Batteries & Charging

I have 3 120w panels and a 190 litre fridg and it is just enough. Am thinking of adding another. If you have a rainy day then your in trouble if you dont have a generator. I would not contemplate not having one unless confining oneself to mains power and who wants that?

We had 3 standard lead acid batteries and 3 solar panels when new. I then bought another battery of Steve for auxilary in car and then was told by Opposite Lock that it wasn't suitable for in car. I then had it fitted in van to make 4. While in WA they died and AC Delco dealer in Geraldton fitted new Calcium Calcium Batteries 105 AmpHour that are fully sealed and we have had no further problems. When going to AC Delco for warranty be aware that AC Delco DO NOT give warranty, the importer does and there are 2 importers of AC Delco into Australia and they only do their own. Foxy

I got the following from a web site about electric fences and deep cycle batteries. For long battery life you have to be on the ball and at best you will only be able to guestimate the amount of discharge. If you have a generator(and you should) you should run it when using the microwave for more than 5 minutes which usually ocurrs at breakfast time when the batteries are at their lowest charge. More that 5 minutes on your inverter will kill you're batteries and shorten their life which are expensive to replace:- Nomad ============================================== Deep cycle batteries can be rated in either cold cranking amperes (amps) or amp hours. However, there are many types of deep cycle batteries. True deep cycles are never used for starting vehicles and thus have no cold cranking rating. A deep cycle battery should rarely, if ever, be discharged to less than 40 percent of full charge. To do so will damage the plates. So, a battery that is rated as 100 amp hours has only 60 usable amp hours.

This is an excellent site if you want to learn more about batteries http://www.awdc.asn.au/dual_batteries.htm

hi everyone, just wondering how many of you have microwaves, and if the power systems are able to run them. i remember in the article about brian and margaret's van it was indicated they would need to be in the caravan park to use it. we will have 4 x 120w solar panels and (i think) 4 batteries plus a generator but dont want to get a microwave too large, maybe 500w. what does everyone think? will we be able to run it without having access to mains power. angie

Angie about 900 watt is the smallest microve we could find.
A 900W microwave draws 1250W so it is a big load on the batteries if you use it a lot. (125 Amps, see my earlier note)

Just another note on geny's.
We use a Honda EU20i and it runs everything including the aircon.
We have used it in state parks and national parks undected by running it in the back of the F250 with the tailgate up and the rear window open. No overheating, smells, soot etc. (and almost no sound)
One time the ranger walked past about 30 metres away and did not notice.
Only ever one problem, a bushwalking greenie prick came out of the bush one day right next to the truck, looked inside to see what was humming and then reported us to the park ranger who told us not to use it.
If I ever find where he is camped I will park the truck next to him an idle the motor.

angie the only one I could find that was suitable was a 17 litre Samsung. It has an output rating of 600 watts and input 950 watts. This runs OK from my 1000 watt inverter but like I said in a previous posting , for want long battery life don't use the MW for longer that 5 minutes maximum. There are technical reasons why deep cycle batteries should not be discharged high rates which is about 80 amps for this machine. For extended use start the generator. Nomad