Amp usage

[rubicon327]

Originally Posted by padlin

...although this doesn't jive with the 2.1A max load he saw.

That’s because the GoPower was telling him what was coming in via solar not what was being used. David pointed this out in post #3.

[padlin]

Thanks, I should have reread the whole thread.

[EscapeBoulder]

We’ve installed a Victron Energy BMV 712 battery monitor in our ‘19er (purchased in Dec ‘18). It gives a very accurate reading of the current situation with the batteries / solar uptake, etc. Bluetoothed to any device. Here’s a screen shot this morning just at sunrise. It makes it very easy to keep an eye on they battery/charging situation. It shows we’re currently drawing 1.2amp more than the solar panels are putting in by charging a couple of small devices, running the radio and a few lights. But the sun is right on the horizon.

[CarlNH]

Originally Posted by Islandpeople

I would be very interested in getting a 12v USB charging cord for my laptops. Do you know where to find such a thing?

better to use a charging cord that plugs into the 12-volt outlet rather than a USB outlet. USB is 5 volts so you lose some efficiency going from 5 to 12. I got a 12 volt charging cord for my Dell laptop from Amazon. Search there and you will probably find something.

[Ronn]

Originally Posted by padlin

Thinking about Ronn's original post about power use. He states they used the 2 pc's for 10 hrs. The adapters feed 90 and 65 watts, so 155 watts for 10 hours, if they output the max wattage which they probably don't. 1550 watts / 12v = 130 amps, not including inverter overhead, if I'm doing this right his results with the batteries being down to 60% isn't surprising, although this doesn't jive with the 2.1A max load he saw.

Another thought. When checking the voltage, which is what the GoPower uses and converts to the % it shows, any load makes the voltage figure look lower then it really is, turn off the load and the number goes up to it's static level. On my trailer, if the batteries are say 12.6 v, and I kick on the inverter and start the toaster, the reading goes to something like 11.9. When the toaster finishes and I kill the inverter, the voltage goes back up to 12.6 +/-.

Thanks for the input Bob, as I now understand it the 2.1 amp was solar input and I only saw that the one time. Most of the time it was well under 1.0. We were under heavy canopy and cloud cover.
We are now under clear to moderate skies with the solar leaning away from the sun. We are using more electrical now than before and the solar has been gaining on us since about 10 am (Montana). Also thanks for the good info on the actual voltage number will be when we are not under a load.

[Islandpeople]

Thanks for the advice.