Calling All Electricians to weigh in on this please. 12v-110 inverter

DLANDINO · 01/07/2009, 08:42 AM

Hello, can someone please tell me if this product would work to power a 200 watt heater and one power head for heat and circulation during an outage. My intention would be to have a brand new 12v car battery on hand along with this product and if necessary simply use it to survive a brief outage.

Also, can anyone tell me how long a car battery would typically last if running the heater and powerhead? Thanks.

http://www.voltageconverters.com/ite...p?ic=PW1100-12

Dave

CIGDAZE · 01/07/2009, 09:49 AM

Well, what's your powerhead consume? I'd venture to guess no more than say 60 watts at worst case. So, your power draw is going to be about 260 watts. The inverter you showed is plenty to handle this load.

Power(watts) = Voltage X Current(Amps) ; so, you need about 2.3 amps at 100V. To supply this amount of power at 12V, you need to draw about 22 amps. Since inverters aren't 100% efficient - the one in your example is 90% at best - let's factor out this efficiency loss (10%), so you need about 25 amps at 12V.

Your typical car battery contains about 40AH of energy, some more, some less (you could go get a big deep cycle truck battery for longer periods of time). But in this example using a 40AH car battery, it can supply 480 (12X40) Watts for one hour, or roughly 260 watts for about 1.8 hours.

DLANDINO · 01/07/2009, 09:56 AM

Hi CIGDAZE, thank you for this! The heater is a 200 watt heater and while I have 3 power heads in the tank, I would only really need to run 1 to get by in a pinch. The specs on the powerhead are.

115V ~ 60Hz
Model Flow Rate Power Absorbed
Koralia 3 850gph 6.5W

I guess from what you have written, the best and longer lasting scenario would be to run the inverter to my car with the car running, right? Thanks again.

CIGDAZE · 01/07/2009, 10:03 AM

You're very welcome!

So jeez...I see your powerhead is only 6.5W - that really improves things for your run time. Total wattage is now only 207 watts, so you'd get 2.25 hours run time from your battery.

And sure, if you fire up your car every now and again to charge it up, you're good to go as long as you have fuel in your tank.

Also, depending on your indoor temperatures, it may not be necessary to run your heater full time. (It would take quite a long time to cool all that water anyways), so theoretically, if you only want to run your powerheads and maybe a bubbler for oxygen, you could get many hours out of that battery with only intermittent heater usage.

DLANDINO · 01/07/2009, 10:06 AM

You are the best and thanks!!!!

CIGDAZE · 01/07/2009, 10:13 AM

You got it, my friend, good luck!

MeuserReef · 01/07/2009, 10:27 AM

You can also run two batteries IN PARALLEL to double the AH available (and double your run time)

DC Cells run in SERIES increase voltage (your car battery is likely six, 2V cells in series 6*2V = 12V)

DC Cells run in PARALLEL increase Amp-Hour capacity (two 12V, 40AH car batteries in parallel will give you a a 12V battery w/ 80AH of capacity)

Just some extra info for ya!

01/07/2009, 08:42 AM	#1
DLANDINO D.L. Heritage Rings Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Clinton, CT USA Posts: 5,610	Calling All Electricians to weigh in on this please. 12v-110 inverter Hello, can someone please tell me if this product would work to power a 200 watt heater and one power head for heat and circulation during an outage. My intention would be to have a brand new 12v car battery on hand along with this product and if necessary simply use it to survive a brief outage. Also, can anyone tell me how long a car battery would typically last if running the heater and powerhead? Thanks. http://www.voltageconverters.com/ite...p?ic=PW1100-12 Dave __________________ Dave Current Tank Info: JBJ 8 Nano mixed

01/07/2009, 09:49 AM	#2
CIGDAZE Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: St. Petersburg, FL Posts: 136	Well, what's your powerhead consume? I'd venture to guess no more than say 60 watts at worst case. So, your power draw is going to be about 260 watts. The inverter you showed is plenty to handle this load. Power(watts) = Voltage X Current(Amps) ; so, you need about 2.3 amps at 100V. To supply this amount of power at 12V, you need to draw about 22 amps. Since inverters aren't 100% efficient - the one in your example is 90% at best - let's factor out this efficiency loss (10%), so you need about 25 amps at 12V. Your typical car battery contains about 40AH of energy, some more, some less (you could go get a big deep cycle truck battery for longer periods of time). But in this example using a 40AH car battery, it can supply 480 (12X40) Watts for one hour, or roughly 260 watts for about 1.8 hours. Last edited by CIGDAZE; 01/07/2009 at 09:55 AM.

01/07/2009, 09:56 AM	#3
DLANDINO D.L. Heritage Rings Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Clinton, CT USA Posts: 5,610	Hi CIGDAZE, thank you for this! The heater is a 200 watt heater and while I have 3 power heads in the tank, I would only really need to run 1 to get by in a pinch. The specs on the powerhead are. 115V ~ 60Hz Model Flow Rate Power Absorbed Koralia 3 850gph 6.5W I guess from what you have written, the best and longer lasting scenario would be to run the inverter to my car with the car running, right? Thanks again. __________________ Dave Current Tank Info: JBJ 8 Nano mixed

01/07/2009, 10:06 AM	#5
DLANDINO D.L. Heritage Rings Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Clinton, CT USA Posts: 5,610	You are the best and thanks!!!! __________________ Dave Current Tank Info: JBJ 8 Nano mixed

01/07/2009, 10:27 AM	#7
MeuserReef Welcome to the next level Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 2,412	You can also run two batteries IN PARALLEL to double the AH available (and double your run time) DC Cells run in SERIES increase voltage (your car battery is likely six, 2V cells in series 62V = 12V) DC Cells run in PARALLEL increase Amp-Hour capacity (two 12V, 40AH car batteries in parallel will give you a a 12V battery w/ 80AH of capacity) Just some extra info for ya! __________________ "Never be afraid to do something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark; professionals built the titanic." -Anonymous Current Tank Info: tankless Last edited by MeuserReef; 01/07/2009 at 10:40 AM.*

01/07/2009, 10:03 AM	#4
CIGDAZE Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: St. Petersburg, FL Posts: 136	You're very welcome! So jeez...I see your powerhead is only 6.5W - that really improves things for your run time. Total wattage is now only 207 watts, so you'd get 2.25 hours run time from your battery. And sure, if you fire up your car every now and again to charge it up, you're good to go as long as you have fuel in your tank. Also, depending on your indoor temperatures, it may not be necessary to run your heater full time. (It would take quite a long time to cool all that water anyways), so theoretically, if you only want to run your powerheads and maybe a bubbler for oxygen, you could get many hours out of that battery with only intermittent heater usage.

01/07/2009, 10:13 AM	#6
CIGDAZE Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: St. Petersburg, FL Posts: 136	You got it, my friend, good luck!