Questions for a Newbie

[SouthAfrica75]

Have a 2400 surge and 1200 running watt power inverter. Have it connected to one 115 AH deep cycle marine battery. It runs a plasma 42", fan, 2 lights with no problems.

It will however not run my refrigerator. Just not enough power to even get it going. You can hear the motor at about 50% power and the light inside the refrigerator at about 70% brightness compared to being directly connected to AC power.

Refrigerator states at full load is runs at 6.5ah.

Do I need to get another battery and connect in parallel or what to get the referigerator to run. I would like to to run for about 2 hours a day if power fails ?

Live in hurricane county and no gas generators allowed in my condo

[Windsun]

If this is on 115 volts AC, then 6.5 amps translates to 65 amps at 12 volts.

So your battery, and probably the wiring from inverter to battery is way undersized.

[SouthAfrica75]

Damn................ money spent for nothing.

Any suggestions as to size battery ?

[tripster]

Probably not best to run the fridge on a modified sinewave interter. I'm assuming its msw. Probably cost you $100-150 correct? The surge time on your unit is probably not enough to handle the compreesor startup.

[SolarJohn]

I have an 1100-watt sine wave inverter and 4-105ah batteries in parallel. I run a refrigerator and a freezer with no problems at all. I agree with windsun.

When I try to run my washing machine, I get the symptoms you describe. Motor starting current is just too high I suppose.

John

[Brock]

Do you know the thickness of the wiring running between the inverter and batteries? If you can make that wire as short as possible or heavier gauge it might work. You could also add a second battery in parallel if indeed the battery can't take the start surge. If it were me I would do both, get a second battery and run a minimum of #6 between the batteries and inverter.

[SouthAfrica75]

Answers to some of the great answers I've gotten so far. And Thanks....

It is an MSW inverter. It's a Vector MAXX SST

I am using very thick cables I know they are at least a #6 and as short as I can make them. It also has a 300amp inline fuse.

I'm thinking that the one battery alone is not enough power to get it up and running or the MSW inverter will not do it.

I don't want to go out and spend the money on another battery if it ain't going to work.

[Brock]

Hard to say for sure but if you already have short #6 wires I would put money on the battery voltage dropping to much. You could put a meter right on the battery and watch it while the fridge tries to start. If it drops below 11 adding a second battery would help a lot. Could you get your hands on any second battery just to try it? Pull one from a car for a bit? Are you sure the battery you do have is fully charged to start with?

[SouthAfrica75]

BROCK..... gotta get out and get a meter. Battery should be fully charged, just bought it but then again..... you never know.

I will go the route of pulling a battery from my car or boat and see if it works.

Thanks

[mike95490]

yucch !

Mod sine inverter & Large Fridge = smoke out of fridge motor.