Hi all I'm buying an inverter to run my charger for our up coming Wales trip from my sums my giant 6amp charger draws 4amp input x 230v is 920w biggest inverter I can find is 6000w peak which sounds great but it's continuous output is 1000w rated at 2000w do we think that will power my charger to charge battery ?
Inverter charger
- Thread starter Stretch40
- Start date
nosenada
Member
If you have not done so already I would buy a cheap watt meter to see the actual draw of your charger. It may not be 920w. I would be surprised if it was that high.
My Shimano 4 amp charger (e6000) only draws around 180w max when measured.
Other recommendation is to spend the extra for a nice pure sine wave inverter. While your charger may work with a cheap modified sine wave inverter it may run hotter (shortening its lifespan) and could be damaged if the cheap inverter dies suddenly.
I use a 600w pure sign wave inverter (800w peak) to run 3 Shimano 4 amp chargers chargers. It was only $116 US.
The peak wattage rating does not really matter for a charger load. The peak wattage rating is more important when you are running a motor from the inverter such as a fan or refrigerator compressor motor where the start up load spikes.
My Shimano 4 amp charger (e6000) only draws around 180w max when measured.
Other recommendation is to spend the extra for a nice pure sine wave inverter. While your charger may work with a cheap modified sine wave inverter it may run hotter (shortening its lifespan) and could be damaged if the cheap inverter dies suddenly.
I use a 600w pure sign wave inverter (800w peak) to run 3 Shimano 4 amp chargers chargers. It was only $116 US.
The peak wattage rating does not really matter for a charger load. The peak wattage rating is more important when you are running a motor from the inverter such as a fan or refrigerator compressor motor where the start up load spikes.
Last edited:
- Thread starter
- #3
Tbh I thought it was high I've never had a wattage meter and I've been a service eng for 20yrs lol I use multimeter insulation tested and oscilloscope occasionally but never wattage meter ? I just did the calculation and came up with 920w I'm off googling now thanks
nosenada
Member
Yep. Plug the power meter in then plug in the charger. Best probably to measure when it is charging around 30-50% to get the max wattage.
Oops, my mistake, I didn't read your first post properly... just read the 4 amp charger bit
Mine says 2 amps max input current, only ever seen 180 Watts max though so hopefully yours won't be much more than 300 Watts... ?
Hi All ,
Please forgive my intelligence. I seem to be having problems with working out if i have the right inverter its pure sine wave 1000w
my specialized charger specs are input 100-240v 2.5a with output 42.0v 4.0A
do i x 42v 4.0 which gives me 168 w
My lead acid leisure battery is 110ah
how many chargers to my 700wh battery can i expect
any help would be well appreciated.thanks
Please forgive my intelligence. I seem to be having problems with working out if i have the right inverter its pure sine wave 1000w
my specialized charger specs are input 100-240v 2.5a with output 42.0v 4.0A
do i x 42v 4.0 which gives me 168 w
My lead acid leisure battery is 110ah
how many chargers to my 700wh battery can i expect
any help would be well appreciated.thanks
- Thread starter
- #13
Hi no it's the input u work out but if it helps my giant charger is a 6amp charger I've bought a watt meter plugged it in and while charging the mist it drew was 180w so if your inverter is 1000w continuous you are well in ? I'm buying a 900w continuous inverter to charge two batteries but it says it's 2000w rated 4000 peak ?I think you will be fine ?
What is the capacity of your bike battery? You shouldn't really discharge lead acid below 50% (but every now and again is ok). Your 110ah battery has about (110 x 12) / 2 = 660wh available. If you know the capacity of your bike battery you can then work out how many charges you can get.
(Yes, I know this is very simplified, but good enough!)
So you should get a single charge from it.
Nickolp1974
Active member
i get approx 3 chargers on 504wh shimano batteries out of 160ah. i have 2 x 180ah in my camper, so really i only have 180ah useable due to depth of discharge(50%). if you only have 1x 110ah, you really only have 55ah and wit that im not so sure it will even charge a 700wh battery even once fully.
Nickolp1974
Active member
dont forget inverters are only about 85% efficient! so only 561wh
Very true, but I was just doing ballpark numbers! By the time you add in the lead acid will start at 13.8V which will give more power, the fact the battery being charged is unlikely to be completely empty etc it ends up being there or there abouts!
Back of the envelope maths...
cheers lads thanks for the input ?? would i be right in thinking that a 12v specialized charger (42v @ 2A ) rated. that drew 69ah total over 10hrs running of the 110ah battery would be more effeciant say than inverter and standard specialized charger ?
thanks again ??
thanks again ??
Nickolp1974
Active member
Not sure, i used the 2 different shimano chargers on my testing but didn't go in depth at all. Didnt want to keep using the Van batteries when the van's not actually being used!! not long now hopefully. In my thread on my van it gives a little info, post #9 Transit Custom EMTB Camper van conversion - EMTB Forums
It should be more efficient, but difficult to say by how much as its very dependent on hardware. I'd guess between 5% and 20% better than an inverter.
Andycap
New Member
If your charger is rated 4A at 100-240v then the 4A would be the draw at 100v and at 220v would be approx 1.93A giving you a max of about 400w drawn.
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