Inverter

Oh please...running a toaster and heater off an inverter....that is just rediculous.

Its not too hard to buy an inverter that is capable of supplying the heavy currents that heating appliances demand....but they will flatten any battery you want to pay for pretty quick smart.

The microwave is a marginal item.....they are a high demand item , but in general they run for a short time.

The single most imporatant thing is to stop thinking like you are at home on a mans supply.

Remember a 12 volt inverter draws 20 times the current from the battery that the appliance demands.
A item that draws 7.5 amps at 240V is a trivial demand on household mains....run via an inverter from a 12 volt battery it will be drawing 150 amps..pluss conversion losses.....that is hammering any battery supply.

Forget electricity for any heating function.

As for the microwave...in the home on 240V they are quick clean and convienient.....well they appear that way....truth is teven in the home there are faster and more efficient ways to do stff that people do in the microwave......away from a 240v supply they become less and less viable.

with all the great 12 volt items on the market now...there is less and less reason to have 240v supply in a caravan other than for charging the batteries or running the airconditioning....when on a mains site.

Most small TV's are 12 volt native these days as are many other items of electronics.

cheers

Bantam, Hopefully people look beyond a cheap 60 watt panel, a 420cca start battery and a small chinese inverter when using solar as the primary energy supply.

I think your last sentence starts to show some sense ..
"with all the great 12 volt items on the market now...there is less and less reason to have 240v supply in a caravan other than for charging the batteries or running the airconditioning....when on a mains site."

Back to the toaster and heater......You may need to get out and see whats available and useable in a quality solar/storage setup these days.

No matter what size battery or inverter you have running or what technology you use a toaster or room heater off 12 volts is rediculous.

Even heating using 240v from a grid connected supply is inefficient, wastefull and gutless.

moving heating with electricity from a 240V grid connect situation to running off batteries moves it from being marginally viable to being rediculous.

Electricity simply can not compete with burning something for outright thermal capacity and most importantly for energy storage density.

Go do the math......work out the size battery bank you would have to carry just to compare with a single disposable butane can...then move that up to a 9Kg gass cylinder.


most people we have post here have barely enough battery capacity to keep up with their fridges.,

a battery that would happliy run a 40 litre fridge for three days would be flattened ( dead flat) in less than 30 minutes running a typical 2400 watt heater.


then think about the expense in inverters and chargers required to support such a load for more than a hour or two.....rediculous when compared to producing the same heating or greater heating capacity from gas.

I have a couple of those $20 butane stoves......They are cheap and nasty compared to good quality gas equipment...but they make my electric stove in our house look gutless.

Please people don't even think about heating anything from a 12 volt supply...it is a very expensive fools erand.

cheers

ozwildlifecarer, 2 batteries isn't going to give you much duration, you'll kill them too easily on large capacity appliances.

I hardly use the microwave, we mostly cook outside on gas or a fire. I only use our air cond in really hot weather and I have a 240v external supply.

The good setups you will see on vans like Bushtracker, Kedron, where they may have 4+solar panels, 4+ batteries, a large inverter and quality wiring to support the intended function.

The inverter in my 4wd, its use is different, just for charging small items and running small items.

Go out and enjoy with what you have.. :o)

Can i recommend Colynn Rivers books very helpful. The larger the appliance the more energy it will demand the shorter the capacity of the battery bank to supply it. For your Mac book finding a reliable 12 volt charger is next to impossible, two ways out for these get a modified wave inverter and charge your mac book up with that with the machine switched off, or get a pure sine wave inverter and run the commuter as you would normally that is operating it while charge is running in. I run a 300 watt modified wave inverter in the vehicle just to charge computers and cameras, and as i charge over things up at the same time in the van i have a larger 1000 watt pure sine wave inverter in there (but I am careful how long i run that one). If i want the air con or other large appliance then outcomes the generator.
Hope that helps