Inverter question

[hunter88]

Looking for help from our local expert.

I picked up an inverter 1500 watt surge, 750 watt running.

I have it outside near the batteries, and from there I have it hooked to the main power cord on my camper. This way all the plug-ins in the camper work.

Problem is when I'm heading to bed at night I feel I need to go outside and shut off the inverter since it will use some power even if nothing else is running inside the camper.

Is there a way to know how much power the inverter will take with nothing inside running?

I don't feel it will be much, but since it will be all night I was afraid it might add up.

My use last night was about 1 hour of a fan running and the TV running, with a total usage of less then 10 amp hours. I am using two 105 amp hour batteries, so only about 5% usage there.

[12vman]

Quick battery run down..

2 @ 105 aHr.. 210 total. Divide by 4.. ~50 aHr. of "Safe" available power. (To stay within the 25% discharge amount) If ~10 aHr. was used, That's ~20% of the safe capacity used..

If the paperwork of the inverter has an idle (Stand-by) current rating, it's easy But Don't take that as being law. Stray output wiring capacitance can fool an inverter to see a fake load and the stand-by current can be a little higher. The amount may be low but with such a small battery, any loss needs to be considered..

The only way to be accurate is to put a current (Amp) meter inline between the inverter and the battery while connect to the camper with all items shut down inside. Or disconnect with using a Valley Girls logic of taking 2 birth control pills everyday.. To be "Fer Sure-Fer Sure"..

[hunter88]

2 @ 105 aHr.. 210 total. Divide by 4.. ~50 aHr. of "Safe" available power. (To stay within the 25% discharge amount) If ~10 aHr. was used, That's ~20% of the safe capacity used..

Yep don't want to take them down more then 25%. I figure if that continues as my normal usage, give or take a bit, and stay one night a week, or maybe two on occasion, the 100 watt solar panel kit should be able to keep up a recharge for me. Last week I took both batteries in to my local mechanic and had him put a load test on them to make sure they were both good, and then charged them up good at home before taking them back to the lake. This week I plan to pick up the solar panel kit from Harbor Freight and set that up.

The only thing I've found in the paperwork is, it says the inverter will consume some power even with no load.

If it drew down another amp hour or two overnight that wouldn't bother me, but I wouldn't want to see it draw down 5 or 10 overnight.

By the way the 12 volt ceiling fan you told me about works great. The first dimmer burned out, which I'd seen in the reviews happened to a few people, but at $9 I just ordered 2 more quick. Now I'll have an extra on hand if it does it again.

I have a cigarette lighter plugin in the wall by the TV. So I bought an adapter for that, and wired the dimmer in to that. Then I ran wire back to the bed and left the on and off switch there where I can reach it. Now if I want to shut the fan off in the middle of the night I can just reach up and shut it off. Then unplug everything in the morning.

[Bearfootfarm]

You could always add a switch between the battery and the inverter if you're worried about power loss when nothing is running.

[hunter88]

In my case I wouldn't gain much. The batteries and inverter are all outside the camper, so shutting off the inverter or flipping a switch between batteries and inverter would still mean going outside.