A typical 12 volt, 100 AH lithium ion phosphate battery costs about $1,000.00 each. So if you have a good quality lithium deep cycle battery you can theoretically run the air conditioner for about 1.5 hours before you need to recharge your batteries. Of course, depending on how many electrical items you power off your battery, your battery may not last the night. Most RVs do not even come equipped with an inverter of any kind. Each of these units requires a minimum of 3,500 watts just to kick start a unit. An inverter is a little device that converts electricity from DC to AC (or less technically, from battery-type to wall-type). It’s been around for quite some time, but it’s becoming more and more prominent in larger power applications. What was not covered, and is less expensive, are more efficient AC unit alternatives that CAN be run from your standard SLA battery bank or small LiFePO bank. To size a battery bank we take the hours needed continuously x watts = total watts/DC volts=amps needed. But their 5+ years of life help make up for that initial cost. That’s a huge difference. Add up all the watt-hour values to get a total for your home. Terry, getting a 40 to 50 degree temperature drop inside your rig is pretty darn good. If you decide to use batteries to power your RV’s air conditioner, you may want to consider using the following tips to help you conserve your battery power: Using air conditioning in your RV while on vacation makes sense. There is actually a mobile RV technician that installs Tesla battery banks for RVers. There are a lot of variables that can affect how long your battery power might run the AC, which means any answer we give has to be qualified with a whole bunch of modifiers. But when it’s 110* outside it’s 68* inside. It also requires a lot just to run for an hour. The only issue is that the AC unit in your RV may require more energy than your solar panels can produce. (see formula above). My System cost: $14,000. Dometic RV Air Conditioner Not Blowing Cold Air (How to Fix), Why Does My RV AC Smell Like Rotten Eggs? A 13,500 BTU air conditioner will need roughly 1200 to 1300 watts just to run it. This is what generators are for. If you want to run your AC consistently for the hotter parts of the day and evening, unfortunately, your off-grid options are somewhat limited. Example: How many DC amps will a Vanner 24 volt inverter require to operate three 500 watt quartz lights, or a 1500 watt electric heater? 24 Volt DC Systems. Can I Run My RV Air Conditioner on Battery Power? But, they will also require installing a 24 volt system, along with a converter to reduce the final output to 12 volts. I stress-tested my solar panel system to see how well it could run my air conditioning unit and discovered some cool results. They are also capable of withstanding repeated drains of power and recharging. If you are using a small air conditioner that puts out about 6,000 BTUs then you will need approx. Of course, if you have 2 then you may need to double the wattage. The amount of watts you need to run your RV’s AC unit will depend on how many BTUs the air conditioner produces. Read our other articles, “Do I Need a Generator for Boondocking?”, and “How Big of a Generator Do I Need?”. In order to get 8 hours of running an air conditioner on battery power, you will need a lot of batteries. If you spend the money for a lithium style then you may be able to stop at 2. Boondocking on Bureau of Reclamation Lands. Battery Efficiency. How Much Battery Power For Boondocking Will I Need? It is filled with the information you need to know to find the right battery for your RV air conditioner. In other words, a 5 amp AC appliance will draw roughly 50 amps from your 12 volt battery bank. Most devices run on either 50Hz or 60Hz. Next, we need to consider the efficiency of the battery. If you are using a 15,000 BTU producing air conditioner that requires about 1500 watts to run it, then the two lithium batteries can keep the air conditioner running for 90 minutes before needing recharging. Multiply the wattage of each device by its run-time to get the energy in watt-hours per day. Dry camping on BLM land nobody wants to hear a generator running all night long. How long the AC unit will run for while on batteries would depend on its size and how many BTUs it produces. From my previous investigation , I found that a AA battery has about 10,000 Joules of stored energy. Not all campgrounds that allow RVs have electrical hook ups. It does get hot in the great outdoors in the spring, summer and fall. ... 15bulbs 6watt each,2freezers and ac pump.how many watt Parnell I need and how many batteries for ,6hrs. That means you would have to park your RV in the sun and defeat the purpose of using solar panels. 1584 watts / 12 volts = 132 DC amps. The article also didn’t cover the use of an easy start on the factory AC units which may allow a user to use a smaller inverter like a 3k unit to handle the start up surge. It then takes about 1,500 watts to keep that unit running. Most boondockers have between 200 to 400 amp hour battery banks. But, if you want to run that air conditioning unit for a minimum of four hours, perhaps up to eight hours, and still be able to run all of your other 110 volt and 12 volt components, you’re going to need LOTS of power. If you don't want to buy a battery-powered set, there are two ways to run your normal (120V AC) Xmas lights off batteries. If it wasn’t obvious, there is no value in buying a huge lithium bank to power standard RV AC units which are notoriously inefficient. How Many Solar Panels Do I Need for Boondocking? Good article and very accurate info. Can you Use solar Panels to Run the RV air Conditioner. The number of batteries you will need to use will depend on how much power they can hold, how often you use your RV’s air conditioner and how many BTUs the air conditioner produces. Running an RV air conditioner with batteries is very possible but it takes a lot of battery power. Another factor to consider when trying to figure out how many watts you need to run your air conditioner is the make and model of the air conditioner inside your RV. You may need about 16 to 20 flooded-cell, 12 volt batteries, at 100 AH each, to run two air conditioning units for 8 hours. Jack Steve I’m running two 1.25 amp underwater lights I’m trying to power them off of 18650 batteries each battery has 2000mah how many cells will I need to run for at least 2 hrs Reply • Ratted article 5 • June 14, 2020 at 10:24 am The average size alternator used in a vehicles' DC charging system is about 100 AMPS DC. The biggest difference comes to power-supplies general most 110V (120V) run on 60Hz, when 220V(230V) run on 50Hz. If you have a … You have to pay for all that electricity, of course, but it’s readily available.Air conditioning is one of the biggest energy hogs in your home. If you're trying to calculate how many batteries you'll need to power an air conditioner off-grid, the answer depends on how long you want to run the AC. Keep in mind 23 6 volt 200 ah batteries is … This means you will need at least a 4,000 watt DC-to-AC power inverter, to convert your battery power to usable AC electricity. 1000 watts of solar panels can produce nobody wants to hear a generator while does. Factor that most people miss that installs Tesla battery banks for RVers they will also require installing a volt. Even two 15,000 BTU AC with 10 lithium ion phosphate battery costs about $ 8,000.00 in batteries just run. 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