That was super helpful, especially using real-world items and illustrating their draw, rather than spewing numbers and calculations (although the formula at the end was necessary and helpful too!) We're getting 200 amp lithium on the Panoramic we have ordered (w/o AC) and it looks like that should be enough. Thanks a million!
Thanks Dan! I was hoping the video comes off this way! 200 amps of lithium is a great power source and is more than 4 large traditional RV batteries. And if you find you need more, it's easy to add!
This was really helpful. I enjoyed the real world examples. And it gave me a much better understanding of how long I could run those things in a set up like yours. Thanks!
Wow! I learned so much from this video. I know absolutely nothing about voltage, wattage, etc. After watching your video, I feel like at least I know some basics & I feel a bit more confident. Thanks.
I have 360 watts solar and 3 lithium Battleborn batteries with the option of adding on more 180 watt solar panel. It has made me sleep better at night knowing I haven’t drained my batteries over night. Best mod of my van. Ty for the great video. I would say people need to keep in mind most items run for secs or minutes. So power last a long time until you run the air conditioner.
Nice set up you have! Very true on the minutes thing. You can easily use the micro for 2 minutes or heat up water for coffee on the electric kettle. Thanks for watching!!
My customized truck camper is almost done, and 95% of the people I talked to thought I was WAY over building the electrics. This video just reaffirms I've made the right choices. I've got 400Ah BB lithium, two solar inputs with their own charge controllers (350 watts on the roof, and 480 watts of deployable flexible panels), shore power 30 Amp charging, and alternator charging. I have the 3000W inverter. I do plan on using electricity primarily (induction cook top, 12V DC thermostat heater from DC thermals and a 750W Isotherm water heater), but will have a small (5lb) propane tank as back up. I can't wait to test it all in real life. I know technique plays into it as well, so training myself to turn on the water heater before I stop driving for the night, or charging small AC items while I've got the inverter on for the laptop, will also be part of effectively managing the system. Thanks so much for all your informative, easy to understand videos!
Your system sounds great! We would love to have more solar like you as it really helps to charge up that big battery bank. especially if you are using electric cooking and water heating. You're going to love your setup! Thanks for watching, H.B.!
Fridge tip: Door Plastic cavity 2in. strips allow easy access, extra 5hrs? Island your large draw appliances, bikes, computers on Solar small flexible 50Wh and 100Ah battery. 50-80% sunny days nationwide.
As a RV solar installer in Arizona since 2014 this is a fantastic video showing and describing real world amp draw of 120v devices in a straightforward no bullshit way, there's 'phantom load' shown along with inverter load to power itself. These people also know their limitations based on battery bank size. I hate RU-vid when it comes to solar. Will Prowse tells the truth, you two tell the truth (at least in this video haven't watched any others). Great content.
Hey there 👋! Thanks for watching and for the really kind comment. We thought this video might help others visualize the energy usage and delivery the message in an easy way to understand. And thanks for helping make the RV lifestyle a little more green with all the solar you've installed over the past 8 years....what a fun job!
Great info. Best yet for someone like me who just don't get amps, watts, volts and really don't have time to worry too much about it. Thank you for this awesome video.
Funny was just shown this on our RU-vid feed must be because we are just installing 900amp's of batteries and have been looking at other travelers results.
Chris and Aaron, Great video and info! Wife and I are doing a custom build with the same battery and victron setup you have. Hope to see you guys out there one day. Thanks
I just discovered your vlog. I watch a zillion of them. Yours is one of the most informative. Honestly. Keep going. Thanks for sharing all this Greets Bruno from Brussels,Belgium
I am always lost with electricity but this has been a most interesting video and has solved a lot of my personal problems with my lead acid batteries and my inverter and the ability for my partner to run her hair dryer! Thomyt
Very informative! Aaron please ask Chris to create a spreadsheet showing everything you covered🤔 I'm sure she'll immediately get to the number crunching, ha ha! 😂 Thanks for all the useful information. Enjoy and stay safe out there!😎😎
Thank you so much for making this video. Seeing the actual amperage of the various items was FANTASTIC! Now I have a better idea of what we need for our RV. Please don't stop making videos. Hope to meet you on the road.
Good job showing the draw. FYI Our 5,000 BTU household window air conditioner uses 400-420 watts when the compressor is on and 50-70 watts when just the fan runs, it averages 350-300 watts overall. We have 800 watts of solar panels.
Hi there! I'm with you I have 3 Battle Born with the Victron 712 shunt and Victron Charge Controller. I love those batteries and wouldn't have any other.
Finally a video for us simpletons lol. Ive been on the phone with Battle born for two days now and debating between a 4 or 5 battery system with a new inverter Victron is coming out with, its a 50amp passthrough inverter/charger. Biggest problem there would be trying to find where the wires from the shore power plug go to in a 43ft long 5th wheel lol.
Thank you for the video. I am with you Chris...it all sounds like "Greek" to me! The one thing I do remember from personal experience is that I cannot run a hair dryer at the same as as the A/C!
This vlog was over a year ago, however the Grech Strata- ion now comes standard with 4 lithionics 12V lithium batteries boasting 1,260 amp/16,128 watt hours and 3000 watt inverter and no propane/ diesel generator. Off grid nGame changer!
Hi Aaron and Chris. Great video. Lucky for me, I followed your advice and now have the Victon Bluetooth Battery Monitor that makes it possible to see the same stats on our usage. I have 200 usable amp hours with our two Battle Born 12 volt batteries. Works great with the stock 1000 watt inverter on our 2013 AI. As you noted, the only two things we can't run off batteries are the oven and the AC. You have the big 3000 watt Victron inverter. I'm trying to decide if going that large is necessary. If I go 3000. I'm told I need to add another 100 amp battery, which I prefer to avoid (not to mention how big the inverter is and lack of a space for a third battery). I prefer to go to the Victron 2000 watt inverter, which is smaller and should work with my existing 200 amps of lithium. Your tests confirm my thoughts that the AC and microwave both run under 2000 watts. There's nothing else I can imagine that I'd run that need more than that, so three questions. 1). What made you go with the 3000 watt inverter? It seems 2000 watts would have been enough for everything you run (and I would run). 2). You mentioned the "soft start" for your AC. I understand the AC needs a larger surge to start. Did you add this feature and is it needed? 3). You also mentioned that you did something to make 110 run through all your outlets. Have you addressed this in another video or maybe if that was an upgrade, or maybe you could give more info? Thanks as always!
Hey Jeff, thanks for watching and the great questions! 1) We went with the 3000 Multiplus for a few reasons. We wanted to be able to turn it on, power everything just like being plugged in to shore power, and not worry about running multiple things at the same time. The price difference wasn't much either. I do think the 2000 would be just fine as well. If you are sticking with 2 batteries, you'll love the 2000....go for it! 2) We did add a soft start, however the AC did run and start fine without it. But BB recommended going with one to help with the big surge and possible long term effects on the system. 3)If you check out the inverter install video ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-hB_UgLR0bTo.html you will see how I ran everything through the inverter including all the outlets. Love it! So annoying to only have a couple outlets on the inverter!!
I listen to a lot of teaching on RU-vid will prowse I call him the battery boy dissects batteries and analyzes components and I found battleborn has the best battery management system and the best warranty and overall performance so I went ahead and got 200 amp hours of lithium and 400 watts of solar and I can use my induction cookware cook meals bake in my convection oven and not put a dent in my batteries as long as the sun is shining! Which is a big consideration power out and power in if you run your batteries in the dark without any sun they will delete sooner! Anyway it's a learning experience air conditioning I wouldn't try running on solar. Everything else is a go.
Always and I mean always enjoy your informative information on anything that helps me to enjoy a van life for the summer months . Thank you for making this video and sharing it with me . Once again BS & BK .
Good summary. As you mentioned, most of the high current items aren't used that long usually. The ebike charging is the worst since you have to leave the monster inverter on all that time. For my ebike I added a small inverter (600W) with good efficiency for the ebike charging....then I can leave the big inverter off all the time and only engage for short time on high current items.
Great job presenting this info so clearly and . testing all your devices! We're looking forward to our solar/ lithium installation starting in a week, but we're having it done. I'm not comfortable running the wiring in a Classic myself because the potential cost of a screw up is more than we're willing to risk.
Thanks Guys! Excellent overview of energy use and what various appliances need for power. I really appreciate your videos. Looking forward to getting our RV in September. Keep the videos coming.
Thank you so much , just found your channel so I’m binge watching your videos. I glad you have a class B+, which is what I’m interested in. I’m waiting for leisure travel to offer a single induction cooktop
Battle born is my ONLY choice for batteries. There warranty is second to none. after 2 years, one of my batteries developed a problem. I sent it in for repair and was told it was not repairable. They sent me back a brand new battery for free. they even paid shipping costs. You can't beat that for service. HIGHLY RECOMENDED.
When you were charging your little devices with their own lithium batteries from your BBs, you have to consider how low the standalone device is. If it is already fully charged, it will not draw much power from the charger. If your flashlight is dead it will draw a lot more.
This was a great one. We'll share it to the FB group we're active on. They have questions about this all the time. We are Battleborn lithium users and will also never go back. We have two 100ah Battleborns, 200w solar, and a 1000w inverter. Still limited with the inverter, but we don't need it for much. I can use my 1875w hair dryer on cool without tripping the inverter. Little tricks always help. Thanks!
Fantastic video! We SO agree after switching to 4 lithium’s a couple months ago. Interesting to watch the power draw on each thing. I really laughed, Chris, cuz my eyes always glaze over on that stuff too! Aaron did a great job of explaining it! Way to go!❤️
Hi to you all Thanks for sharing the info, on our Hymer Lithium batteries last about 4hrs , we leave the A/C fan in the on position and let the compressor cycle on/off to the set point ect, and when the batteries get low the Engine starts to change the batteries and we can have A/C all night 👍❄️
BB batteries are the Li-Fe-PO4 (lithium iron phosphate) type, and they are premium batteries -- unfortunately also at a premium price. But I've seen other 100 Ah Li-Fe-PO4 batteries that are much less. I'd be interested in hearing your comments on whether the added cost for BB is worth it. The latest scuttlebutt re battery technology is the Lithium-titanate type that promises many thousands of recharge cycles and fast charging. It may not be long before these appear on the general market, hopefully some of these geared toward RVs. I'm also a devotee of ultra-capacitors that have the ability to store energy extremely quickly and discharge massive amounts of amperage also very quickly. These have incredible durability and longevity (hundreds of thousands of cycles) but very low energy density. Still, using these, along with the Lithium batteries, might offload some of the initial start-up load of some of the appliances. Just curious if you've had any experience with ultra-capacitors.
Just finished the video! Loved it! Great explanations. To add to the fun of inverters, most are rated in "VA", not watts. "But isn't watts just volts x amps"? Well kinda. It IS for resistive loads like your heater. But if the device has a magnet in it (like a motor, or a power supply) it's also got a "power factor" - or basically the delay between peak volts and peak amps. I won't bore you with the details, but if it's got a big motor, you might not be able to run it when you think you can.
Thanks Paul, appreciate it! It is so weird that VA is not mainstream when discussing this stuff and even most companies selling the Victron Multiplus call it a 3000 watt inverter. I had no idea until I was corrected in the install video. It is quite confusing that sometimes VA and watts are equal and other times not, like you said. Super confusing and I don't even want to try to explain that one! Good tip with the big motor though!
The little stuff that took a half amp or less are probably full or almost full of power already. If you drained them to say half, their draw would probably jump to at least an amp, if not up to 3. The items that are .5 or less are just trickle charging because they are at or near 100% state of charge, I suspsect.
Excellent video. You two are crushing it and have some good rhythm. Have you considered ceramic tinting your windshield? Could help on the heat. Also have you considered a Patron page? We would support and love seeing you two have fun. Cheers.
Hey D and V!!😃 So good to hear from you guys and look forward to our next meeting in life. We have heard of the ceramic coating but never really looked to deep into. But I bet it would help a ton! We did a special 3m heat tint on our 2 front side windows and it does really help with heat/sun. We can't have any type of tint on the front windshield in MN , but have heard of the clear option. We haven't really ever considered Patron, but who knows! YT now has the membership option too which seems to be getting more popular. It's good to see your guys pictures without all the snow and cold in them! Love ya guys!
Remember you can always buy 12 volts appliances ( not microwaves yet) but small kitchen & ACs come in 12 volts pretty sure they don't consume too many watts & amps
Thank you for demonstrating that you can run the air conditioning on solar. My husband said we can't do that but I'll be forwarding him this video right now to prove him wrong :o)
🔋Save $50 on Battle Born Batteries bit.ly/BattleBorn50 ⏩Install video ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-qIANRToD-vU.html 💙Subscribe - ru-vid.com 💻 Website - ireneironfitness.com 💵 Store - www.amazon.com/shop/ireneironfitness 👫 ABOUT US➡ Hello! We are Aaron and Chris, a fulltime RV couple that lives and works in our Airstream Interstate Sprinter Van. We run an online fitness and nutrition coaching business (Irene Iron Fitness) while traveling all around the country. Follow along the journey with us! 🚐Read our Story: ireneironfitness.com/quitting-our-jobs-traveling-the-country/ 💪Shop Online Coaching Packages: ireneironfitness.com/online-fitness-and-nutrition-coaching-packages/ 🍎Browse IIF Healthy Recipes: ireneironfitness.com/healthyrecipes/ 🚌Airstream Ambassadors: www.airstream.com/blog/aaron-and-christine/ 💎IIF AFFILIATES: These are programs and products we use, love, and recommend! 👉Amazon: www.amazon.com/shop/ireneironfitness 👉Rad Power Bikes bit.ly/3lbsaGM 👉Battle Born Batteries battlebornbatteries.com?afmc=2n 👉Undersun Resistance Bands: bit.ly/2RiP41C 💰 "IreneIron" for 10% off all kits, bundles,etc 👉Lebert Fitness: lebertfitness.com/?ref=IreneIronFitness 👉Thousand Trails: mbsy.co/DLw8W 💰 Save $100 👉Harvest Hosts: harvesthosts.refr.cc/ireneiron 💰 Save 15% "HHFRIENDS15" 👉MontKush:www.montkush.com/shop/ 💰 Use discount code "IreneIron" for 30% off 💎SOCIAL MEDIA 🎥RU-vid (Subscribe!): ru-vid.com 💻Website: ireneironfitness.com 📸Instagram: instagram.com/ireneironfitness/ 💙Facebook: facebook.com/ireneironfitness/ 🍁Pinterest: pin.it/cdyalputqukcq4
info on your generator - size - storage - fuel type - fuel storage ....would be kindly appreciated. many thanks for all the informative (and entertaining) videos.
Thanks for watching! Our gen is the Cummins Onan RV QG 2500 LP-Onan Propane Generator| 2.5HGJBB-1121 and it is mounted underneath by the spare tire. It has a remote start button inside. It is fairly loud and vibrates, but it is nice to have. The new inverter model just came out and is a lot more quiet. Onan 2500 LP Generator for RVs | 2.5HGLAA-8304A. There is a 19 gallon propane tank under the van as well so plenty of fuel.
It's hard for people to believe that lithium can be worth the high initial price, but I installed a similar system a few years ago, and I agree, you can never go back.
Yep, agreed. The shift is slow, but it is becoming more and more common. Its good to finally see some manufacturers putting it in standard in top end models and also being an option atleast.
not good to guess, first time watching your videos. our residential fridge that we just got a few weeks ago, under full load uses 2.5 amps according to the data sticker inside. I am currently running, 2 refrigerators, portable freezer, wine cooler, 3 air conditioners, 2 TVs, stereo system, computers, rice cooker and charging batteries of many different types and staying under 50 amps daily and this is during the middle of the afternoon in triple digit heat. now if we use an electric skillet with all that on we will get over the 50 amp limit. how do I know? I monitor everything 110 vac on our surge guard remote monitor. So if I were to be doing the math for 12 vdc, I am sure the numbers will be much higher. according to the calculations I just did for 12 vdc , we use approx. 460 amps daily, so I guess it is a good thing I have 1280 watts of solar on the roof. currently I am preparing to install my 600 ah of BB batteries and PD 9100 series lithium converter. hopefully by Aug 2021 we will have our Victron 3000 inverter. this video is an awesome way to let people know just what they may need as far as a battery bank goes in comparison to what appliances they may have. awesome video, thanks for sharing. Good luck, best of health and safe travels.
@@IreneIronTravels Our van build started last week. We are hoping to take delivery in 6 weeks or so. The excitement is building after 11 months of waiting.
I need to watch this more than once so I can "get it", lots of good info. BTW, what are the screens you are using in your front windows? Love your channel, very informative.
Thanks for watching! We made those screens out of solar screen material from Amazon. I got the idea from the front pull down screens on the the big class A's!
Thank you very much for taking the time and doing this video. It is very helpful as we will be getting a good sized solar system and BB battery bank on our new rv soon. I did see recently that the new Samsung refrigerators are using about 2 amps an hour...fyi. I got that from The Dry Campers about the new fridge Less Junk More Journey got in their new Grand Design.
Very helpful. One thought on the laptop, was the usage during charging the battery? Once charged, you'd have several hours of laptop usage, without pulling more power.
Ammonia refrigerators for three-way type are inefficient constant draw 12 to 16 amps. I have full time for about two and a half years in a Class A and have had a chance to play with all of it
Cell phone probably drew so much power because it was in "quick charge" mode filling up the battery. Once it's full it should drop down to almost nothing (0.5 - 1.5w) If you have small loads that require AC power, a small inverter (50 - 150w) is probably a good idea. They make them TINY and decent power efficiency. Can't recommend a specific model, though. I love how efficient your setup is, I draw 10-20 amps at idle. Is your van's radio wired into your lithium? On most vehicles it pulls from the starter battery. Does your refrigerator have a roof mounted radiator? Mine has a radiator on the roof, which helps keep the inside cool - but also allows the refrigerator to work if you have the van parked empty where the inside gets hot.
Good point on the cell phone and small inverter as well. Wow, 10-20 amps is high, but you must have decent amount of electronics on, like your camera system you mentioned. Our radio is on the house battery and I think they do that so you don't drain your starting battery while listening to music for hours while parked. Our fridge is all contained without any external venting. There is vents on the back side of the cabinet its in to help vent the heat out of the kitchen counter but it is always warm back there.
@@IreneIronTravels I love comparing vehicles with others - so many little differences!! Yeah, the security cameras draw around 5 amps by themselves, but that's for 6 cameras and the DVR. I also have a small chest freezer (12v) in addition to my built-in fridge - while it takes up more room than I'd like, it's nice being able to buy more than one or two frozen things. Anyway, I love everything about your radio setup. Mine SUCKS. being wired into the house battery is clever. I don't know how much the roof vent on my fridge actually changes things, but I like the idea behind it!
Also I gotta add that BattleBorn batteries are the premium battery - but you pay for that quality. I installed 700 amp-hours of loose Lifepo4 cells for $2k and have been super happy, but that's an advanced project that can destroy your batteries or even be a fire hazard. Great savings if you are confident in your skills, but not worth it for most people - with the BattleBorn you know that they'll work safely and reliably!
Great comment and a good option for some. And I will say you are probably in the 1 or 2 percent of people that can do that safely and confidently! I think I could mimic something off of RU-vid, but would not have the confidence in it! ⚡😳 Maybe you should put yours on YT Paul!
@@IreneIronTravels tried to reply but it didn't seem to go through. Since you insist - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-RscLi-9cw4Q.html - here's a tour of my van and some of my modifications. I'd like your honest, harsh opinion and any feedback, both on the van and the video (which I know is crap).
I heard blah, blah blah Amps! Blah blah Watts! Make sure you have at least 2 BB's and a strong inverter blah blah... Love you guys but watts and amps make me go brain dead! LOL! Thank you though, because I have an idea of what my husband and I would need should we do this.I'm a visual person so seeing what you were talking about helped immensely!
It might be easier for people to think in Watt-hours (Wh) instead of Amp-hours (Ah). With a system like yours, it stores about 5000Wh of energy--meaning you could run a 1000W appliance for 5 hours before depleting the batteries. (Each Battle Born is 1280 Wh because 12.8Volts * 100Ah = 1280Wh. With 4 batteries, that's 1280Wh*4=5120Wh.)
Very good point about WH's! Makes sense as watts are more universal, but I think people have AH's drilled in their head because of the more common rating for batteries. But maybe it will shift toward watt hours.
I have a 500w array with a 40a charge controller with a 3000 wave pure sign wave inverter and 3 12v 100ah lithium ion battery bank =12v300ah how long can you go off grid with that? Love your show
When we purchased our van it was wired incorrectly and killed our lithium batteries. After the cost of the re-wire I have been hesitant to use them. I purchased a Kilowatt meter and my husband helped me make a spreadsheet to calculate our usage. I am still cautious but I now understand the system and I am not afraid to use it.
@@IreneIronTravels I’m not sure about the wattage but the compressor only runs when it needs to. It uses the inverter and I have 4 100 amp hr golf cart batteries. I have a progressive industries EMS that show me how many amps I’m using
Awesome presentation with real world info. Much appreciated. Have you ever calculated what you could use with the vehicle engine running to supply recharging vs a generator as a backup to recharging by solar? I'm sure there are variables considering the vehicle. I'm thinking weather won't always be optimal for solar charging. Your thoughts would be helpful. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and be safe.
The Sprinter has a complex emissions system that can develop expensive problems if you idle them So, we would just run the onboard gen if we had to. While driving it only put about 50 amps per hour into the battery (so it didn't overload and burn out the factory alternator), so that's why people put those 280 amp second alternators on to run AC and charge the batteries. But about 3-4 thousand for those.
Your fridge will draw much much less power if it is a top opening design. When you open a fridge door vertically, all the cold are dumps out onto the floor and the fridge fills with room temperature air.
Great video and explanation of the appliance draws. I've been waiting to see this one as we have some power management issues that I'm dealing with due to some customization by the previous owner that I can't get my head around! When you mention the back up generator is that your "onboard gen" or do you carry a portable gen (probably unlikely with your previous space constraint comments)? I've lost power a couple of times and can't get the onboard gen started as it's connected to the electrical system, can this be bypassed? Would like to run some more questions past you if you were open to it? I'll also check out your install videos to find out if I can learn some more.
Hey Michael, thanks! Yes feel free to ask away! We do have an onboard gen mounted underneath the van. It gets its starting power from the house batteries like yours as well. Do you have a battery assist button that connects your house and chassis batteries? We have one by the driver steering wheel. This allows us to jump the engine or jump the generator if we needed. We also carry a small lithium battery jumper box that you could jump your generator by connecting it to your house batteries for a power boost. It is
