Inverter

Doodles

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Howdy all got motorhome booked in for a few jobs this month and thinking about adding an inverter to the list. I have seen people have them wired in to work all mains sockets which is great but could it also be wired to run say my water heater and normal heating system that would normally only run on 230v hookup or gas? Cheers :)
 
You would require a hell of a lot of batteries to run heaters for water, most campers use 12v for things and gas to heat water.
 
Doodles said:
Howdy all got motorhome booked in for a few jobs this month and thinking about adding an inverter to the list. I have seen people have them wired in to work all mains sockets which is great but could it also be wired to run say my water heater and normal heating system that would normally only run on 230v hookup or gas? Cheers :)
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Normal Heating System ... Absolutely not.

Water Heating ... Yes, with care, but you will use a lot of battery power, so only suitable if you have a way to recharge fast afterwards (big solar array, powerful B2B, or getting hookup later on)
 
Thanks was more for the normal heating i was curious about. I have a pretty good solar system in place as well as 2 new leisure batteries.
 
Doodles said:
Thanks was more for the normal heating i was curious about. I have a pretty good solar system in place as well as 2 new leisure batteries.
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Do the maths and you will see why it is non-starter ...

Typical fan heater ... Say 2kW?
You have 200Ah of leisure battery... That is around 2400Wh total capacity. If lead and following the 50% rule, that is 1200Wh of USUABLE capacity. But that is at a C20 discharge rate. i.e. no more that 1/20th max draw, so10A.
A 2kW heater will draws over 200A when running. That is more than a C1 discharge. At that discharge, your 200Ah batteries with their 100Ah of usuable capacity has more like a 50 to 60Ah capacity so 800Wh maybe?

End result .. your 200Ah of batteries will run your 2kW heater for around 20 minutes.
Solar? Generally the need for Room Heating does not co-incide with getting good solar, so forget including that benefit.
 
Doodles said:
Howdy all got motorhome booked in for a few jobs this month and thinking about adding an inverter to the list. I have seen people have them wired in to work all mains sockets which is great but could it also be wired to run say my water heater and normal heating system that would normally only run on 230v hookup or gas? Cheers :)
Click to expand...

With respect, I think you don't understand much about electricity in your moho. This may help you understand some of the basics. https://wildcamping.co.uk/threads/electricity-in-your-motor-home-for-dummies.74748/
 
We have a truma gas heater for hw and room heating.
Slow to start with but even on low setting does both jobs..using
Refillable Lpg.
If on ehu we do use a small electic fan heater but pnly use the 500watt setting and the living space heats up very quickly and the thermostat swiches it off.
We are still using the vehicle .
No ehu and gas heating is good..
Yes diesel is an option and like gas uses a bit of battery on startup/warmup. Your 2 batteries and solar. Should be ok for now but darkest winter is likely to be difficult unless you drive to recharge or use ehu.
I do not use an inverter but I know some use briefly for
A laptop charging (lowish amps)
B POSH Coffee (high amps but only for a very short time)
 
argoose said:
The only use of my inverter is to run the bosses hair straighteners first thing in the morning. It's better to have Happy than Grumpy about, don't see any of the other dwarves about mind :unsure:
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How many watts or amps does the head tool burn, always double the inverter size as many are only good for short runs at continuous power
 
We installed a calorifier in my daughters sprinter van (piped from heater matrix) and it’s been great.
 
argoose said:
Straighteners 150w
Inverter 1000w
2000w peak
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This soft star smart inverter would be better if you can pick one up.
inv c.jpg
 
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