Determining my power needs for field work (1 Viewer)

[HemiAlex]

I use the 60 for field work sometimes. I go to remote locations, and run a small computer system. It's 11a, 310w max plus a laptop and a cellular connection.
I'm trying to figure out if its worth building up a small system with a drawer build to be able to run the laptop and data acquisition chassis without idling the truck the whole time.

I've got an Optima Yellowtop 34/78- 55 amp hour/ 120 min reserve for my main battery and I'm adding a national luna dual battery kit with another yellowtop, wired for a self start combination for my house use.

I want to get a Redarc 1000w or 2000w inverter regardless, just for camping and house stuff when I need to run a tool or two at a site. That's the easy part for me.

I know nothing about power systems and AC/DC stuff. Could would it be possible to run this set up for 1-3 hours with the amp/hr of my current "house" battery, and is there a possible solar set up that could feed this? EDIT: at 20w of usage on a 55ah battery. I could get about 2.5hours of useage before running the house battery down off the inverter.

Now, to figure out how to supplement this or make it better! (solar?)

For sake of reference, I've run my Iceco VL60 fridge off the main starting battery for days at .545kw/hr with no issues starting even after 3 days. and the truck sitting idle.

I'm trying to decide if it's worth even doing all this stuff, adding a 120v in (if available at the site) or just getting a small Honda Generator. Any insight is appreciated.

 

[spressomon]

Budget?

 

[HemiAlex]

Company money. Not mine.

Let’s see what it comes out to be.

 

[peesalot]

The dual batts and a minimum of 100w of solar would do the trick, depending on how much you use the 110 inverter. That sat up with sun would let you run the fridge indefinite without starting vehicle. Step up the solar to like 300W and it would run lights(LED) at night as well. Now without knowing exact consumption this is all theory.
In other words, 2 batts and a little solar will run your fridge & electronics just fine.

 

[sdnative]

For sake of reference, I've run my Iceco VL60 fridge off the main starting battery for days at .545kw/hr with no issues starting even after 3 days. and the truck sitting idle.

Something doesn't seem right. Is this 0.545kWh (seems extremely high) or 0.545Wh (seems extremely low)? For comparison, my ARB consumes about 0.8-1.0 Ah (~10-13Wh).

Regardless, it's impressive if you are able to start your truck after running the fridge for 3 days. When I had my fridge wired to the starting battery, I could get maybe 2 days before needing to break out the jump pack to start the truck.

 

[HemiAlex]

Something doesn't seem right. Is this 0.545kWh (seems extremely high) or 0.545Wh (seems extremely low)? For comparison, my ARB consumes about 0.8-1.0 Ah (~10-13Wh).

Regardless, it's impressive if you are able to start your truck after running the fridge for 3 days. When I had my fridge wired to the starting battery, I could get maybe 2 days before needing to break out the jump pack to start the truck.

It could all be wrong on that first number. I’ll look into it.

When I use the fridge I always deep freeze it in max in the house and then take it to the truck and run it in low/eco mode and runs great. I also use the supplied zip up blanket. The compressor barely kicks on like that, even in Texas heat.

A roof mounted but easily removable solar panel would work great for this. I need to keep watching YouTube!

 

[peesalot]

Check out the Lensun semi flexible panels, I used e6000 glue to attach a piece of double wall polycarbonate to the aluminum roof skin then e6000 to glue the panel to that, the double wall is 3/8 thick and provides an excellent heat reducing air gap, otherwise the backside of the panel will get really hot. If you want to keep it removable I would still mount to the polycarb double wall, just make the polycarb oversized so you have extra around perimiter to make attachments. FWIW the small 8 amp solar controllers will handle approx. 125W solar, any more and IMO you should get the 30 amp solar controller ( I like sunforce )

 

[Mrtwooooo]

Sounds like one of the many options of solar generators , like a Jackery or Bluetti, would work best for you. There is your battery, inverter, solar charge controller all in one box. Plus you're able to use it outside just the vehicle. Run your computer and field equipment, your fridge and charge your phone at the same time. Then have a way to plug it into the vehicle's 12v system to charge while you're driving.

If you must go with a Dual battery system... I personally would skip the national luna kit and look at a Blue Sea ML-ACR 7622. Its not a nice full kit like the National Luna but the Blue Sea relay can handle far more amps (500 continuous vs 85 continuous for national luna) if you ever start moving a ton of power around. and its pretty well built ( it's meant for marine applications). The Blue Sea unit also monitors the voltage on both batteries and opens or closes accordingly.

If you do want to add some solar to your setup then I suggest a panel that you can put out on the ground and move around. Being able to aim the panel for optimal sun exposure makes a huge difference in the output you get from your solar. Rigid mounting it to the roof would really cut down on your solar output.

If you want to get into your own solar setup I'd look into the Victron Smart Solar charge controllers. like the SmartSolar 75/15. Nice and small, easy to use with their app too. Perfect for something like a 100w panel or you could do 2 100w panels wired in series if you need more power.

Things that help me figure out how much power I'm using:
-Watts = Volts x Amps example- 12volts x 10amps = 120 watts
-10amps being consumed for 1 hour would equal 10 amp hours (10ah)
-10 amps for 30 minutes would be 0.5ah
-1 amp for 5 hours would equal 5ah

-A typical fully charged AGM battery has a voltage of say 12.8 volts. Your 55 amp/hour yellowtop battery has a practical usable capacity of about 50% (so about 27.5ah of useable power). That can also be expressed as 352wh (27.5ah x 12.8volts = 352wh or 0.352kwh)