Question about hooking battery cables to distribution panel/AIO

[TMariano]

I understand how to wire everything for both pieces of equipment aside for one thing; do I need to have direct battery connections to panel AND hybrid inverter seperately? Or would you wire the battery through panel and feed to AIO from there?

A bit ashamed to ask as i'm sure this is a total noobie question but I was unable to find clarity on this in the manuals or any videos regarding either piece of equipment. For anyone curious I have both linked below, haven't bought them yet. I'm open to suggestions for better products in similar price ranges as well, no real budget set but trying to save what I can. TIA!

AIO - https://powmr.com/products/all-in-one-inverter-charger-1600watt-220vac-12vdc

Distribution Panel - https://www.amazon.com/Arterra-WF-8...c096ef71533c36b6fb6adc311e146a&language=en_US

 

[Rednecktek]

You're talking about the DC side, right? You'd go Battery -> AIO for that. The AIO just becomes another 12v load on the battery. Your distribution panel isn't going to be able to handle the 150-ish amp load if you max that thing out.

 

[justoneguy]

That AIO is 220vac output.
if you are wanting 110 volts,??
you will need an auto-transformer

 

[Rednecktek]

Yes! 220v is European power, you'll fry anything from North America plugging it into that. An autotransformer or a honking huge step-down transformer is what you're going to need. to get 110v out of that thing. You don't have to use an autotransformer to split it into 110-0-110 split phase if you don't need the 220v for anything (and 1600w isn't that much to work with), so to just step it down you can get a cheaper step-down transformer in the 2Kw range.

Sadly, 110v AIO's that run on 12v pretty much top out at 1Kw.

Good catch Justoneguy!

 

[TMariano]

You're talking about the DC side, right? You'd go Battery -> AIO for that. The AIO just becomes another 12v load on the battery. Your distribution panel isn't going to be able to handle the 150-ish amp load if you max that thing out.

Yes thank you, duly noted!

Sadly, 110v AIO's that run on 12v pretty much top out at 1Kw.

The highest load I plan is 600w 5-cup coffee maker maybe twice a day and an hour or two of ps4/tv on the odd occasion, do you think this AIO would cover me? I was looking for 12v 110vac AIO's without even realizing you had a link for one and found the exact same one you posted

Edit: Not against going the seperate component route but AIO's are still (supposedly) way cheaper/easier to setup and if I can even just run my coffee maker i'll be happy.

That AIO is 220vac output.
if you are wanting 110 volts,??
you will need an auto-transformer

Thank you I did not notice that, will most likely just find a system/components that work with 110vac as my needs are pretty minimal at the moment.

 

[Rednecktek]

The highest load I plan is 600w 5-cup coffee maker maybe twice a day and an hour or two of ps4/tv on the odd occasion, do you think this AIO would cover me? I was looking for 12v 110vac AIO's without even realizing you had a link for one and found the exact same one you posted

It might just do that. Take a look at my Solar Dolly Project and you can see what kind of beating I gave mine. Watts247.com is a VERY well regarded supplier around these parts, I don't think I've ever seen more than a handful of complaints all total ever about Ian. I know a 1Kw inverter will happily run a chest freezer and 12 cup coffee pot at the same time, we did it a couple times a day last Memorial day at the camping trip.

Edit: Not against going the seperate component route but AIO's are still (supposedly) way cheaper/easier to setup and if I can even just run my coffee maker i'll be happy.

They're more of a value the more functions you use but yes, as a general rune by the time you've got the 1Kw PSW inverter, the 60a MPPT controller, and the automatic transfer switch, you're well over what an AIO would cost. The downside being that if you need more inverter power later, you have to replace the whole unit. But that requires going to a different voltage anyways so it's a process. There is a higher standby draw to account for but this unit is so small it's almost negligible in the grand scheme of things.

Thank you I did not notice that, will most likely just find a system/components that work with 110vac as my needs are pretty minimal at the moment.

It's definitely worth a shot!

 

[TMariano]

It might just do that. Take a look at my Solar Dolly Project and you can see what kind of beating I gave mine. Watts247.com is a VERY well regarded supplier around these parts, I don't think I've ever seen more than a handful of complaints all total ever about Ian. I know a 1Kw inverter will happily run a chest freezer and 12 cup coffee pot at the same time, we did it a couple times a day last Memorial day at the camping trip.

Impressive you were able to use a skilsaw with this system! And that is really good to know, think i'ma make my final decision with the AIO you linked.

They're more of a value the more functions you use but yes, as a general rune by the time you've got the 1Kw PSW inverter, the 60a MPPT controller, and the automatic transfer switch, you're well over what an AIO would cost. The downside being that if you need more inverter power later, you have to replace the whole unit. But that requires going to a different voltage anyways so it's a process. There is a higher standby draw to account for but this unit is so small it's almost negligible in the grand scheme of things.

That makes sense. I will be using several other low wattage devices but would like more power/storage eventually, probably gonna upgrade to 24v next spring but i'm between places right now and need this van I bought livable somewhat asap. This will be also my first power system build so figured best keep it cheap n simple as possible lol.

I've watched this a number of times already, Will has been my go to guy for finally wrapping my head around electricity after all these years of skirting around it. Seems like a solid dude!

Your distribution panel isn't going to be able to handle the 150-ish amp load if you max that thing out.

Just for noob clarification, are you suggesting I shouldn't use this panel? Highest load would be the coffee maker (around 51 amps at 12v) but wouldn't ever run it with any other power hungry stuff.

 

[Rednecktek]

Just for noob clarification, are you suggesting I shouldn't use this panel? Highest load would be the coffee maker (around 51 amps at 12v) but wouldn't ever run it with any other power hungry stuff.

Each leg of that panel is only good for about 30a so even pulling 51 across it is asking for smoke. Always account for worst case scenario that the PS is booting up while the TV is on and the coffee maker kicks on with all the lights going and so on. Spec your connections for the running wattage of your inverter.

If you go with the 1Kw AIO you're still looking at 100a fully loaded.

That makes sense. I will be using several other low wattage devices but would like more power/storage eventually, probably gonna upgrade to 24v next spring but i'm between places right now and need this van I bought livable somewhat asap. This will be also my first power system build so figured best keep it cheap n simple as possible lol.

You might want to think about rolling your own battery. Getting 300Ah of battery in the space of a standard lead acid gets you 6x the power capacity. It was WAY easier than I expected when I did my first one, and I just did #5 a couple weeks ago.

 

[TMariano]

Each leg of that panel is only good for about 30a so even pulling 51 across it is asking for smoke. Always account for worst case scenario that the PS is booting up while the TV is on and the coffee maker kicks on with all the lights going and so on. Spec your connections for the running wattage of your inverter.

If you go with the 1Kw AIO you're still looking at 100a fully loaded.

Ok I see... Sounds like the correct option would be to just run the outlets straight from AIO and get a fuse box for 12v stuff then. Studying your dolly setup and will probably follow it pretty closely aside from placement and mostly 12v devices instead of chargers.

You might want to think about rolling your own battery. Getting 300Ah of battery in the space of a standard lead acid gets you 6x the power capacity. It was WAY easier than I expected when I did my first one, and I just did #5 a couple weeks ago.

I already impulse bought (only because it was on sale and was already going to buy it) a 230AH LiFePO4 battery, was going to buy another in a couple months to run as parallel and then as series when I upgrade. I did look into making my own batteries, but didn't trust myself enough in dabbling in battery creation along with everything else i've had to invest time into researching to build my tiny home within a timely matter.

From the videos i've seen it does look terribly easy, just trying to cut out as many possibilities for error as possible for now