jdege
New Member
- Joined
- Dec 16, 2020
- Messages
- 138
I'm refitting a boat. Because of this I've pulled both starter and house batteries. Eventually these will be replaced, but for now I've wired the 12V DC output of my power station to the house bank distribution blocks. There's nothing running on the house bank except the bilge pumps, but the boat is in the water and I want the pumps powered.
The pumps are mechanically switched, they draw zero power unless there is water present. But the power station uses power to run, and more if the either or both of the DC or AC output is turned on.
As a result, even with zero draw, these parasitic loads will drain the power station in three or four days.
Of course, a lot of power stations have an eco shutoff mode, and will turn themselves off after a period of no load. In my use case, that's exactly what I don't want.
It seems to me that mine isn't the only use case where someone might want to use a power station to provide a very low current over an extended period, and in that case the parasitic loads become the predominant determinant of how long the power station will run between charges.
But this is something I've never seen addressed in reviews.
How many people when they're sizing a power station take its own parasitic loads into consideration?
Can we start asking reviewers to address this in their reviews?
The pumps are mechanically switched, they draw zero power unless there is water present. But the power station uses power to run, and more if the either or both of the DC or AC output is turned on.
As a result, even with zero draw, these parasitic loads will drain the power station in three or four days.
Of course, a lot of power stations have an eco shutoff mode, and will turn themselves off after a period of no load. In my use case, that's exactly what I don't want.
It seems to me that mine isn't the only use case where someone might want to use a power station to provide a very low current over an extended period, and in that case the parasitic loads become the predominant determinant of how long the power station will run between charges.
But this is something I've never seen addressed in reviews.
How many people when they're sizing a power station take its own parasitic loads into consideration?
Can we start asking reviewers to address this in their reviews?