Genny alternative?
Discussion
This year, we will once again be taking that essential piece of Le Mans camping equipment - the generator - which we will be using for a multitude of useful but totally non-essential applications, such as to plug a toaster into, or to watch grot on a projector at 3am.
We've been mulling the idea of having some sort of late-night alternative, so that those who wish to stay up a little later with the fairy lights twinkling and the playstation thrumming do not disturb others with the choking fumes and intangibly nauseating fhut-fhut-fhut that a knackered/cheap 4-stroke genny produces.
I'm thinking, big diesel battery...
Hook it up to a trickle charger while the genny is on, then connect an inverter to it for when we turn it off for running our 240v electrical goodies.
Has anyone attempted a similar setup before, and if so, with what degree of success?
We've been mulling the idea of having some sort of late-night alternative, so that those who wish to stay up a little later with the fairy lights twinkling and the playstation thrumming do not disturb others with the choking fumes and intangibly nauseating fhut-fhut-fhut that a knackered/cheap 4-stroke genny produces.
I'm thinking, big diesel battery...
Hook it up to a trickle charger while the genny is on, then connect an inverter to it for when we turn it off for running our 240v electrical goodies.
Has anyone attempted a similar setup before, and if so, with what degree of success?
Leisure batteries and an inverter might be the way forward, but it does depend on what you want to power. Toasters, kettles etc will kill it in no time, that's if your inverter is up to the job.
I think leisures batteries can stand being discharge more than automotive ones.
Running TVs and stuff could well be possible though. You can even get low voltage tellys and stuff for caravans that wouldn't require an inverter. Speak to someone into motorhomes and caravans, theyre usually experts in this sort of thing.
I think leisures batteries can stand being discharge more than automotive ones.
Running TVs and stuff could well be possible though. You can even get low voltage tellys and stuff for caravans that wouldn't require an inverter. Speak to someone into motorhomes and caravans, theyre usually experts in this sort of thing.
blueST said:
Leisure batteries and an inverter might be the way forward, but it does depend on what you want to power. Toasters, kettles etc will kill it in no time, that's if your inverter is up to the job.
I think leisures batteries can stand being discharge more than automotive ones.
Running TVs and stuff could well be possible though. You can even get low voltage tellys and stuff for caravans that wouldn't require an inverter. Speak to someone into motorhomes and caravans, theyre usually experts in this sort of thing.
Well, if we're running off battery power, we won't be going silly (the toaster and the kettle was more of a challenge that we set for the sI think leisures batteries can stand being discharge more than automotive ones.
Running TVs and stuff could well be possible though. You can even get low voltage tellys and stuff for caravans that wouldn't require an inverter. Speak to someone into motorhomes and caravans, theyre usually experts in this sort of thing.
t generator we've had in previous years - we had the gas equivalents anyway...).Now you mention low voltage TV's, I remember thinking that it was strange when I saw an LCD the other day with a laptop-like transformer and lead going into it - low and behold, it runs on 12v.
In the case of the 12v TV, would inverting the power from 12v (battery) up to 240v, and then back again to 12v (via the TV's laptop-style transformer) waste a load of energy? Might be a stupid question, but thought I should ask....
[quote]
In the case of the 12v TV, would inverting the power from 12v (battery) up to 240v, and then back again to 12v (via the TV's laptop-style transformer) waste a load of energy? Might be a stupid question, but thought I should ask....
[/quote]
Yes, just supply it straight from the 12v battery. This is what I plan to do with my 12v fridge. I've got a 92Ah cell and plan to trickle charge it from my 12v socket when the car is running and then run the fridge the rest of the time.
Automotive batteries are usually designed to supply a large amount of current over a short period, i.e. for starting a car. Leisure batteries or 'deep cycle' batteries are designed to supply a smaller amount of current but over a longer period of time.
If you're going to by one look at the Ah rating, in theory this is the number of amps that the battery can supply for one hour. However I think that the Ah ratings are usually based over a 20 hour period, so for example my 92Ah battery will provide 4.6amps over a 20 hour period.
In the case of the 12v TV, would inverting the power from 12v (battery) up to 240v, and then back again to 12v (via the TV's laptop-style transformer) waste a load of energy? Might be a stupid question, but thought I should ask....
[/quote]
Yes, just supply it straight from the 12v battery. This is what I plan to do with my 12v fridge. I've got a 92Ah cell and plan to trickle charge it from my 12v socket when the car is running and then run the fridge the rest of the time.
Automotive batteries are usually designed to supply a large amount of current over a short period, i.e. for starting a car. Leisure batteries or 'deep cycle' batteries are designed to supply a smaller amount of current but over a longer period of time.
If you're going to by one look at the Ah rating, in theory this is the number of amps that the battery can supply for one hour. However I think that the Ah ratings are usually based over a 20 hour period, so for example my 92Ah battery will provide 4.6amps over a 20 hour period.
Yep, we do this - a night time "quiet setup"
We run some items as 12v at all times - these include flouro lights inside the gazebo, 12v food fridge and a TV. We use 2 x 80Ah Leisure batteries wired in parallel. You can get away with much less without the fridge - it draws 100 watts plus. Our Genny has a 12v output that runs these but won't charge the batteries (as you need 14v to charge them).
One other way to do this is go solar, but you'd need a large and expensive panel and a decent charge controller go get anything like the charge you need to keep on top of the draw and charge the batteries.
We run some items as 12v at all times - these include flouro lights inside the gazebo, 12v food fridge and a TV. We use 2 x 80Ah Leisure batteries wired in parallel. You can get away with much less without the fridge - it draws 100 watts plus. Our Genny has a 12v output that runs these but won't charge the batteries (as you need 14v to charge them).
One other way to do this is go solar, but you'd need a large and expensive panel and a decent charge controller go get anything like the charge you need to keep on top of the draw and charge the batteries.
Gassing Station | Le Mans | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff