Inverter and batteries advice please.

Andrea Duguay

New member
May 2, 2015
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I have been living in San Isidro for 5 months now and we only have electricity for 12 hours each day, 12pm - 7pm, 11pm - 2am, and 6am - 8am.
Not good for my sanity and not good for the food in my fridge. I am in the market for an inverter and batteries now.
I have a general idea of what I need as I have done some research on other inverter/battery threads within DR1 but I could still use a little advice.
I would need to power 12 light bulbs, 1 refrigerator (American style), Dominican washing machine, 2 fans, laptop, tablet, cell phone, internet, 50" LED tv, and a stereo.
What size inverter would I need? How many batteries would I need? Is there any brands I should avoid or that you would recommend for both inverter and batteries?
Could I also power an inverter air conditioner with an inverter as I would eventually buy one, or should I just run the air conditioner when I have power from the street?
And finally, cost. What should I expect to spend, altogether?
I am considering purchasing the Trojan batteries from La Sirena as that seems to be a common recommendation in the threads. Also, I am considering a Phase II inverter.
Any advice is greatly appreciated :)
 

dv8

Gold
Sep 27, 2006
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take the washing machine out of this. the rest will run on inversor but do not connect washing machine, microwave, iron or anything that sucks up too much power.
 

joe

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Jan 12, 2016
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2kw would be adequate if no washing machine, AC and microwave. Don't use incandescent bulbs. Fans can draw a bit but two total should be OK.
 

dv8

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Sep 27, 2006
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i suggest going bigger than you need. somehow i never believe the power situation will improve enough to justify being frugal with your backup system.

our house has 3.5 kw with 8 batteries and it can go for a long time without power. i think maybe 2.5 kw with 4 batteries will do well for a small household like yours.
 

joe

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Jan 12, 2016
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HAHA....I like your conclusion " I think maybe"......pull a number out of your hat what the hell. Why not?
 

Fredo

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Mar 17, 2013
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i run 20 x 6v deep cycle batteries and invert when needed to maintain 2kw/hr for about 4 hr... I run a inverter air-conditioner that gets its power directly from the DC 72V loop, meaning when there is not enough AC street power my solar panels provide enough power to run minimal air conditioning ( about 800W)
 

AlterEgo

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Staff member
Jan 9, 2009
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Andrea, don't even think about running any kind of AC with an inverter. Inverter AC doesn't mean it runs on an inverter, just means it uses less electricity by design.

We actually had separate outlets installed for our AC units, ones that don't connect to the inverter, only street power. We did that after a bedroom ac was running one afternoon when the electric cut out. Before we could get to it to shut it off, the inverter kicked in, and the AC burned out something inside the inverter. Expensive lesson.
 

Fredo

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Mar 17, 2013
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Andrea, don't even think about running any kind of AC with an inverter. Inverter AC doesn't mean it runs on an inverter, just means it uses less electricity by design.

We actually had separate outlets installed for our AC units, ones that don't connect to the inverter, only street power. We did that after a bedroom ac was running one afternoon when the electric cut out. Before we could get to it to shut it off, the inverter kicked in, and the AC burned out something inside the inverter. Expensive lesson.

Inverter airconditioner hack...
The compresor used in inverter airconditioners run off pulsewidth modulated DC power to control the compressor speed, the voltage used varies by brand, this means that you can feed the modulator DC power from you batteries or directly from your solar panels ...
 

jstarebel

Silver
Oct 4, 2013
3,330
333
83
I have been living in San Isidro for 5 months now and we only have electricity for 12 hours each day, 12pm - 7pm, 11pm - 2am, and 6am - 8am.
Not good for my sanity and not good for the food in my fridge. I am in the market for an inverter and batteries now.
I have a general idea of what I need as I have done some research on other inverter/battery threads within DR1 but I could still use a little advice.
I would need to power 12 light bulbs, 1 refrigerator (American style), Dominican washing machine, 2 fans, laptop, tablet, cell phone, internet, 50" LED tv, and a stereo.
What size inverter would I need? How many batteries would I need? Is there any brands I should avoid or that you would recommend for both inverter and batteries?
Could I also power an inverter air conditioner with an inverter as I would eventually buy one, or should I just run the air conditioner when I have power from the street?
And finally, cost. What should I expect to spend, altogether?
I am considering purchasing the Trojan batteries from La Sirena as that seems to be a common recommendation in the threads. Also, I am considering a Phase II inverter.
Any advice is greatly appreciated :)

Easiest way to figure out what you need is to have the proper calculation tool. The link below is a free download that should let you figure out what you need. BTW, do you run all 12 lights at the same time? could you use your washing machine during the hours you have power? maybe figure what you.really need during the outages and save a lot of money. Just a thought, as we live totally off of the grid. Certain things we only use during the day when we are making power. Nothing worse then flat batteries.

Oops. . Forgot the link. http://electrical-engineering-porta...ate-size-of-solar-panel-battery-bank-inverter
 

Andrea Duguay

New member
May 2, 2015
216
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0
Easiest way to figure out what you need is to have the proper calculation tool. The link below is a free download that should let you figure out what you need. BTW, do you run all 12 lights at the same time? could you use your washing machine during the hours you have power? maybe figure what you.really need during the outages and save a lot of money. Just a thought, as we live totally off of the grid. Certain things we only use during the day when we are making power. Nothing worse then flat batteries.

Oops. . Forgot the link. http://electrical-engineering-porta...ate-size-of-solar-panel-battery-bank-inverter

No, we do not use all the lights at once. We only have light bulbs in about half the sockets, lol. Thanks for the link :)