I am heading back to TX tomorrow morning and was wondering can I run a small 110v electric fan off the inverter for several hours without draining the 2 house batteries. I need it to keep the fog off the inside of the windshield as nothing on the dash heat or a/c works.
Thanks
Of course you can. And the engine will be charging the batteries faster than the inverter will be draining them.
I plan to do the same, and already run the inverter while driving to power my laptop running vmsPC. Never a problem.
Thanks Tom, I have only used my inverter once and that was to heat up lunch at a rest area.
Yup, as long as the device(s) you are running on the inverter as well as other 12 VDC loads take less 12 VDC than your alternator is producing you are good to go.
It is a 8 or 9" fan I have it belted in the passenger seat with the seat belt, then lights and furnace blower sometimes..
As long as the alternator (which it shouldn't) does not have a problem you should be good to go.
The overhead, or parasitic draw of the inverter is on the order of 100 watts. A small fan can draw from 5 to 50 watts. Assuming you have a good set of batteries and a good alternator charging system and a good diodes in the battery isolator, you will be fine.
Pretty easy to tell if you are exceeding alternator output.
The Audit monitor shows house bank voltage (usually reads .1-.2 VDC lower than reading at the battery due to the long wire run).
If voltage on the monitor drops, you are exceeding alternator output. If voltage stays constant, you are "free to move around the country".
Going a tad sideways, and it may be a dumb question, but: (A) how do I know if I have a inverter? (B) When we brought the coach down from the high country on October 1st, I ran into the hurricane; first time ever I'd had lights, fogs, dash AC on full, 4-ways, wipers also on full at the same time. As I slowed down to pull into Ajo, I got a 'beep beep' sound from the left dash area, it continued until landed and shut down. I've since run the coach on the road and tried to replicate it without success. Does our dear have a warning sound when I've exceeded the output of the alternator?
No inverter when I owned it. No idea if subsequent owner added one.
As far as exceeding alternator output-- what was voltage on dash gauge (chassis battery) and Audit (house battery)?
If you have any 110V oulets that work without the gen running, then you have some sort of inverter.
Here's the one I added. Whatever the standby power is it is very low .;
1000W 2000 Watt Power Inverter Pure Sine Wave 12V dc 110V 120V ac LCD Remote... (https://www.ebay.com/itm/1000W-2000-Watt-Power-Inverter-Pure-Sine-Wave-12V-dc-110V-120V-ac-LCD-Remote-RV/232635463941?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649).
It runs my fridge for 50 hrs or more and has not gone into low voltage shutoff yet.
Audit works on 12 VDC So generator running/not running would have no affect. One setting is rear view camera, the other shows voltage, and tank level.
We frequently run a 120v fan while driving, especially in the summer. Works great. I aded two 12v two speed fans in the from for defrost augmentation. They work great in the summer too.
Thanks Roger, I had one in my old boat, I will look for some nicer than what I had
These 12 VDC fans are very high quality-- have several thousand hours on 2 on the sailboat:
2 Speed 'Turbo' Fan - Accessories, Fans - Hella Marine (http://www.hellamarine.com/en/products/accessories/fans/turbo-fan.html)
I installed a small 400 watt inverter in the dash on the board that holds the Audit box to get 110 to the dash.
See Simple Pilot Bay inverter installation (http://www.foreforums.com/index.php?topic=29892.0)
Worked well
Sorry, I meant the 'True Charge 40' will not show. And, yes, I should have thought to check the Audit! So, my 'beep beep' sound at low speed was?
Sorry, Mike, no idea.
But don't discount that you were driving in heavy rain. Sensors like "antenna up" can be affected.
I have 2 two speed fans mounted on a wooden, weighted base. Easy to move and point where needed.
Favorite in older ftx's was the 2 overhead silver fan's that could be rotated to whatever position that was needed. Early gvf had an overhead fan and ball outlets built into the fiberglass structure.
The fans worked best. Normally I used the opposite sides fan versus the closer one.
Our 91 GV has the 2 overhead fans with the swivel mounts. They are 12V DC and two speed. They run from the engine battery and will take the battery down quickly if engine is not running. Great fans for cooling and keeping the windshield clear. In lieu of an inverter and 110v fan, there should be a DC fan that would do the job. Have a great day ---- Fritz
Hmmm I could do that I have a bunch of my old dive weights that are lead shot in mesh bags what would work great with something like that ;)
Is it advisable to turn on the microwave ie warm up a cup of coffee while driving down the road? or is it best to turn on the generator? We have a 2003 u 320
You will be fine to use the inverter.
As far as cooking while driving ...........................
You should be able to bake a turkey going down the road on the inverter and microwave convection oven
I tried cooking in the microwave going down the road but the darn coach would not stay between the lines while I was back at the microwave ;D