Hi all,
My husband and I have just purchased our first motor home, it is a 2007 Ford Transit Winnebago.
There are 2 solar panels on the roof and and inverter with 2 deep-cycle batteries. I don't know the sizes of any of these items yet as we don't get to pick up our baby until Saturday.
The sellers have told us you can be off-grid and run lights, tv and small appliances, yet I would like to know how big an inverter and batteries would be required to run a/c, heating and the microwave while off-grid.
Can anyone tell me what we need to upgrade them to for this?
Thanks
Cathie
If you can do your cooking with gas, lighter fuel (which we did) or metho (what we use now) you can have a smaller system.
Use a Daikin or Panasonic etc 2.5kW split air conditioner, they are far more efficient than the rubbish normally installed. But you will need a decent size battery setup for any air conditioning.
Also key to this is use quality products like Victron as an example & use the right gauge wire. A lot of wiring is often undersized wasting resources.
If the deep cycle batteries are old you are probably better off chucking them & get the setup correct from day one. Rather than adding bandaids.
As a rough suggestion probably you will need around 5kWh if you want air conditioning. A few more kWh if doing cooking as well.
To charge this up you will need a lot of solar real estate which I guess you will not have enough room for.
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Procrastination, mankind's greatest labour saving device!
50L custom fuel rack 6x20W 100/20mppt 4x26Ah gel 28L super insulated fridge TPMS 3 ARB compressors heatsink fan cooled 4L tank aftercooler Air/water OCD cleaning 4 stage car acoustic insulation.
Youll need atleast 2000 watt inverter . But youll be up against it with only two batteries!! To run microwave or AC for ANY length of time is going to need some serious battery storage !! In this case youll be better off sorting out a quiet generator!! Or cook with gas . 20. Min on AC with use up battery storage big time !!
Hi Cathie,
Firstly welcome to this forum - a place where I trust you'll find lots of info, perhaps some new friends.
Have a look through the various pages in the forum but especially for you, this "Techies Corner & the "Solar" tab that appears above it. Use the "Search - Advanced Search" Tab for beyond the first half dozen pages.
Your question - "I would like to know how big an inverter and batteries would be required to run a/c, heating and the microwave while off-grid." To run all of these - A BIG set of batteries, a BIG inverter - more weight than you can safely carry! There are other options. Heating - gas or diesel. Air conditioning, a generator.
Firstly advise the forum on -
1. the size of your batteries. They are rated as Ah (nominally, 100Ah, 120Ah).
2. size of & type of the inverter. They come in two types (modified sine wave - not nice for electronic items and pure sine wave).
2. your solar panels - do you know their rated power?
3. your vehicle - is it diesel powered? Engine size?
A book worth getting is "Caravan & Motorhome Electrics - the complete guide" by Collyn Rivers. Road Track Marine sell them, also available on line.
You'll probably get a few similar replies - all the best!
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Warren
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If you don't get it done today, there's always tomorrow!
Hi Cathie
If you want reliability and economy and lower noise then either Honda 2.2 or Yamaha 2.4 .Best to check that the Honda runs your air conditioner because some in the industry say they run any air conditioner but its not true .
My generator is the Honda 2.2 running a ibis 3 and works pretty hard especially when running anything else on 240 volt if I was to buy again I would go the Yamaha.
Cheers enjoy your travels
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John
2017 dmax lovells upgrade full CSM trade aluminium canopy,3.5 m quintrex tinny and rear boat loader mangrove jack aluminium trailer
Cathie,
Before you go hopping around into the cooler areas where you'll need heating, check the vehicle's Specification plate for the GVM - Gross Vehicle Mass - which is the MAXIMUM WEIGHT your vehicle IS ALLOWED TO WEIGH - with passengers, fuel, gas, steel work (eg bull & tow bars), extra batteries on top of the one for the engine, solar panels, inverters, water in your tanks, toilet & HWS, stuff you have to & want to carry, food, clothes & bedding.
When you have that figure, put it on a weigh bridge & see where you stand for carrying extra goodies!
Water weighs 1 kg per litre, diesel/petrol marginally less. 100Ah batteries (AGM) weigh nearly 30kg each, lithium around half that.
The good old days where we had a "box" & filled it to the brim have gone unfortunately!
My generator is very quiet - don't have one. If it's cold, it's under the doona!
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Warren
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If you don't get it done today, there's always tomorrow!
Thanks Warren-Pat for the info, I will definitely be checking it's current weight prior to loading it up. I was thinking Doona for winter, and beanies with warm pj's also!
Our cooking is gas, and other than the odd cuppa, most of it will be done outside the vehicle.
My son will be happy so long as the tv works and he can charge his phone and laptop.
Can't wait to pick her up and get out and about. With the QLD borders re-opening on the 10th July, we can now go down to Jiggi NSW on that weekend to see my husband's aunt and uncle without having to worry about getting back home for work!
Thanks heaps everyone, see you in the great outdoors sometime!
Welcome to the wandering life. You have been given some good ideas to think on so far. My suggestion is to hasten slowly into the motorhome use and see how it goes before thinking of making any changes. Look at what you have there, chase up the specs of the hardware, search on this forum for information(center of blue strip up above), read previous threads here and the Solar Power sub forum(up above) and other areas that take your fancy. Most of your questions have been answered before, several times.
But more importantly, get out there and try out your rig. Enjoy the good winter days, use a caravan park to make it easy for a starter while you see how it all works.
Hi, sorry to tell you but air con wont run on batteries, you need 240v power connected to mains or a generator lge enough to run air con , the start up power on ac is higher than running power. Checlk instruction book on ac for tech info or find out brand model ring manufacturer for details and advice on their recommendation for generator size. I have IBIS3 AC and if i use my gen honda eu2000 need to make sure all appliances are turned off , including ho****er if set on elect heating turn to gas for ho****er. also cant use electric heaters on battery power. older M HOMES wont have led lighting worth changing to led better light and uses less power..
Hi, sorry to tell you but air con wont run on batteries, you need 240v power connected to mains or a generator lge enough to run air con....
Not quite true,Keith.I have Mitsubishi Heavy Industries 2.5kw reverse cycle AC,and I run it when I like,for as long as I like,off batteries.My 19'6" van has never been connected to 240v power,or a generator.Cheers
-- Edited by yobarr on Monday 13th of July 2020 09:44:44 AM
The 2.5kw split systems are very 500 - 600% efficient. Most of the time you would be running it less than rated output. In a dehumidifier mode or a low speed economy setting the AC will use less power.
A single phase sub meter will tell you the kWh you are burning through.
Look at what you have there, chase up the specs of the hardware, search on this forum for information(center of blue strip up above), read previous threads here and the Solar Power sub forum(up above) and other areas that take your fancy. Most of your questions have been answered before, several times. 
