Power Inverter size

[Bbouch84]

Looking to do a couple 1 or 2 night camping trips without shore power.. We will be usong our maxxair fan you help keep cool but. Looking to use a power inverter for some tv for a couple hours and another fan.. to stay cool but thats it nothing too fancy.. just a reccomendation for inverter soze and how i should hook it up.

[chuckster57]

TV will operate on less than 100W, and a small fan may be less than 200W. Inverter should be as close to the battery as possible. Do you have a single battery, and if so what size?

[mikec557]

Looking to do a couple 1 or 2 night camping trips without shore power.. We will be usong our maxxair fan you help keep cool but. Looking to use a power inverter for some tv for a couple hours and another fan.. to stay cool but thats it nothing too fancy.. just a reccomendation for inverter soze and how i should hook it up.

Chuckster is right on the wattage estimates. I just looked at Amazon for 500 watt inverter. Bestek has both modified Sine Wave and pure sine wave. The difference in price is about $43 vs $67. The fan won't care, the TV "probably" won't care. I've run a tv on modified Sine Wave with no trouble.

That said, the more sensitive the electronics (aka the more expensive?) the more you are advised to use a pure sine wave. For the $20 difference, I'd buy the pure sine wave.

When it comes to inverters, 12vdc does not want to travel on long too thin wires from the battery to the inverter. That's why Chuck said to put it near your battery(ies). 120vac has no problem running longer distances, thus the extension cord from the inverter to the TV.

Without knowing more about your battery bank, I'd recommend disconnecting the inverter when not in use... Though I've left small ones on and run a fan all night. But you have to know you have enough battery bank to do that, ie usable amp/hours (Ah). Then again, if you can, just use a 12vdc fan. But if you need a higher volume house like fan, then you'll need the inverter.

[Bbouch84]

We are running dual group 24 batteries

[chuckster57]

We are running dual group 24 batteries

If you have a way to recharge, a pair of gp 24’s may make a night or two. If they are anyway near aged out I would switch to a pair of 6V GC batteries.

[Bbouch84]

Batteries are 1 year old

[mikec557]

Batteries are 1 year old

Do you know their Ah rating? If it lists more than one @x-hours, how many Ah at the 20 hours rate?

Are they true deep cycle batteries or are they "marine/RV" batteries? Hint: if the label shows CCA or MCA then it is the marine/RV. These tend to have less Ah than true deep cycle batteries.

Do you plan to recharge them somehow during your 1-2 days of dry camping?

[Bbouch84]

The recharge will be while towing and then when we get to shore power less than 14 hours after we unhook

[chuckster57]

How many hours towing? The charge line from your alternator is probably rated at about 15-20 amps.

[Bbouch84]

7 hours towing . This will be for 1 night each time without shore power.

[chuckster57]

7 hrs of continuous driving should charge the trailer batteries enough to last one night. I would verify that your charge line is working.

[sourdough]

JMO....from a guy that doesn't boondock any longer, but used to quite a bit.

2 "good" grp. 24 batteries will get you 2 nights without a problem IF you aren't staying in the trailer watching TV, using electronic devices etc. I used to without an issue but I didn't watch TV, have an inverter or all the other things folks do nowadays. The fans shouldn't be an issue. Fridge on LP. After that sounds like you don't need the furnace so it's just the fans....and the "other" conveniences. Put out the lawn chairs, sit around the fire, whoop up some burgers on the grill, shoot the breeze, take care of "camping needs"; before you know it you're actually camping and TV doesn't even come to mind - just a shower and some sleep. :)