User’s Manual—Read before using this equipment
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multiply the amps by 115 (115V AC) to determine the watts. For example, an
appliance rated at 0.5 amps will draw 60 watts.
WATTS = VOLTS × AMPS
Remember to consider the startup surge that motorized appliances will cause. Do
not exceed the 6,000 watt momentary surge rating of this inverter. This can cause
immediate overload shut down and or blow a fuse.
CONFIGURING THE BATTERY BANK
To determine the minimum battery 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 continuous wattage that the inverter has to supply.
2. Estimate the number of hours the appliances will be in use between battery
recharges. This will vary depending on appliances. For example, a typical
home-use coffee maker draws 500 watts during its brew time of 5 minutes.
It maintains the temperature of the pot, requiring 100 watts. Typical use of
a microwave oven is only for a few minutes. Some longer operating time
appliances are lamps, TVs, computers, and refrigerator/freezers.
Determine the total watt-hours of energy needed. This is done by multiplying
average power consumption in watts by hours of run time. For example: 500
watts for 10 hours = 5,000 watt hours. To get an estimate of the maximum
current (in amps) that a battery bank must be capable of delivering to the
inverter, divide the load watts by ten. For example a 500 watt appliance load
will need 50 amps at 12 volts DC. Using the 500 watts (or 50 amps) for 10
hours example as above, then 50 amps is needed for 10 hours. This provides us
with the basic amp-hours (AH) of battery that is required. Ten hours at 50 amps
equals 500 amp-hours (AH). There are additional factors that determine actual
run time. These include:
• AC appliance load and time in use (basic AH).
