 Notice. New forum software under development. It's going to miss a few functions and look a bit ugly for a while, but I'm working on it full time now as the old forum was too unstable. Couple days, all good. If you notice any issues, please contact me. |
Forum Index : Solar : is 600 watt inverter too much power?
| Author | Message | ||||
| bobt Newbie  Joined: 26/12/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 17 |
G'day everyone, I recently brought a 600watt pure sine wave inverter, and alot of my appliances use only around 50 & 20 watts or even 5 watts,(except the 32"lcd tv and xbox360) 1)if im using say only 5 watt appliance, am i wasting the inverter power on such small watts usuage from the 600 watt inverter? 2)how much watts or amps do the inverters use for their pull out of the batteries? 3)would a smaller inverter be better for the small appliances? thanks bobt |
||||
| VK4AYQ Guru  Joined: 02/12/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2539 |
Hi Bob I just checked on a 12 volt 600 watt inverter I have and it uses 6 watts at idle and with a 125 watt load it uses 140 watts, it won't hurt the inverter doing this but it does drain the battery a bit faster but nothing comes for nothing. Your smaller appliances may be better run direct off battery power with a suitable voltage regulated power supply but there are still losses. Your 600 watt inverter will use about 70 amps out of the battery at full load. I checked a 300 watt inverter I have and it idles at 5 watts and full load 36 amps so no great gain there and it dosent have the starting reserve power of the 600 watt unit for heavy instantaneous start currents. Volts X Amps = watts Watts / Volts = amps And allow 12 - 20% for conversion losses from battery to the applience. All the best Bob Foolin Around |
||||
| VK4AYQ Guru Joined: 02/12/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2539 |
Hi Bob I found the circuit for a good low loss regulator that's simple to build and works in switch mode. Page 19 has the variable voltage version. 2010-06-10_164456_LM2576.pdf This will run your small appliances with minimum losses direct of the battery. Item number: 370147451142 this is a suitable toroid inductor for the regulator. Do a search on the ebay number. All the best Bob Foolin Around |
||||
| bobt Newbie Joined: 26/12/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 17 |
g'day VK4AYQ, thanks for the info on the step down regulator box, i will certainly look into that. I do have a few items i run directly of 12v, ipod charger runs directly to a battery via cigarette adapter , which i just plug postive to the top and negative to the side, i do that for my AA/AAA battery charger as well. unfortunately there is still at least 3 items i use regulary that i cant use a DC equilivant. cheers bobt |
||||
| VK4AYQ Guru Joined: 02/12/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2539 |
Hi Bob OK mate sounds like you got it mostly under control but Im sure that if you have any more issues there will be someone to help on the forum. All the best Bob Foolin Around |
||||
 Print this page |
