An inverter will not let you run your fridge until the battery is “dead”. It’s going to have a minimum voltage, likely somewhere around 11 Volts, which is plenty of charge to maintain the long term health of a lead acid battery.
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nobleshift@lemmy.world 7 months ago
I’ve been living off-grid fulltime for 6 years now and that answer is completely and thoroughly wrong. Not just wrong but completely missing the fact you’ll need at a minimum a 2000w inverter.
You’ll get 2 hours of usage AT BEST from a car battery, and if it’s lead acid, Gel or AGM chances are you will irreversibly damage (even if just slightly) the battery if you let it run until dead dead.
LifePo4 FTW!
abhibeckert@lemmy.world 7 months ago
nobleshift@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Easy big fella. I over generalized and I’ve been on the internet long enough to know that a fully contextualize and source siting answer is always called for. Also you’re explaining this to a guy who lives off of 400ah on a 29ft sailboat and hasn’t been to a dock or a slip in 5 years. I get it.
gazter@aussie.zone 7 months ago
I’ll need a source for that claim buddy
wieson@feddit.de 7 months ago
Actually when I lived off grid for 80 years, we used 7 AAA batteries on a rotation and recharged them by rubbing them on our wool sweaters, so those guys are totally right.
mob@sopuli.xyz 7 months ago
Wait, so you are saying you have either lived continuously on a 29ft boat for 5 years, or only have visited land by dinghy or something while its anchored?
Wild. That’s got to be a nasty looking hull though.
noobnarski@feddit.de 7 months ago
At 11V you are already damaging most lead acid batteries, especially starter batteries.
If you only do it a few times it will probably take it, but not much more than that.
Tbird83ii@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 months ago
So if I turn the car battery upside down, a 12v DC battery should run a 120v AC appliance?? Brilliant! I have an idea for how we can use this with two fans to create infinite energy!
lemmyvore@feddit.nl 7 months ago
It will never beat my idea to strap a buttered piece of toast to a cat and make antigravity.
nixcamic@lemmy.world 7 months ago
I’ve also done the off grid thing and you can get way more than 2 hours on a car battery if the fridge is already cold and you aren’t constantly opening the door. Also have ran modem full sized fridges on 1000w inverters. So YMMV.
The_Tired_Horizon@lemmy.world 7 months ago
I run a fridge freezer off a Delta Pro and 600w of solar during the summer. If we get a few days spell of bad weather I have to place it back on mains. Its good to have in an emergency, though it cost me 3 months wages (plus overtime)
cmnybo@discuss.tchncs.de 7 months ago
A car battery shouldn’t be discharged at all. They are meant to supply a short burst of power and then be charged back up again.
A deep cycle lead acid battery can be used to run an inverter. They can be discharged to 50% capacity while still providing hundreds of cycles. If they are used for a backup and are not cycled frequently, they can be discharged to around 80%, but they will provide a lot less cycles.
A LiFePO4 battery is definitely the better choice for anything that needs to be cycled frequently though.
John_McMurray@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Just wire the inverter to your car battery and run the engine. Hard on gas compared to a 3500 watt generator, but you already have the car, inverters a few hundred bucks, and the genny would be at least 2500 dollars
cmnybo@discuss.tchncs.de 7 months ago
An alternator can’t output full power when the engine is idling. You may only get a few hundred watts before the battery starts draining. You can get a generator that will produce much more power than a typical car alternator for under $400.
John_McMurray@lemmy.world 7 months ago
You obviously don’t own 80s GM. This may be true in newer vehicles
abhibeckert@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Sure but in an emergency? They can handle it.