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First ever post using new inverter

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arc:
This is a first for me, you will have to excuse my enthusiam.

Just got my new 1250/ 3100 Watt Aims inverter.

It's powering my computer right now and doing a fine job.

I can see that my weak link is going to be my battery bank, it dropped in voltage from 12.8 V down to a hair over 11 V in a pretty short while.

Anyway, just wanted to share my excitement!
Take care all,
Dave

Tom in NH:
Way to go, Dave!

My battery voltage drops too, mainly because I get so many cloudy days. What have you got for batteries? What's powering that new AIMS inverter?

--Tom

arc:
Hey Tom,
I've got 3ea- Group 27's (Walmart Deep Cycle Marine Batteries).

Wish I'd known more about batteries when I purchased them last year, I would have gotten T-105's instead. Oh well, live and learn.
Since my last post, I tried the inverter with our refrigerator, just to see how it works. So far, so good, the voltage on my batts. has actually leveled off at around 12.4V when not under heavy load and drops to around 12.2V when the refer. kick in.
Conclusion:

I think that the near 11.0V that I was seeing earlier was due to my computer monitor, I had my 'puter, printer, dsl modem, wireless modem, usb port hub, 19" monitor, scanner and speakers all plugged in, draws more than I thought, no wonder the elec. bill was a bit higher when I left it on 24/7.

Anyway, the refer. is a 21.5 cu ft Kenmore and is around 5.4 amp max and seems to be doing just great after an hour or two. This is good, cause that's why I got this inverter, as a backup for the refer. and maybe to power a small TV or radio during a power outage. I think it's going to work out. I'm thinking of leaving the refer. on the inverter overnight to see how the batteries hold up.
Tomorrow, I'm going to hardwire 2 circuits from a 2-breaker load center which will place an auxilary receptical near the referigerator, one in the living room and on the other circuit I have 2 more recept. in the bed rooms. The load center just plugs into the inverter.
Later,
Dave

picmacmillan:
way to go arc...it is real good reading when you here someone putting this stuff to work....you may think "who would want to read my post"? but the fact of the matter is, we get excited for you and really enjoy your enthusiasm...pickster

ghurd:
We seem a happy bunch of people!
About the batteries. I wonder if they were really full or had some surface charge reading, form being charged in the last day or 2.
Nothing on charts or anything, but I believe from experience if the V drops like a rock in a short time, then stabilizes, it usually was not really full charged.

I am a big believer the batteries have to be at the float voltage for a long time before they are truely full.
Meaning the performance could get considerably better when the wind, solar, whatever, has the batteries actually full.
So keep smiling.

G-

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