7
Determining the DC Power Requirements
Powering multiple appliances from the high-power 1100 / 1500 / 2000
inverter requires a 12 volt bank of batteries (several batteries). To
calculate the approximate power in amps a 12 volt battery bank has to
supply you need to know the current, or amps required for powering the
continuous AC load.
A shortcut method is to divide the continuous AC load wattage by 10. For
example, the continuous AC load is 1500 watts. The current (amps) is:
1500/10 or 150 amps at 12 Volts DC. Add to the load any DC
appliances that may be powered by the battery bank.
Sizing the Battery Bank
To determine the minimum battery bank ampere-hour rating that
you will need to operate appliances from the inverter, and any DC
appliances powered by the battery bank, follow these steps:
1. List the maximum wattage that the inverter has to provide (as
above).
2. Estimate the number of hours the appliances will be in use
between battery recharges. This will differ depending on
appliances. As an example, a typical home-use coffeemaker
draws 500 watts during its brew time of 5 minutes; it maintains
the temperature of the pot at about 100 watts. Typical use of a
microwave oven is only for a few minutes. Some longer
operating time appliances are lamps, TV's, computers and
refrigerator / freezers.
3. Determine the total watt-hours of energy needed. Then multiply
the average power consumption in watts by the number of
hours of run time. For example: 1500 watts for 10 hours =
15,000 watt hours. Using the 1500 watts (or 150 amps) for 10
hours example as above, then 150 amps is needed for 10
hours. This provides us with the basic amp-hours (AH) of
battery that is required. Ten hours at 150 amps equals 1500
Amp Hours (AH). This answer is just a beginning because
there are other conditions that determine actual run time.