Quote:
Originally Posted by Burgeogull
Ok so I have mine up and running! 4 six volt batteries and 220 watts of solar panels. The panels have no problem getting the batteries up to over 14 volts on a sunny day.
Now I have a question...how long should I expect to be able to use a small tv, my Satelite reciever and the trailer stereo. Right now the batteries drop fairly quickly in the evening to about 12.5 volts and remain all night.
Is this right or should I expect better?
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Sounds like you're doing just fine to me. As for how long, pick up an inductive amp meter at an auto parts store, then measure the amp draw by checking at one of the battery cables. For easy math, let's say you're pulling 10 amps and you have 200ah. You only want to pull your batteries down 50% or to 12.0V so you actually have 100ah to play with thus you can last 10 hours.
This is over simplified, but is the rule I play with. I have 460ah of capacity, in one night being really liberal with my usage, lights, 40" tv for a couple of movies, cpap on an inverter plus charging my phone and iPad, in the morning I'm down to 12.3V or 70%. One thing I love about 6V batteries, I think they soak up energy quicker than 12V batteries, I can run my generator for a couple of hours max and the converter will start floating.