Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2006 16:45:43 -0500
Reply-To: Jim Felder <felder@KNOLOGY.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Jim Felder <felder@KNOLOGY.NET>
Subject: Re: LVC: Running a fan on an inverter: how long?
In-Reply-To: <009901c694af$81bb20f0$0201a8c0@kaos>
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Dennis and Ken and others who replied;
I use the trucker fans. I keep two on the dash, bolted to some big
old harbor freight grounding magnets that let me stick them anywhere
there's metal in the van, including inside the B and C pillars. But I
was looking for something that would hang on the pop-up mechanism bar
and pull a lot of air through the front screen and out of the van (on
a Westy of course).
I also use two window-mounted 4 inch computer fans. They run all
night without bothering the battery, but of course they are intended
for removing cooking fumes and moving air through the cabin when my
Wave 3 heater is in use. They don't do any cooling to speak of.
I looked at that Coleman fan at a Coleman store, they had it and
another one that looked pretty good, that's what got me thinking
about the big fans. I also found this Endless Breeze 12V fan for more
money
http://www.pplmotorhomes.com/parts/rv-converters/12-volt-fans.htm
but needs no conversion.
I like the amount of air that an $11 box fan moves, but it seems not
worth the battery hassle. My inverter runs such a box fan for an hour
from a little 275 amp lawnmower battery that's got some age on it,
that's what got me wondering what it would take to run the thing all
night.
Good to know the issues behind the problem anyway.
Thanks.
Jim
On Jun 20, 2006, at 4:21 PM, Kenneth Lewis wrote:
> The inverter itself will draw it's share of current, even with
> nothing
> plugged into it. So you need to take that into account also, I
> would hazard
> to guess about 1.5 amps. The amount depends on it's rating i.e. a
> 1000 watt
> will draw more than a 400w , at idle. I would 'assume' the
> efficiency would
> go up the closer to the rated load you run. I say assume because that
> applies for large, entire building, commercial units.
> If it was me, I would do some math beforehand, and try and
> purchase a
> unit that is close to what I needed, say 25% over.
> In this case I agree with Dennis, the twelve volt trucker fan is
> probably the ticket. Coleman sells a couple D cell powered tent
> fans that
> are worth looking at. Wally World carries them.
> This one looks like it could be easily converted to twelve volts.
>
> http://www.coleman.com/coleman/colemancom/detail.asp?
> product_id=830-450
>
> Ken Lewis
> http://neksiwel.20m.com/
>
