I have 480AH right now and that is the most battery capacity I have ever had. I have not tested it in the cold yet but it handles quite a bit of use. I have cooked dinner in a pizza oven, and then ran the inverter all night for my sleep machine, fans, etc and still had enough power to cook another meal in the toaster oven for breakfast! I look forward to seeing if it can handle a winter night. We do use our rig in cold weather
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You have to remember the furnace shouldn't have to run continuously at say 40f . Also depends if you like to bundle up to sleep in the cool or like it good and warm.
Just a suggestion...electric blanket. The house can get down to 55 F if I want and I'm still toasty warm under one. The house is only 450 sq ft so doesn't take any time at all to get it up to the 70's in the AM when I crawl out of bed.
Just got a new one a few days ago. Nice one from Walmart for $50. I remember when I was up in Fairbanks Alaska a few years ago and decided to spend the winter up there so was looking for an electric blanket...the local stores all had them at $125 and UP. It was August at the time and I found one in a thrift store for $15. One of the college kids they get there every year headed back home and dumped it as it was apparently new. Couldn't stand the cold most likely. It's like -40 F for months at a time.
Anywho, they don't draw much even running on a small inverter (which I would recommend over a large one as they have inefficiencies) and with one you could turn down the furnace so it wouldn't run so much.
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'02 Winnebago Journey DL, DSDP, 36' of fun.
Anywho, they don't draw much even running on a small inverter (which I would recommend over a large one as they have inefficiencies) and with one you could turn down the furnace so it wouldn't run so much.
You must look at the specifications on the inverter to know just how efficient they are. Large ones can be just as efficient as a lot of small inverters. Also it should be a full sign wave. A modified sign wave inverter can and will destroy some sensitive electronics. Over time, you may get complacent and forget and use it on some electronic device that will be ruined. A modified sign wave will not hurt a heated sleeping blanket.
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Marc
2013 Thor Palazzo 33.2
2013 Honda CRV
You must look at the specifications on the inverter to know just how efficient they are. Large ones can be just as efficient as a lot of small inverters. Also it should be a full sign wave. A modified sign wave inverter can and will destroy some sensitive electronics. Over time, you may get complacent and forget and use it on some electronic device that will be ruined. A modified sign wave will not hurt a heated sleeping blanket.
The days of 'sensitive' electronic devices blowing up due to 'modified' sine wave converters is really close to being over in my professional opinion. As the number of differing devices used by RV'ers has increased, manufacturing electronic engineers take note of the failures caused but popular usage. I was one of them years ago. Reading articles about that sort of thing is what we do, and I'd adjust my design practices accordingly. And then as device prices fell, better and more power devices like those used in the outputs of inverters were available to inverter manufacturers so the inverters got better too. So a modified sine wave inverter these days, is much more like a pure sine inverter than in years past.
In my RV, I have a modified inverter installed in 2002 in the overhead cabinet that runs the TV, a newer OTA tuner, a powered modern OTA antenna, the DirecTV receiver, a 4X1 HDMI switch, a Winegard Trav'ler box that runs the 'seeking' satellite antenna system, and by now, I've used at least 2 other model LCD/LED TV's. They all worked fine, and nothing has blown. I did have a DTV receiver blow so that might have been sensitive to modified sine wave, I don't know as I sent it back but it had worked for months prior to failure. Then a huge short by a neighboring RV'er in Mexico once blew out the Winegard, but nothing I've plugged into that inverter has blown up simply due to a modified sine wave.
I have read about sticks and bricks refers blowing up on inverters, but those days are over now too as many manufacturers have made allowances in their designs. So my point is, these days, 'fuggedda bout it', unless you have a really old piece of electronic gear, or a really old modified sine inverter. That's all I'm saying.
My point was NOT about whether one should use a modified or pure, or whatever the efficiencies were (they run about 80% despite what the ad copies read), but I should have just mentioned that the smaller inverters don't draw as much when in operation that goes to waste. In that sense they are more efficient. A big, 2000-4000 watt whole house inverter, pure or modified, will waste much more at idle or when powering something small like an e-blanket than a tiny 300 watt plug in inverter. That was my point.
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'02 Winnebago Journey DL, DSDP, 36' of fun.
Tried to make a set of 5 but unfortunately a few were in very poor shape so didnt buy them.
These are upholstered in ultrafabric “ul2” product.
I think there is some type of defect with this line of fabric as they all hve a level of cracking/peeling.
Eventually ill reupholster them myselves with a nice oil pull up, at which point ill buy 2 more to match the 3.
Still very comfy, full power, power footrest, heated, air pressure adjusted lumbar support.
These will work well for a couple years in their current condition.
Been plugging away at the diesel generator project. Been a long hard and cold few past days.
Mounts fabricated, unit installed, fuel tank dropped to tie feed and return, fuel plumbed in.
Waiting on some glands for the 120v junction box hookup, then make the new start/stop/safety shut down circuit and enclose it in a box. Reconfigure exhaust, connect 12V leads.
made a control box/panel for the generator.
3 methods of starting it.
Remote control, (added this so i can turn the house systems on from inside my stick built house in the winter, then trudge out there after an hour once its all warm inside for continued interior work)
using the buttons on the relay
using the factory rocker switches from inside.
Its a latching relay with momentary push - on activation.
Basically you press Off/Glow for 10 seconds, this cuts power to the fuel shutoff solenoid and activates glow plug relay while you are holding it down.
Then press On/Start. This latches the fuel shut off solenoid in the On position,
and the starter is engaged for the duration of the button push.
Also has inline safety shutdown for low coolant level, hi coolant temp, low oil pressure. Any of those 3 trip, the generator shuts off and a status light on the relay is triggered for easy diagnostics.
Once its warm ill finish rigging up the AC system which will be controlled with the factory buttons/sliders from in the cabin.
Currently 15 deg F at night out here, doing electrical work outside sucks. I prewired the connectors on the generator side, so just have to add my appropriate female connectors to my pig tail, connect power and ground..and it should be alive.
Exhaust fabrication to follow before I test run it.
I bought a 3 cylinder diesel generator for mine, but I can't figure out how to get it into the generator space up front. The front of the coach would have to be pretty high in the air, or you'd have to have a dugout under the coach like an oil change place. Then you've got to lift the 600 lb generator up to install it.
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Linear Mode
