funflair
LIFE MEMBER
I know some funsters will already have one these and understand how it all work but others might be reading through specs and options on a new van and wondering "what the heck is that, and more importantly do I need one ?"
What am I on about ? well it's a unit with inverter and charger combined and sometimes called a "Combi" for obvious reasons, the important bit is what they call "network compensation" or "power backup" they might all be a little bit different and all vans are wired differently but basically what we have with the Buttner (now Dometic) unit is two power circuits, one supplied directly by the mains hook up and another that runs through the inverter, the direct hook up circuit supplies the fridge 240v, Alde heating (and Microwave if I hadn't moved the feed to the second circuit) all this is subject to the maximum current rating of the hook up post. The second circuit runs through the inverter and can be a mix of hook up power or battery power supplied via the inverter, there is a control on the Buttner panel that tells the inverter how much mains power you want it to use and when the batteries should help out.
What does all this mean in practise ? if you are on a low amp hook up say 3A for example you will be forever tripping the post if you try to run a kettle, microwave or hairdryer, if you have a combi inverter/charger you just tell it that there is only 3A available so when you switch on the kettle 8A the charger switches off and the inverter supplies the balance of power from your batteries, when demand falls the inverter stops inverting and the charger switches back on and recharges the batteries.
At the moment we are on a club site and have the heating running on electric and can use close to the 16A limit of the hook up post without tripping, if we then want the microwave or kettle these will till work without tripping as these are on the second or "backed up" circuit we can run another 12A on top of the hook up without any problems
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All of the above is based on a 3kw inverter/charger and dependent on having decent batteries that can sustain a continuous draw of over 200A, smaller "combi" units are available and would put less demand on the batteries but ultimately supply less power.
What am I on about ? well it's a unit with inverter and charger combined and sometimes called a "Combi" for obvious reasons, the important bit is what they call "network compensation" or "power backup" they might all be a little bit different and all vans are wired differently but basically what we have with the Buttner (now Dometic) unit is two power circuits, one supplied directly by the mains hook up and another that runs through the inverter, the direct hook up circuit supplies the fridge 240v, Alde heating (and Microwave if I hadn't moved the feed to the second circuit) all this is subject to the maximum current rating of the hook up post. The second circuit runs through the inverter and can be a mix of hook up power or battery power supplied via the inverter, there is a control on the Buttner panel that tells the inverter how much mains power you want it to use and when the batteries should help out.
What does all this mean in practise ? if you are on a low amp hook up say 3A for example you will be forever tripping the post if you try to run a kettle, microwave or hairdryer, if you have a combi inverter/charger you just tell it that there is only 3A available so when you switch on the kettle 8A the charger switches off and the inverter supplies the balance of power from your batteries, when demand falls the inverter stops inverting and the charger switches back on and recharges the batteries.
At the moment we are on a club site and have the heating running on electric and can use close to the 16A limit of the hook up post without tripping, if we then want the microwave or kettle these will till work without tripping as these are on the second or "backed up" circuit we can run another 12A on top of the hook up without any problems
.All of the above is based on a 3kw inverter/charger and dependent on having decent batteries that can sustain a continuous draw of over 200A, smaller "combi" units are available and would put less demand on the batteries but ultimately supply less power.
