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Subject Topic: leisure battery, inverter and heating Post Reply Post New Topic
Personma141
03/3/2013 at 9:57pm
 Location: Bolton
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Hi

I have been reading in this forum for some time now, and its been quite helpful so thank you guys in advance.

this is my first post here, I am starting a new conversion for a Renault master bus to a motor home, we are a family of 5 and hoping to keep warm wile traveling :).

I am fitting a 100amp leisure battery and a 1500w inverter to run the whole thing on a 220v.

the plan is to hock to that

1) 500w greenhouse heater, no fan
2) small 220v beer fridge ( 3 way fridge seems very expensive)
3) the lights 4 in total

the question is would one battery run that load with the inverter ? or would that be too much load ?
and how long do those batteries last on one charge if I keep the heating on all night with the fridge ?

any better ideas for heating ? as I don't trust gas heaters with kids, just does not feel safe to me.

the bus itself has a fan heater ( it looks powerful but noisy), would keeping it on all night flatten the bus battery.

I am keeping both electric cycles separate, the bus from the leisure battery cycle.

I would really appreciate any help if you had any experience with this

thank you.



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newbie


Personbirder99
03/3/2013 at 10:32pm
 Location: Cambs
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Forget it, there is no way that a battery would cope with that sort of load. An inverter of that size is really designed to be powered of the alternator rather than the battery, With the loads you are looking at you are looking at either mains ehu or at a minimum a 1kVA gennie running pretty much at full revs. Resistive loads such as heaters are not a good mix with off grid camping.

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'A sure cure for sea-sickness is to sit under a tree'


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Person-mojo-
03/3/2013 at 10:36pm
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Don't even think about heating with a leisure battery. They simply cannot store enough power.

Leaving aside the inefficiency of an inverter, a 500W heater will be taking 40 Amps from your battery, all of the time. In theory that alone will flatten your battery in 2.5 hours, but in reality it will happen quicker, and that will quickly wreck your battery.

What type of heater does the bus have? If it's an Eberspacher or Webasto, it's possible that will run all night, as the heat comes from a diesel burner, and the battery only runs the fan when needed.


Personma141
03/3/2013 at 10:43pm
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Thank you guys for the fast respond

Ok heating off the battery is canceled .. whats the usual watt for sites hoock ups ? Will upgrade the heaters for main only

How about the fridge alone ? Would the battery cater for that ?

Not sure about the heater type .. will check in the morning .. its in a metal box on the floor of the bus under passenger seats

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Person-mojo-
04/3/2013 at 2:18pm
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Hookups on the continent tend to be quite low rated - many will only support a total load of about 1.5kW. UK sites will typically be higher, but try to avoid a total load of more than 2kW, as it's a bit embarrassing to have to wake the site owner up to have your EHU reset...

Fridge? depends which make and model.


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Personbirder99
04/3/2013 at 3:31pm
 Location: Cambs
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Most of the Club sites are 16A supplies although there are a few exception. The orange ehu cables are rated at 16A. Always check when booking if you are concerned.

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'A sure cure for sea-sickness is to sit under a tree'


Personma141
04/3/2013 at 7:09pm
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thank you Mojo , Birder you have been great help.

fridge.

the small beer fridge starts at 700w and then go down to 200 - 350w .. would the battery sustain that ? I never used an inverter before so not sure how to measure it correctly.

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Person-mojo-
05/3/2013 at 1:00am
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Quote:
the small beer fridge starts at 700w and then go down to 200 - 350w .. would the battery sustain that ? I never used an inverter before so not sure how to measure it correctly.


No - as with the heater, if it's taking that much power then you can't realistically run it off a leisure battery for more than a few hours. If you need to do that, you really need a compressor based fridge. They should be able to run for maybe 2-3 days between hookups, but you will still be giving your battery a hard time if you do that...


Personbirder99
05/3/2013 at 9:17am
 Location: Cambs
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Again you are trying to put a large resistive load as in an absorption fridge which has a heating element in it on to a battery which has a very limited ability to output high currents for any length of time. Rather than trying to get a quart out of a pint pot you would be better to spend a short while trying to understand basic 12V electrics and battery characteristics. Once you understand what you are doing it all becomes simple and you wont waste time and money on something that is not going to work effectively and could ruin a hard earned holiday. By all means continue to ask questions on here and elsewhere but a basic understanding will get you a long way.

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'A sure cure for sea-sickness is to sit under a tree'


Personma141
05/3/2013 at 9:25am
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U got a point

Thank you

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newbie


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Personsteveiem
07/3/2013 at 9:09pm
 Location: Clacton on Sea . Sunshine Coast
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Go with gas , for heating ,hot water and cooking , the modern appliances are so safe , as long as they're installed correctly and been safety checked , you cant beat them , especially if you plan to travel off campsite , and install a carbon monoxide/smoke alarm just to instill more confidence ,,

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There's a place for all gods creatures ,,

Right next to the potatoes and veg ,,,



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