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Travel Power


jddevel

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Now a silly question from a totally ignorant one. I`ve a Beta 38 and this model unfortunately cannot have a Travelpower fitted as confirmed by Beta.. It has a starter and domestic alternator obviously and I was curious to know whether it was possible to wire their outputs together by some ingenious method when starter battery was full that their combimed outputs would help run certain "equipment". This question is prompted by the current topic on washing machines. Now I`m in for some "stick":rolleyes:

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It’s not a silly question! The answer is yes, although of course the starter battery alternator isn’t very big so the benefits wouldn’t be huge. Probably the easiest way to do this would be to fit an isolator switch between the starter battery +ve and the domestic battery +ve. However that does introduce the possibility of human error - leaving the batteries connected and then finding you have discharged both and can no longer start the engine!

Disadvantage would be that if you allowed the starter battery to be a bit discharged during the process, it would mess up any shunt-based battery monitor.

But do you really need to do that? Our Zanussi compact washing machine only uses about 1600w on heat cycle. If you really need a full sized washing machine can you get one that has a 2kw heater? A Beta 175A domestic alternator can just about manage 2kw. Also, if you set your inverter voltage to 220v this can reduce the power consumption of heating elements a bit, compared to 230v (power proportional to voltage squared).

Fill with hot water and you reduce the power required for the heater potentially to zero, so possibly a better value mod is to fit a thermostatic mixer to the washer inlet.

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1 minute ago, peterboat said:

Just one thought my old washer wouldnt work on anything but 230volt on the inverter settings!!! crap Vetus inverter and not a great washer maybe?

Modern washing machine + inverter = lottery 

Best always to ask around for combinations that are known to work from folk that have that combination. 

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2 minutes ago, peterboat said:

Just one thought my old washer wouldnt work on anything but 230volt on the inverter settings!!! crap Vetus inverter and not a great washer maybe?

Many years ago UK devices were 240v but with EU harmonisation came 230v standard. Our Travelpower puts out 220v (not adjustable) so I decided to match our inverter output at 220v and this helps to reduce the load of putting the 2kw kettle on. Modern washing machines are more likely to object to waveform than absolute voltage.

3 minutes ago, WotEver said:

Modern washing machine + inverter = lottery 

Best always to ask around for combinations that are known to work from folk that have that combination. 

Our washing machine doesn’t like starting on the Travelpower, so we start it on the inverter and then switch to travelpower once it’s filling.

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49 minutes ago, nicknorman said:

Our washing machine doesn’t like starting on the Travelpower, so we start it on the inverter and then switch to travelpower once it’s filling.

Yeah, they’re fussy old things. 

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8 minutes ago, WotEver said:

Yeah, they’re fussy old things. 

Ok so we need to keep a list of things that work for everybody so how do we do that. I will start in that a TP works our LG washing machine without fault every time.

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3 hours ago, mrsmelly said:

Ok so we need to keep a list of things that work for everybody so how do we do that. I will start in that a TP works our LG washing machine without fault every time.

But then of course one can have different flavours of TP!

i think most of the time, a “fussy” appliance can be fooled into working with a sub-optimal waveform by adding a resistive load such a 60w lightbulb.

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We have an old washer/dryer which runs quite happily from our Sterling  3kW inverter (the big yellow one) provided the engine is running. We inherited the set up from the previous owner, who did away with the travel power installation as it destroyed the fanbelt pulleys. Engine was a Beta 50 with a Sterling charge controller and a 440 amp hour battery bank. Although I have subsequently changed the engine and upgraded the battery bank, the same charge controller and inverter have now been operating the washer dryer for over twenty years. Obviously our set up is doing what you are hoping, which is to share the combined output of the two alternators across both battery banks, but if your question is theoretical rather than based on the fact your washer won't work off your inverter,  I'd try it first before rejigging all your charging set up. I don't know what the power requirement is of our washer dryer, but I bet it's a lot more than a modern machine's.

Sterling do various split charge devices if you want to pursue the idea of paralleling the alternators. I have found their tech department very helpful - 01905 771771 over the years. And no, I don't have any connection with them - just a satisfied customer.

 

 

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On 21/01/2018 at 10:28, jddevel said:

Now a silly question from a totally ignorant one. I`ve a Beta 38 and this model unfortunately cannot have a Travelpower fitted as confirmed by Beta.. It has a starter and domestic alternator obviously and I was curious to know whether it was possible to wire their outputs together by some ingenious method when starter battery was full that their combimed outputs would help run certain "equipment". This question is prompted by the current topic on washing machines. Now I`m in for some "stick":rolleyes:

Something like a Sterling alternator to battery charger is a quick (but not cheap) way of achieving that.  I've a canaline 38 which doen'st have the biggest 2nd alternator (90a) so getting something from the 50a primary alternator is useful.  The other big benefit is a decent charging profile that a cheap alternator regulator probably won't provide - the sterling unit can be set to do an absorbtion charge at 14.7v before eventually dropping to a float charge. 

Sterling website

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