Amps from the battery 4. For a 24-Volt inverter system, each 200 Watts of the inverter load requires approximately 10 DC Amps from the battery The first step is to estimate the total Watts (or Amps) of load, and how long the load needs to operate. This can be determined by looking at the input electrical nameplate for each appliance or piece of equipment and adding up the total requirement. Some loads are not constant, so estimations must be made. For example, a full-sized refrigerator (750-Watt compressor), running 1/3 of the time would be estimated at 250 Watts-per-hour. After the load and running time is established, the battery bank size can be calculated. The first calculation is to divide the load (in Watts) by 10 for a 12-Volt system or by 20 for a 24-Volt system resulting in the number of Amps required from the battery bank. Exam ple of Load Calculations Suppose you were to run a microwave oven for 10 minutes a day, which draw about 1000 Watts, despite their size. To keep it simple, think of the inverter as electrically transparent. In other words, the 1000 Watts required to run the oven come directly from the batteries as if it were a 12 VDC microwave. Taking 1000 Watts from a 12-Volt battery requires the battery to deliver approximately 84 Amps. (1000 Watts ÷ 12 Volts = 84 Amps) A full-sized refrigerator draws about 2 Amps at 120 Volts AC. By multiplying 2 Amps x 120 Volts, you find out the refrigerator uses 240 Watts. The batteries will need to deliver 20 Amps to run the refrigerator (240 Watts/12 Volts = 20 Amps). Typically, refrigerators operate about 1/3 of the time (1/3 "duty cycle"), or 8 hours a day. Therefore, the A.H. drain will be 160 A.H. (8 hours x 20 Amps = 160 A.H.). After the load and running time is established, the battery bank size can be calculated. The first calculation is to divide the load (in Watts) by 10 for a 12-Volt system or by 20 for a 24-Volt system resulting in the number of Amps required from the battery bank. Example of Input Calculations 1. Total Watts = 1000 W 2. Amps from 12-Volt battery = 1000 ÷ 10= 100 Amps DC 3. Amps from 24-Volt battery = 1000 ÷ 20= 50 Amps DC Next, the number of DC Amps must be multiplied by the time in hours that the load is to operate. If the load is to operate for 3 hours: For a 12-Volt battery: 100 Amps DC x 3 hours = 300 A.H. For a 24-Volt battery: 50 Amps DC x 3 hours = 150 A.H. Now, the proper type and amount of batteries must be selected. Traction batteries, (also called deep cycle or golf cart type), should be used in order to be able to handle the repeated discharge/charge cycles that are required. Choosing the Correct Number of Batteries This is a little more difficult due to the rating method used by the battery manufacturers. Also, because of the nature of the battery, the higher the discharge rate, the lower the capacity of the battery. Battery Capacity Hours of Di scharge 100 20 90 10 87 8 83 6 80 5 70 3 60 2 50 1 Most batteries' A.H. capacity is stated for the 20-hour rate of discharge. This means that a battery has a 100 A.H. capacity if it is discharged over 20 hours, or at about 5 Amps-per-hour (100 A.H. / 20 hours = 5 Amps DC). However, this same battery would last only one hour if the discharge rate was 50 Amps-per-hour (50 Amps DC x 1 hour = 50 A.H.) because of the high rate of discharge. The chart above indicates that for 3 hours of discharge rate, the battery has only 70% capacity. Therefore, we must have 428 A.H. of battery capacity. (Figured by dividing the A.H. capacity by the percentage of loss, or 300 A.H. ÷ 0.7 (70%)). Therefore we would require 428 A.H. of batteries at a stated 20-hour rate. If the standard 12-Volt battery is 105 A.H., four batteries are needed. Finally, two more items must be considered. The more deeply the battery is discharged on each cycle, the shorter the battery life will remain. Therefore, using more batteries than the minimum will result in longer life for the battery bank. Keep in mind that batteries lose capacity as the ambient temperature lowers. If the air temperature near the battery bank is lower than 77°F (25°C), more batteries will be needed to maintain the required capacity.
Some fridges will run from a 12 V supply but in almost all cases needed to be further supported by Solar Power or some other form of back up. The type of leisure battery also plays a big part in this as Gel batteries for instance can be safely discharged a lot lower and last a lot longer than a Lead Acid battery, which should never be allowed to be discharged more than 50% of it's total capacity
In essence, you need to do some maths to establish what you can run and for how long without causing irreparable damage to your leisure batteries. This information below will help you do that.
Broken Link Removed
How Long Will my Batteries Last? Unfortunately, this question cannot be answered without knowing the size of the battery bank and the load to be supported by the inverter. Usually, this question is better phrased as "How long do you want your load to run?", then specific calculations can be made to determine the proper battery bank size. Formulas and Estimation Rules 1. Watts = Volts x Amps 2. Battery capacity is expressed by how many Amps for how many hours a battery will last - Amp-Hour (A.H.) capacity 3. For a 12-Volt inverter system, each 100 Watts of the inverter load requires approximately 10 DC Amps from the battery 4. For a 24-Volt inverter system, each 200 Watts of the inverter load requires approximately 10 DC Amps from the battery The first step is to estimate the total Watts (or Amps) of load, and how long the load needs to operate. This can be determined by looking at the input electrical nameplate for each appliance or piece of equipment and adding up the total requirement. Some loads are not constant, so estimations must be made. For example, a full-sized refrigerator (750-Watt compressor), running 1/3 of the time would be estimated at 250 Watts-per-hour. After the load and running time is established, the battery bank size can be calculated. The first calculation is to divide the load (in Watts) by 10 for a 12-Volt system or by 20 for a 24-Volt system resulting in the number of Amps required from the battery bank. Exam ple of Load Calculations Suppose you were to run a microwave oven for 10 minutes a day, which draw about 1000 Watts, despite their size. To keep it simple, think of the inverter as electrically transparent. In other words, the 1000 Watts required to run the oven come directly from the batteries as if it were a 12 VDC microwave. Taking 1000 Watts from a 12-Volt battery requires the battery to deliver approximately 84 Amps. (1000 Watts ÷ 12 Volts = 84 Amps) A full-sized refrigerator draws about 2 Amps at 120 Volts AC. By multiplying 2 Amps x 120 Volts, you find out the refrigerator uses 240 Watts. The batteries will need to deliver 20 Amps to run the refrigerator (240 Watts/12 Volts = 20 Amps). Typically, refrigerators operate about 1/3 of the time (1/3 "duty cycle"), or 8 hours a day. Therefore, the A.H. drain will be 160 A.H. (8 hours x 20 Amps = 160 A.H.). After the load and running time is established, the battery bank size can be calculated. The first calculation is to divide the load (in Watts) by 10 for a 12-Volt system or by 20 for a 24-Volt system resulting in the number of Amps required from the battery bank. Example of Input Calculations 1. Total Watts = 1000 W 2. Amps from 12-Volt battery = 1000 ÷ 10= 100 Amps DC 3. Amps from 24-Volt battery = 1000 ÷ 20= 50 Amps DC Next, the number of DC Amps must be multiplied by the time in hours that the load is to operate. If the load is to operate for 3 hours: For a 12-Volt battery: 100 Amps DC x 3 hours = 300 A.H. For a 24-Volt battery: 50 Amps DC x 3 hours = 150 A.H. Now, the proper type and amount of batteries must be selected. Traction batteries, (also called deep cycle or golf cart type), should be used in order to be able to handle the repeated discharge/charge cycles that are required. Choosing the Correct Number of Batteries This is a little more difficult due to the rating method used by the battery manufacturers. Also, because of the nature of the battery, the higher the discharge rate, the lower the capacity of the battery. Battery Capacity Hours of Di scharge 100 20 90 10 87 8 83 6 80 5 70 3 60 2 50 1 Most batteries' A.H. capacity is stated for the 20-hour rate of discharge. This means that a battery has a 100 A.H. capacity if it is discharged over 20 hours, or at about 5 Amps-per-hour (100 A.H. / 20 hours = 5 Amps DC). However, this same battery would last only one hour if the discharge rate was 50 Amps-per-hour (50 Amps DC x 1 hour = 50 A.H.) because of the high rate of discharge. The chart above indicates that for 3 hours of discharge rate, the battery has only 70% capacity. Therefore, we must have 428 A.H. of battery capacity. (Figured by dividing the A.H. capacity by the percentage of loss, or 300 A.H. ÷ 0.7 (70%)). Therefore we would require 428 A.H. of batteries at a stated 20-hour rate. If the standard 12-Volt battery is 105 A.H., four batteries are needed. Finally, two more items must be considered. The more deeply the battery is discharged on each cycle, the shorter the battery life will remain. Therefore, using more batteries than the minimum will result in longer life for the battery bank. Keep in mind that batteries lose capacity as the ambient temperature lowers. If the air temperature near the battery bank is lower than 77°F (25°C), more batteries will be needed to maintain the required capacity.
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- Oct 29, 2012
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that's it in a nutshell
just what I was going to say!
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- Oct 29, 2012
- 889
- 1,054
- Funster No
- 23,489
- MH
- Rapido 9090df
- Exp
- 20 years (unless you count my dads VW which makes it 52 years with a few gaps!!)
almost, perhaps slightly more concise, like "read yer manual"
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