I've been trying to determine how long a 100ah battery would last for a particular situation but I am failing to understand somewhere. I thought I read that it is Battery Ah / Amps of device. I did some googling of electric smokers and someone mentioned 1400 watts which would be about 12 amps. So 100/12 is 8.3 hours. But then I was watching Will Prowse on calculating runtime and he mentioned a 100ah battery is 1200 watt-hours so you could run a 1200 wayt device for 1 hour. So then I got confused. In this case a 1400 watt smoker would not even last an hour. Where am I going wrong, or what am I figuring incorrectly?
Battery runtime calculation
- Thread starter blammo585
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Leeds
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If you have a 12v 100ah system then you have at best 1200 watt hours of energy. (If your battery is lead, cut that usable amount in half).
Assuming LiFePO4 batteries, your 1200 watt hours of energy would be dropped to zero in .85 hours with a 1400 watt load on it. (1200/1400 = 0.857 hours) This is roughly 51 minutes.
Of course you'll get less run time than that because you'll have some losses in your inverter. Running that equipment during the daylight hours while solar panels are charging that battery would extend your time before total battery drain.
Assuming LiFePO4 batteries, your 1200 watt hours of energy would be dropped to zero in .85 hours with a 1400 watt load on it. (1200/1400 = 0.857 hours) This is roughly 51 minutes.
Of course you'll get less run time than that because you'll have some losses in your inverter. Running that equipment during the daylight hours while solar panels are charging that battery would extend your time before total battery drain.
Thanks. I guess I don't need to try using the smoker off this setup then. My original intentions was to have an inverter just to use some power tools once in a while. I'll just stick to that.
I've been looking at some of the common tools I'd use and their ratings. So far the power drill would be the biggest draw I've come across, and it says 6 amps. That would be 720 watts at 120v. So I could power that approximately 1.6 hours, right? Actually longer since you wouldn't be running a drill constantly for that time.
MisterSandals
Participation Medalist
Assuming you have 12.8V nominal lead acid battery:
12.8V x 100Ah = 1280Wh
720W / .85 inverter efficiency = 847W from battery
1280Wh / 847W = 1.5h
Your 6A rated drill will draw significantly less when not working hard. Its likely a max continuous load.
You would likely be able to drill 1/16" holes in wood for quite a few hours.
Leeds
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Yeah, that smoker is using a very large amount of energy.
That 1400 watt device uses the same amount of power as 14 old school 100w bulbs at once. Or if you're using modern "100w equivalent" bulbs you could run 107 of those bulbs at the same time just to use as much power as that smoker. That's a lot of light!
MisterSandals
Participation Medalist
Is this an electric smoker or a pellet smoker? Is the 1400W number measured or from a label?
Leeds
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This is what a 1400w smoker looks like:
www.bbqguys.com
Smokin Tex Commercial BBQ Electric Smoker 1500-C : BBQGuys
The Smokin Tex 1500-C Commercial Series Stainless Steel Electric Smoker is easy to use, just plug it in, put in the wood and food, shut the door, and set the temperature. Enjoy authentic old-fashioned pit barbecue and delicious natural wood smoked foods. Your food is slow cooked with exact...
www.bbqguys.com
Today I got to actually go in my building and look at my smoker. I couldn't remember the model number when I was at work the other day and had this idea so I just googled "Masterbuilt Bluetooth electric smoker". One result that came up said 1400 watts. I didn't question it because it sounded realistic to me. I figured these used a lot of power. Today when I looked at the back of it, it is rated at 800 watts and 6.7 amps. So not too bad. Still, I could only run it 1.5 hour on a 100ah battery and 3 hours with a 200. Still doesn't sound very feasible so I'll just continue to run an extension cord to it.This is what a 1400w smoker looks like:
Smokin Tex Commercial BBQ Electric Smoker 1500-C : BBQGuys
The Smokin Tex 1500-C Commercial Series Stainless Steel Electric Smoker is easy to use, just plug it in, put in the wood and food, shut the door, and set the temperature. Enjoy authentic old-fashioned pit barbecue and delicious natural wood smoked foods. Your food is slow cooked with exact...
