Hello eveybody!

I have a project that I need help with if anyone feels like sharing some knowledge. I've been scouring the internet and came across this forum and have read some very helpful threads to other peoples questions so thought I'd give it a shot.

I want to power my laptop, a light, maybe a small camping fridge at times and a few other small items (chargers etc) while travelling in my van in New Zealand. I think a 600w (1200 peak) inverter should be sufficient, connected to a deep cycle AGM battery - separate to the car battery

What I am unsure of (amongst other things) is whether I can hook a solar panel directly to the battery or if I need a controller as well. The cost starts getting a bit high for me when factoring in a controller.

Thanks for your time!

http://www.bcae1.com/battiso.htm

this is what you need.

Now if you want solar panels then you can connect them directly to the battery but you will have a large battery and a small panel.

Will the fridge be a DC voltage type?

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Making the world a better place just makes sense.

Just get a battery isolator and use your vehicle alternator. A whole lot less expensive and will work much better. Power as many of the items with 12 VDC converters rather than an inverter.

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Dereck, PE, MSEE
Moderator

thanks for your replies.

my plan was originally to go with just the inverter and battery with an isolator. but i wanted to explore the solar option a little to see it was feasible or necessary.

i think i will need a pure sine wave inverter as i will be producing music on the laptop and i understand that a modified sine wave may cause some interference.

indianasolar, i don't know what the specs of the fridge will be but most that i have looked at online run on 12v dc and some have the option between that and 240 ac (NZ). or gas which may be preferable

sunking, are you talking about the plug in to cigarette lighter type of converters? would this be for small items like phone/battery chargers only? what is the advantage of using these over the inverter? forgive my ignorance please

It is a good question. Yes the kind that plug into a power port which looks like a cigarette lighter, or that can be hard wired to a battery. I have one for my laptop used to monitor radio test equipment while driving down the road. The advantage is they are more much more efficient which means they use less power.

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Dereck, PE, MSEE
Moderator