Putting inverter near Battery

markland

Guest
Hi all converting a citroen relay into a campervan.

Ive built a box out of plywood under the passenger seat roughly 16" x 16" x 10" with lots of holes drilled for ventilaton to accomodate the leisure battery, fuse box for the ceiling lights and a cigar lighter.

Now ive left room for an inverter which i have not bought yet and will be permanently connecting it with ring terminals.

Am i ok to put the inverter inside the box or will there be flammable gases from the leisure battery?
 
Do you really need an inverter? Most stuff will run off 12v these days & what can't is easily left behind. Inverters get hot because they are inefficient. Remember that whatever current is drawn out of the inverter at 240v, there will be over 20 times that current being sucked from the battery.
 
markland said:
Thanks for fast response.
All i will really need to run is a macbook pro which i also use for tv with a usb freeview. It would just be nice to be able to have the option to run other items.

Buy Silverline 263764 Inverter 700w at Argos.co.uk - Your Online Shop for Adaptors.
Inverter i will probably go for as it comes with terminals and not crocodile clips! will have to make a mount to keep it in place though.
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Get one of these instead 90w LAPTOP MAINS & CAR POWER SUPPLY 5000ma 5A 12-24v with 12v cig lead & 240v | eBay - cheaper and more efficient:cool:
 
vespalien said:
Do you really need an inverter? Most stuff will run off 12v these days & what can't is easily left behind. Inverters get hot because they are inefficient. Remember that whatever current is drawn out of the inverter at 240v, there will be over 20 times that current being sucked from the battery.
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??? That is scaremongering. V=IR. A tv using 35 watts will use 3 amps + the losses in the inverter. An amp is an amp is an amp, whether it is drawn from the mains or a battery. Do not worry.......
John
 
markland said:
Thanks for fast response.
All i will really need to run is a macbook pro which i also use for tv with a usb freeview. It would just be nice to be able to have the option to run other items.

Buy Silverline 263764 Inverter 700w at Argos.co.uk - Your Online Shop for Adaptors.
Inverter i will probably go for as it comes with terminals and not crocodile clips! will have to make a mount to keep it in place though.
Click to expand...

Word of warning. I bought an inverter to run a couple of things including my MacBook Pro on my recent trip to Europe and the first time I plugged the charging cable in the computer didn't work. It hasn't worked since. On a previous trip I'd run the Mac successfully for three weeks on a 12v cable, using it to watch movies and use occasional wifi.

I don't know if it was the inverter that fried the computer or whether the lack of function was a coincidence but I wouldn't be tempted to try it when there is a 12v option available. Luckily my house insurance covered it and I got a replacement.

I'll try and find a link to purchase the 12v cable.

I'm completely 12v now, including the tv.

Johnny A
 
Make sure you have drop vents below the battery to allow any gassing to escape and not enter the living area.

We have a 2kw inverter mounted above the batteries and drop vents below the batteries. We only need the inverter for odd things like charging my shaver, Joan's Hairdryer or the blender. Everything else electrical we run direct from the batteries at 12v. The leads from the battery to the inverter should be as short as possible to avoid losses.

I agree with you keeping the batteries at room temperature, as they are rated at 25c and lose power as the temperature drops.

I have the van wired with 2 mains circuits one powered by the EHU and the other from the inverter. I fitted caravan type cream sockets for the inverter circuit and while domestic ones for the mains hook-up.

John
 
I have a 300W inverter which I bought about 9 years ago and I have rarely used it. It is quite noisy, (modern ones are probably quieter and cheaper), but for most things there is a 12v plug option anyway.

To my naieve way of thinking - if a thing is so power hungry that it only runs on mains then it will probably take too much out of my battery anyway so I won't use it unless on EHU. For example the leccy kettle, fan heater, multi cooker, hairdrier ...............
 
Hi we're new on here and usually just read the posts, but couldn't resist sharing our experience with an inverter we had been advised to buy from a well known electronics store to run our laptop ( marine charts) on our boat .
It was our first night sail and with just a few navigation lamps , depth and the laptop running , the battery went flat an hour out of port the new alternator couldn't keep up with the power drain and went into meltdown and we had to rely on our rusty navigation skills heart in mouth to reach our destination . Still have nightmares so as non expert lay people we would stick with good old 12 v :)
 
Andys said:
Our inverter sits beside the batteries in a locker on the outside of the van. Never been a problem.
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As with most things, especially electronic equipment, you get what you pay for. The Victron Energie 24v/35A 1800W Inverter/Charger on my boat is 16 years old, is left on all year round, and never misses a beat or cooks batteries!
John
 
markland said:
Hi all converting a citroen relay into a campervan.

Ive built a box out of plywood under the passenger seat roughly 16" x 16" x 10" with lots of holes drilled for ventilaton to accomodate the leisure battery, fuse box for the ceiling lights and a cigar lighter.

Now ive left room for an inverter which i have not bought yet and will be permanently connecting it with ring terminals.

Am i ok to put the inverter inside the box or will there be flammable gases from the leisure battery?
Click to expand...

Some batteries have a vent tube/hole so you can run a pipe outside the box. Very little hydrogen is given off, hence the very small bore vent tube, unless you boil (overcharge) your battery. Make sure all contacts are good so there is no sparking.

Richard
 
Remember, Hydrogen is lighter than air (hence hydrogen used in early airships) so ventilation holes in the bottom of a box will only expel hydrogen when the box is full of hydrogen and has expelled all of the air!!

However as stated, you have to be mistreating the batts to get severe gassing.

I have my 2kw inverter above one of the leisure batts with a wooden spacer between the two so that if the inverter became detached, it won't short circuit the battery if it dropped onto the lugs. Now that would be spectacular, but not for me.

I use ordinary starter batts with my large inverter as they will stand the shock of a hair dryer at 1.5kw.

The batts are now 4 1/2 years old and getting towards the end of life, but that means replacing 3 batts all at the same time. Not at Christmas!!

I use 12 for everything except hairdrying and microwave (long story!!)
 
After getting a flat battery from my inverter I purchased the keyed isolator fitted between the battery & inverter stops the resistance which drains the battery even when not being used , works Jan's hair drier and various other items that I usually forget the 12volt adapters for. I normally keep the key tied on the hair driers cable to remind me to turn it off.
 
rugbyken said:
After getting a flat battery from my inverter I purchased the keyed isolator fitted between the battery & inverter stops the resistance which drains the battery even when not being used , works Jan's hair drier and various other items that I usually forget the 12volt adapters for. I normally keep the key tied on the hair driers cable to remind me to turn it off.
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Mine is fastened on top of a laptop safe which is next to one of the batteries, I also use an isolator switch for the big invertor, we use it for a 900w kettle when travelling, hairdryer and microwave but I isolate it when it is not in use, if the battery level gets too low it also switches itself off to avoid damaging the batteries
 
rugbyken said:
After getting a flat battery from my inverter I purchased the keyed isolator fitted between the battery & inverter stops the resistance which drains the battery even when not being used , works Jan's hair drier and various other items that I usually forget the 12volt adapters for. I normally keep the key tied on the hair driers cable to remind me to turn it off.
Click to expand...

so even with the inverter's power switch in the off position it is still drawing power?
 
markland said:
so even with the inverter's power switch in the off position it is still drawing power?
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I think you'll find that the inverter draws a little power when it is switched on but not being used. IIRC this is called its quiescent current. It shouldn't use any when switched off.
John
 
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