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speedymonk

inverter and panel hookups

speedymonk
12 years ago

I'm interested in doing the following:

Purchase of a 12 volt 5,000 watt pure sine wave inverter powered by 2 245 amp hour deep cycle batteries and charged off the inverter by a smart charger. Should be self contained.

I'd like to know if I install a small break-out panel and hook the inverters juice to it, could I theoretically power by electric dryer and my 12 volt refrig and freezer?

Would a modified sne wave inverter work as well. Would like to get enough juice so I could also connect the hot water tank (with small electronic control panel) plus the two 12volt freezers and refrig.

Looking for some advice. Be an off-grid application.

Comments (8)

  • brickeyee
    12 years ago

    "could I theoretically power by electric dryer "

    Yes.

    but using an inverter to power a dryer is rather wasteful.

    Try hanging the clothes up to dry. It still works.

  • speedymonk
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    I didn't ask for a s**** a** answer. I know how to dry clothes and we haven a dryer line. I wanted to know about the wiring. Thanks.

  • brickeyee
    12 years ago

    "we haven a dryer line"

    Then why are you proposing such an idiotic solution to a non-problem?

    5000 W / 240 V is only 20.8 amps.

    You will be lucky of you do not blow the inverter as soon as the dryer motor tries to start. while the heating element is also loading down the circuit.

    Better go back to school ad learn about all that geeky electrical stuff, especially if you want to try and live off grid using electric dryers and electric water heaters.

    They are both huge loads.

    A typical electric water heater for a whole house is on a 240 V 30 amp circuit (7,200 watts).
    The individual heating elements are only around 4,500 watts each in many units though.

    it is a straight resistive load though, so at least you do not have to be concerned with V-A limits.

    Save your pennies, you batteries are not likely to last long.

  • petey_racer
    12 years ago

    Not only that but he wants to power "a water tank with a small electronic control panel" and "the" 12v fridge. As if we we know what the heck he is talking about.

    Monk, you write as if we know all about you situation. Don't get offended because you didn't get the answer you wanted.

    You don't mention any wattages or amperages, only the inverter size, which by itself would be barely powerful enough to run an electric dryer, and for how long??? One cycle? I doubt even that.

  • weedmeister
    12 years ago

    Is this for an RV?

    If not, then I would be thinking about a 48v battery bank, not 12v. And perhaps an inverter/charger combination rather than separate. This is the basis for an off-grid PV system.

    If you're talking about 12v devices for the dryer and HW then an inverter doesn't matter. If you're talking about 120VAC devices for dryer and HW, then powering them with an inverter isn't very efficient since you get at least 10% loss through the inverter. It this case you might want to convert them to DC operation (DC dryer motor, no electronics) and run them directly from the battery bank.

  • brickeyee
    12 years ago

    To supply 5000 W you are going to be around 417 amps from the batteries if you try an run at 12 V (ad that is not even including losses in the inverter).

    If you stepped up to 48 V at least that would drop to 48 amps, a far more reasonable number.

    Better get some really large cables.

    A pair of 245 amp-hour batteries would not even last 70 minutes (you NEVER can get all the power in batteries at the highest load current levels they can deliver).

  • bus_driver
    12 years ago

    For a basic resistance water heater, any voltage, frequency, AC or DC will work, after a fashion, so long as the rated voltage is not exceeded. Lower voltage than the rated will result in slower heating. But the electronic control panel on some heaters makes that heater require the power as listed on the name plate, no exceptions.

  • yosemitebill
    12 years ago

    So if this is an off-grid operation, then with your smart charger ran off the inverter, you'd be looking at producing 5000 watts of power through either solar panels, wind mills, or micro-hydro to power an electric clothes dryer, and with up/down losses, only some small loads, for about a half-hour, at the recommended 50% discharge on the deep cycle batteries.

    And then to that, you want to add an electric water heater? No way.

    If you are really serious, use a solar hot water heater, a clothes line, or if you have to, a propane dryer (which only has an electric motor) to achieve something that just might be possible.