Inverter question

[sayanora]

Does the size of the building have anything to do with the amount of time batteries hold charge for an inverter?

[AlterEgo]

Not the size of the building, but certainly whatever electrical items are running on the inverter. Anything with a motor uses up the batteries fast.

Ours continually ran out because we have a big GE fridge, since we put that on a 2nd inverter & batteries we've had no problems.

[donluis99]

Does the size of the building have anything to do with the amount of time batteries hold charge for an inverter?

Absolutely not!

But that's not what you really want to know is it?

This is one of those questions we need to use our mind reading app here on DR1, Robert we will need more band width!

[dv8]

like AE said: not the size of a building or property as such but what is connected matters. of course a bigger house is likely to have more stuff: more lights, TVs and so on.
unlike AE we only have one inversor and our big a** fridge is connected at all times. we have 8 batteries. we change them every few years. in our last disastrous blackout our backup still held, after over 30 hours. all other neighbours were on generators (few folks on the street have both inversor and planta). admittedly at the end we switched everything off and only fridge and modem/laptops remained connected.

[sayanora]

Absolutely not!

But that's not what you really want to know is it?

This is one of those questions we need to use our mind reading app here on DR1, Robert we will need more band width!

Nah, it's exactly what I wanted to know lol.. my electrician is saying I need more batteries solely based on the size on my house, the two batteries are running out of charge in like 2 hours. I only run a couple fans, maybe a TV, and a PC on the inverter but it's still running out of charge.

Thanks for the answers also, just confirms my suspicion.

[dv8]

there may be different reasons for it. it may be that you do not have enough batteries. it may be that the batteries are old or refurbished. or your setup if f**ked up and badly wired.

you think you run only few things on inversor. are you sure? TVs, lights, appliances, entertainment, gate motor, water pump, fridge. all eat power. i suggest you get more batteries. how about four?

[AlterEgo]

Two batteries isn't much - especially not when you're running fans and a TV. Do you unplug the fridge??

[donluis99]

As soon as you said "two batteries", I knew what your problem is. Two batteries is not enough. Even new batteries won't go much further than 2 hours.

your making assumptions, come on now JD you of all people know better that!

it depends on the fans, t.v. etc whether 2 batteries is enough, we do not have enough information to make that determination, we do not even know the battery size for goodness sake,

What you want to do is either just guess and add more batteries or figure out what you need by first making a list of your electrical items with their wattage and the amount of time you think you will plan on using them while drawing on your battery bank.

What inverter you have, along with capacity and voltages.

Post the list along with the information for your batteries that you have, such as voltage and ah and how old they are.

with all that information tell us how long you want to be able to draw on your battery bank safely.

g'luck

[dv8]

i just want to politely mention the power issues are not getting better. and households are often getting bigger (more appliances and more stuff wired). it is wise to have more batteries than you need, just in case. of course i do not mean 16 instead of 4. but if 2 do not cut it then maybe it is time to go with MORE POWER (shouts in jeremy clarkson voice).

[donluis99]

I have 2 battery bank with 8 Trojan T105's in each, why because that is the right size for my needs, properly sized, not guessed.

Deep Cycle batteries have a specific design life, so many cycles of discharge/charge so properly sizing the battery bank gives better performance and longevity as well as matching the inverter's capacity.

It is very Dominican to just add batteries just for the sake of adding batteries!