Community Forums

cvretis · 08-06-2020, 12:14 PM

We have a Tiffin 33AA with a Magnum MS2000 inverter. While in storage, I want to have a 100 Watt solar panel hooked up to keep the house batteries maintained and to keep the inverter on 24/7/365. I want to do this so I can keep my pest control units plugged in to keep the little critters away.

We have these and they work great.
Victor® Ultra PestChaser® https://www.victorpest.com/victor-ultra-pestchaser-m793

My other option is to leave the main inverter off and use a small inverter just for the pest control units.

Any suggestions?

theboondork. · 08-06-2020, 12:35 PM

Personally I would use a small cheap inverter and save the expensive one for more important things.

theboondork.com

jcussen · 08-06-2020, 01:14 PM

Just having a 2000 watt inverter on can draw 30+ watts, not sure a single 100 watt panel would supply that and run pest chasers. Agree that you should buy small inverter with just enough power to run the pest chasers and shut your big inverter and all other loads off. A 100 watt panel will only supply about 35 a/h a day in good conditions, so you need to know if your total load is less than that.

Gary RVRoamer · 08-06-2020, 01:57 PM

I nearly always left my Xantrex 2500 inverter powered on, but our coach always had shore power. Since you are relying on solar, I'd say you need to measure the DC amp draw when the inverter is on and powering those pest control devices. That will tell you if your power draw is outstripping what the solar can supply.

A smaller inverter might reduce the inverter overhead somewhat, but may not be enough to make the needed difference.

vito.a · 08-06-2020, 03:15 PM

Our inverter is on 24/7 and it's not a problem. Actually, heat cycling from cold to hot is more likely to cause a failure.
However, I'm not sure your 100 watt panel will keep up. On a perfect day with 100% efficiency your panel is producing up to 7 amps for a couple of hours. More likely it's producing about 5 amps for two hours and 1-2 amps for a couple more hours.

757driver · 08-07-2020, 09:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cvretis

We have a Tiffin 33AA with a Magnum MS2000 inverter. While in storage, I want to have a 100 Watt solar panel hooked up to keep the house batteries maintained and to keep the inverter on 24/7/365. I want to do this so I can keep my pest control units plugged in to keep the little critters away.

We have these and they work great.
Victor® Ultra PestChaser® https://www.victorpest.com/victor-ultra-pestchaser-m793

My other option is to leave the main inverter off and use a small inverter just for the pest control units.

Any suggestions?

That inverter will draw 4AH /24 hours a day just sitting idle with no draw. That comes to 96AH per day. Your 100W solar panel will produce about 40AH per day. Even two 100W panels would not keep up.

Gary RVRoamer · 08-07-2020, 09:54 AM

The MS2000 claims to use 25 watts when in inverter mode with no load. That's more like 2 amps/hour than the 4 amps cited above, but it's still a lot of drain (about 48 AH in 24 hours) and probably more than a 100W solar panel can replace in a day, even with decent sun. On a cloudy day, it's a major loss that the solar may not be able to recover from.

MSHappyCampers · 08-07-2020, 10:01 AM

I would be more concerned about the life expectancy of the inverter. All components have a MTBF (mean time between failure). Running the inverter all the time is shortening it's life expectancy. There's no way to know what that life expectancy is so it's anybody's guess if this is really a concern.

757driver · 08-07-2020, 10:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gary RVRoamer

The MS2000 claims to use 25 watts when in inverter mode with no load. That's more like 2 amps/hour than the 4 amps cited above, but it's still a lot of drain (about 48 AH in 24 hours) and probably more than a 100W solar panel can replace in a day, even with decent sun. On a cloudy day, it's a major loss that the solar may not be able to recover from.

Going by real world experience with the inverter ON and OFF the difference is 4 amps on the battery monitor. This is with nothing plugged into the inverted outlets. YMMV.

swduns · 08-07-2020, 10:31 AM

Usually the inverter is an inverter/charger
When on shore power it functions as a charger
12VDC is required when using an RV
e.g. Reefer requires 12VDC even when running on gas
e.g. Lights are 12VDC
therefore you need to have the charger running whenever using RV

uchu · 08-07-2020, 10:40 AM

Having a similar concern (mice entering our MH while hibernating) and without the option of a solar charger and/or inverter available, we used this:

https://www.amazon.com/Pestbye-Batte.../dp/B0072H60MG

2 x 9V batteries were enough to keep it operational for 6 months at -15 Celsius average temperatures. No sign of mice or any other pests in the MH when we took it from storage.