Tecty123 Posted November 16, 2014 Share Posted November 16, 2014 Hi I have purchased 2 100w solar panels to put on my FIat Ducato Autoroller. I have a 110ah leisure battery. Just need some advise!!!!!! When wild camping I will use gas for the fridge and heating and hot water. I want to use a TV, a laptop, phone chargers, kettle and toaster off the 12v battery! Would I need an inverter? Thanks Paul ( had my motorhome 8 months and I want to go places with no electric hook up) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted November 16, 2014 Share Posted November 16, 2014 Iwould use gas for kettle and toasting, a 110ah battery won't last long doing them. P.s. We rarely use hook up and a 85w panel and one battery serves us well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spospe Posted November 16, 2014 Share Posted November 16, 2014 Tecty123 - 2014-11-16 6:40 PM I want to use a TV, a laptop, phone chargers, kettle and toaster off the 12v battery! Would I need an inverter? Unless the toaster is a 12 volt device, then yes you will need an inverter and a high-powered one at that. Assuming the toaster is 1000 watts then at 12 volts, that represents about 83 amps minimum. The other stuff in your list could be easily run off a 150 watt inverter, but you will need about 10 times that figure for reliable toasting (and a very short battery life). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tecty123 Posted November 16, 2014 Author Share Posted November 16, 2014 Do you use an inverter? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tecty123 Posted November 16, 2014 Author Share Posted November 16, 2014 Do you use an inverter? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted November 17, 2014 Share Posted November 17, 2014 I prefer the 12 volt route, I try to make sure everything can run off 12 v, I have a 12v adaptor for the laptop, 12v chargers for the phones, 12 v TV etc. & use gas for kettle & toast. Big inverters are not really practical unless you have the payload for a large battery bank & then you need loads of solar to charge them. I do carry a small plug in inverter ( one of those 10 quid jobs) just for when I need to charge a phone quickly as they take twice as long from the 12v chargers I have 2 x 95 A/H batteries and 2 x 100 watt solar panels we hardly ever use sites one or two nights a year . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracker Posted November 17, 2014 Share Posted November 17, 2014 Tecty123 - 2014-11-16 6:40 PM I have purchased 2 100w solar panels to put on my FIat Ducato Autoroller. When wild camping I will use gas for the fridge and heating and hot water. I want to use a TV, a laptop, phone chargers, kettle and toaster off the 12v battery! Would I need an inverter? I don't know what batteries you have but my first step would always be to fit a second leisure battery to prolong no charge periods. Why use an electric kettle when a gas kettle boils almost as quickly and has no risk of damaging or depleting the batteries. For a microwave you will need an inverter but make sure you get a powerful one of around 2000w even for a 600w microwave to give yourself a good margin essential for longevity and try not to use it for more than a few minutes at a time. Our last van had a microwave with an inverter but when we changed vans we did not bother to fit another inverter because we found we could mange perfectly well without it and it did knock a lot out of the batteries so the microwave, like the oven, is a handy storage cupboard! As others have said a lower power inverter will do everything else but do remember to switch it off when not in use as it consumes power even when not being used. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spospe Posted November 17, 2014 Share Posted November 17, 2014 Tecty123 - 2014-11-16 7:29 PM Do you use an inverter? Yes, an 80 watt quasi-sine wave model. This has been OK for the past 14 years as we have never needed more than 80 watts at mains voltage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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