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Old 04-18-2006, 10:25 AM   #1
TSoul
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Default rs3000 inverter with 4 12v batteries info

A few weeks ago I had the RS3000 Xanbus inverter/charger (http://www.rvlifestyles.net/ItemPage.as ... 8157&GUID=) installed on my coach. I also had 2 more 12v batteries installed with watering systems.

Last weekend we dry camped at my SIL house for 3 nights. We tried to plug into a 15amp source but there was to much load on the circuit to give us any power. It kept triping. Later I realized that the electric to the hot water heater was on and that the charger on the inverter was drawing to much power. Thats ok we got a few days to test the new 12v system.

It was chilly and the furnace was run at night every night we were there. The fridge was on propane all weekend. We turned the hot water heater on gas a few times before we used the showers. We did not cook in the motorhome this weekend but ate with the family in the house or BBQ'd.

We started out with a full charge after driving there a time of 3 hours. We watched a little tv and played/checked to see if the Xbox was hooked up right. The electric hot water heater cycled once on the inverter. Friday morning we made coffee.

We ran the generator for 30 minutes on Saturday because the batteries were at 2/3 power and we wanted to vacume the motorhome and exercise the genny for the month. This charge the batteries up again and when we left Sunday night we had 2/3 power in the batteries. Saturday morning we had the tv running for a hour or two.

Saturday night we ran the furnace again and Sunday morning we made coffee. Sunday the furnace was off and we did not watch tv. All weekend when not running AC equipment we turned off the inverter to save power.

When the inverter was installed I had mostly everything run thru the inverter except air conditioning. I was thinking I could then run the fridge on the inverter while I drive. This may come in handy when going thru tunnels and places that gas should be turned off.

I maybe should not have run the washer/dryer or the electric hot water ac thru it. But it is wired and I am in no hurry to change it unless I have problems. Other than the electric switch being bumped on for the hot water heater I have not had any problems with it wired like this.

The battery watering system is very nice because the wires had to be run around the cables had to made to go around the filling area and now I do not have to remove cables to fill. With 4 batteries this would have been a pain in the butt. I have 670ah with the 4 12v batteries. I know if I went with 4 6v batteries I could have obtained something like 880ah. I went the cheap rout because the two batteries that came with the coach were new and adding two new batteries was cheaper than buying 4 6v batteries. Maybe when they all die I will switch over to 6v batteries but for me this was a better way to go.

I love having 3000w of power available from the inverter. I know if I use it at its capacity I will drain the battery bank in short time. But I like the idea of a bigger inverter because I don't need to worry as much about over drawing on it. This was a personal choice and is probable overkill. I also wanted to avoid the "I wish I would have gotten..." statements that might have come with buying a smaller inverter.

This information is offered up so those that are interested in getting an inverter may gain an idea of what they may like.

Thanks for reading. I will try and answer any questions you all have if you care to ask. Happy Camping.
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Old 04-18-2006, 11:15 AM   #2
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TSoul, That was a very valuable & informative report. Thanks for taking the time to document your experience.

With my personality, I fully understand the "Wish I'd gotten...." syndrome. So, congratulations on a choice that definately works for you!

A problem that I have (Not with you or your report) is exactly what does "2/3 power" mean, re: batteries? When my older video camera reported 50% power, it meant the time remaining for usable operation could be measured in seconds. With my newer digital camera, 50% power still means an hour of life. However, 10% means milliseconds left & the indicator moved to that condition (from 50%) in the last 2 minutes!

I haven't trusted the indicators on our RV display panel. Since you have added additional batteries to the bank, any calibration that was done by the factory (& I seriously doubt there was) could be nullified.

My point is: don't treat that reading as gospel. You could reach a point where some dc devices don't operate properly, or are damaged by too low voltage. ...perhaps, I really don't know.
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Old 04-18-2006, 12:43 PM   #3
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You make a very good point about the 2/3 indication that I got. That is also why I had the inverter/charger monitor panel installed. It allowes me to make full use of the inverter as well as see real voltage and amp levels as they are being used.

2/3 seemed to be about 12.5 to 12.3 volts across the batteries. Now I have read and heard that one should not deplete the batteries below 11.9volts which is about 50% discharged. At 11.9volts things will still work but it may reduce the amount of life that the batteries have. The inverter is preset to stop taking battery power when the batteries reach 10.9vdc or so. This level can be adjusted at the monitor panel if I wish to do so.

I should have mentioned the monitor panel in my report and somehow it got left out. It was long enough as it was lol.

Now a battery only has so many cycles in it for recharging. The more you deplete the batteries the harder it is on them. So by depleting them less and recharging them more one can extend the battery life. With deep cycle batteries you can deplete them farther and more times but I believe to get the max life out of them I want to stick with the deplete less and recharge more therory.

Thanks for the feed back I hope this extra info helps. Happy Camping.
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Old 04-18-2006, 05:49 PM   #4
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That sounds like a sweet inverter setup Tsoul. I did the install on my coach and started with a 1500W Xantrex hardwired but found that the modified sine wave was not liked by my laser printer and my one TV. So, i sold that off and found a real nice Pro-Sine 1000 (new, for $420 on E-Bay) that provides much cleaner power and has a digital readout remote panel. I rarely will have the need to pull more than 800W so size wise it was a good choice. I ran everything in my coach off the inverter except for the microwave and the batt charger.

The one thing I did, however is remove the two factory installed 12V house batteries and exchange them for 4-6v sams club golf cart batteries. I figured that I could use the ones I removed as backups for my boat trolling motor and both the extra capacity and knowing for sure the state of my batteries was worth the $200. I priced it out, two new 12v batts would have been around $120 so it was only an additional $80. Boy, can I tell the difference though when i dry-camp. I can go days with only running the gen set for about 30-45 minutes a day!

I think i may have gone into more detail on the install on another post either here or on another forum.
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Old 04-19-2006, 02:32 AM   #5
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TSoul, Thanks for the inverter install report. I did notice that you stated that if you would have installed four 6 volt batteries you could have acquired something like 880 AH. I am not sure what size batteries would have been used to come up with this figure but I so want to state that If you connect two batteries in series you so not increase the Amp Hours; it is only when you connect batteries in parallel that amp hours are multiplied. Example: I use four U2200 size 6 volt batteries and each has an amp hour capacity of 220 AHs my total amp hour capacity is 440. Since I connect two of the 6 volt in series to create 12 volts I still only have 220 amp hour capacity for those two and then when I connect them in parallel with another set of batteries I am able to increase the amp hours to the 440 AHs. If I connected another pair in parallel then I would go to 660 and so on. when wiring batteries in series you double the voltage output but the amp hour capacity is unchanged and vise-versa when wiring batteries in parallel.
You can also change the charge rate of the inverter/charger for when you are connected to a smaller service. This will help in tripping a circuit breaker when other apparatuses are utilized at the same time batteries are recharging.
If everything (batteries, charging system, connections) is perfect you will rarley ever have to add water to the batteries. I have only had to add water once in over four years (although I check monthly) and that was when we spent a year in Apache Junction, Az. The air is so dry out there it sucked the water out of everything. The battery caps are designed so that when charging the hydrogen gas is released but the water molicule is retained and eventually drips back into the cell. If however, the charge rate is to great or a battery or cable has a problem the "boiling" of a battery will overcome the cap design and it will loose water. When you find this happening then investigation needs to be done to determine what the problem is.
Thanks again for the info as I am sure many can use it for their benifit.
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Old 04-19-2006, 08:34 AM   #6
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To gsadmin: I was unaware that 6v batteries could be purchased so resonably. I think maybe I goofed. However, I have no use for the extra new 12v I would have ended up with so it was not a terrible choice. I guess maybe I could have sold them or given them away. Live and learn.

To RV Wizard: You are totally right about the 6v being in both series and then in parrallel. I wasn't thinking on that one. I guess I forgot my electronics training. I hope they don't take my degree back lol. It was early when I posted so that is my excuss. I am a little upset with myself for forgetting that.

As a foot note to the battery watering system. Yesterday I was checking things out and desided to see if I could add any water. Well, the two brand new interstate batteries took alot of water. I was very surprised. I may have to keep an eye on these and see what is going on. The battery watering system wasn't leaking or anything so maybe I got some older ones that were sitting around for sometime. I do not expect to have to add much water because the inverter/charger is a three stage charger. It should not boil the batteries.

Thanks for all the feed back. Happy Camping.
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Old 06-26-2006, 03:30 AM   #7
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Default 4 bats, 3000 Inverter

I have a 2000 inverter and found it would drain my batts (2 series 27 RV batterys) after 4 hrs. min. use. I put a meter on the output and found that while I had little to no 110 use it was drawing and depleting the batts. Well I realized that the 5er charger was drawing and trying to charge the batts, at the same time it was drawing power to keep up with demand of the charger; basically a "catch 22". It drew more power trying to charge and since it nor is anything else 101% efficient, it draws more power than it charges. I solved the problem by placing a switch on the charger so when I use the inverter I turn off the charger. That way I'm only drawing what I power up or turn-on i.e. micro, tv, dvd. Now I easily get 4-5 hrs. of tv / dvd and micro etc. I also make sure I have the refrig. on gas. When I run my gen. I turn on the charger to charge my batts etc. I've actually run my tv / dvd for 2 nights (10min of micro, 15 mins of coffee maker and 4-5 hrs. of tv) without charging and never ran out of power. I do turn off my inverter when no in use to save a little more...Hope this helps
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