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I will state a few facts for
those of you who are interested in and in need of this knowledge, I have received a lot of
help on this board and am returning the favor. Concern yourself with power consumption, if
your appliance or device does not state the power consumption, I will give you some basic
formulas to compute any part of the equation.
The following symbols are the standard forms
used in the industry and will be followed by the various simple formulas that will enable
you to calculate any parameter of your electrical needs. Bear in mind that any power
generation or power handling system has internal losses but if properly designed it should
be negligible for an RV. The following will treat the system as having no loss..
I or A
E or V
P or W
R |
=
=
=
= |
Current or Amperage
Voltage.
Power or Wattage.
Resistance. |
I[squared]r =Power [a normal calculation to measure power loss in the conductor].
E[squared]/r =Power
IE =Power
P/I =E
P/E =I
IR =E
E/R =I
E/I =R
3.42 BTU = one Watt
742 W =1 HP
KVA =watts (thousands)
Amp/hr =1 amp draw for 1 hour.
|
(NOTE:) Don't attempt to measure resistance on a/c circuits and apply it
here as there are other factors that enter in that we won't go into.
The following examples are not an attempt to recommend a particular configuration, just
show you the feasibility of the different configurations.
1 - You have a 2500 watt 12v inverter. At full load this unit will draw
2500/12 or 208 amps. Your battery bank will suffer a 208 Amp drain after one hour. (208
amp/hr) To hold the banks charge with 120v generator at this rate of consumption would
require 2500w/120v or 20.8 amp. Or a 2500W (2.5kw) generator.
2 - You have a 2500 watt 24v inverter. At full load this unit will draw
2500/24 or 104 amps. To hold the banks charge with 120v generator at this rate of
consumption would require 2500w/120v or 20.8 amps. or a 2500W (2.5kw) generator.
3 - You have a rooftop cooler that draws 20a. As we have seen, your 2500
watt inverter could conceivably run this unit (and only this unit) by itself.
Take care that your particular inverter's power quality does not deteriorate as you
approach peak capacity.
4 - You have (10) 50w lights. At 12v or 24v or 120v these units will
collectively draw 500w (assuming the lights are connected to the voltage they were
designed for). Your inverter is a 2500w unit and these lights will utilize only 1/5th of
it's capacity at 120v and the inverter will be drawing 500w/12v or 41.6a from your battery
bank. If you connect the lights directly to the battery bank (assuming the lights are now
12v units), they will draw 41.6a from the bank so the net gain of 12v over 120v is nil,
it's a matter of preference but I submit to you, that 120v lighting is much more common
and considerably less expensive unless you are reluctant to put the load on your inverter.
5 - Configuration:
| Voltage |
Load |
Watts |
| 120v |
Central air @ 20a |
2500 |
| 120v |
Lighting |
500 |
| 120v |
Entertainment Center |
300 |
| 12v |
Furnace Motor |
250 |
| 12v |
Reefer |
1000 |
| |
|
|
| (I am guessing at these RV
units so plug in your actual figures) |
Total 120v load = 3300 Watts (3.3KW)
Total 12v load = 1250 Watts.
Generator required for this load = 4550 watts (4.5kw)
12v load connected directly to batteries 1250 watts or 104 amps and the
inverter becomes 3300 watts [still a lot of current for batteries].
Inverter required for this load = 4550 watts (@ 120v).
Battery bank required (your supplier will be very happy) 4550/12v =379 amps [not a
feasible design].
Well, I hope this helps some of you, as you can see, much of this
selection is just personal preference.
LD Tullis
Tullis Electric
mailto:pas001@msn.com
