Solar Power

Charging at very modest 14 VDC @ .3A, or 4.2 watts from the solar panel. Not much at all, but I expect it to get a bit better as the morning progresses.
Up to 20 watts now. Considering the heavy overcast and rain, I'm surprised to get this much this early.
 
Battery is now, for all intents, fully charged in a few cloudy hours. When the sun does peak out, it charges at over 14 VDC and 15 amps, well over 200 watts. Outstanding.

So a few hours of charge, even on a cloudy day, will get me at least a full day/night of refrigeration.
 
Well, first major component fail. Sometime overnight, the AIMS inverter quit. I don't have time to do forensics this morning, maybe this afternoon.
 
Yeah, there's a Made in China sticker on the bottom.

It's dead, Jim....

Put it on the bench, won't power up, no indicator lights, no USB power, no fuses available from the outside. Just wrote an email to tech support.
 
Got an RMA, gave the box to UPS Ground last Friday for shipment to Reno NV. Made it's way to Laurel, MD, then to Gaithersburg where it sat for 2 days. And then got shipped BACK to Laurel where it sat for another day. :eyebrow: Last status is 'shipped' from Laurel, but to who knows where. Supposed to arrive Friday this week.

The AIMS inverter was rated for 1000Watts continuous, 2000W surge. According to tech support, that 2000W surge is 40 milliseconds max. On surge I draw 1200W for maybe a second, then 100W continuous for a few minutes. If it's rated for 1000W continuous, you think it could handle a few seconds at 1200W, if it's capable of max surge of 2000W. Tech support thinks I need a bigger unit. I'd like to hear what the failure was first. If that's how inverters are rated, then maybe I need a 1500W continuous unit just to cover the surge. Just means a few more watts used when the unit is on and idle.

In the meantime, I can hook up the cheapo inverter I have. It's only 750W continuous, 1500W surge, but didn't have any problems for weeks under the same load.
 
Yr gonna be easy to find at any campground. Just need to look for the smoke and follow the smell of burnt electronics.
I think it will be a lot easier than that. I mean.... a bright red Slingshot pulling a dayglo green trailer with a 4x6 solar panel out front?
 

Gilligan

#*! boat!
PREMO Member
Me: [muttering to myself].." Gee..I know GW is around here someplace.....oh..wait..there he is!"

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