Is this Possible

OK so first this is not why I brought a batter power pack but as I have one a thought crossed my mind when my wife asked me so can we use that to power the teardrop.

I have just purchased one of those combined battery packs that has the air compressor built in a set of jump leads and a 12v and USB outlet.

So although I can use the 12v to power coolers and other stuff to avoid the drain on the CI battery is it possible to insert a 12v Inverter into the Battery pack and then connect to the CI via the charging point and provide power throughout the teardrop

Now as I said I did not buy this to do this and without having the technological background of some of my learned friends out there I thought I would throw the question out as to whether this was possible or downright suicidal to the CI battery.

 

Yah, it's a tough one.
There's a thread or several on it with designs by Mick & Sarah...

Best at least make contact with CI before you do anything to confirm it's the right thing... get's a little trickie

Apparently battery to battery is not a good thing as it drains and then balances between the two and shortens their life.. so not a good idea, need a battery cut off switch to draw from one or the other. LIke the Solar panels apparently...

Even has a thread on his too.

 

Makes perfect sense in the back of my head I knew there would be a good reason not to do it but if you don't ask you don't learn.

 

e

not to do it...

Well don't let it discourage you on setting up a backup or additional power resource.
I had one set up and after a few costly mistakes finally got what I wanted.. I think anyway. It works but the larger outside battery, 28amp 200hrs (apx 60Lbs) doesn't seem to be performing as I had hoped it would.

Could be I just didn't understand the concept, having it checked tomorrow... but didn't last much longer than a few days when running the DVD, dropped from a 12.5 to a 10.5 halfway though the DVD.. so something is amiss I believe...
Sigh, I dunno... hopefully will have a better idea tomorrow...

 

Re: e

Here's the link that might help...

Believe Mick has the best solution I've seen... although he's changed it...

http://www.campinnforum.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=19484#Post19484

 

Re: e

You mentioned in the linked post older models that don't have a battery on of switch so do the newer models have this we are #431 and I'm not sure if we have this option

 

Re: e

Check with CI but I believe you should see a switch in the right side compartment for the pots & pans... there's a divider for the battery, it should be on there.. and that it's for the Solar panels. if you don't have the solar panel charger then I believe you won't have the switch... ask them...

 

Re: e

I am going to have Mick respond on this. He has built us a couple of battery packs we travel with on longer trips (or if he can't live without his Nespresso coffee in the morning). They came in handy.

We do not have the cut-off from Camp-Inn. I believe they only put those in the campers with the larger battery (maybe that is standard now, but wasn't when we placed our order). Mick installed ours. He is also an electrical engineer, so he is very handy with this sort of thing. He said he will write something up later.

 

Re: e

This is Mick - I do not recommend using an inverter from a battery source plugged into the CI. I say this for a number of reasons, first is that it's a fast way to drain the battery source. You are going from 12v to 110v at a loss, as inverters are not very efficient and then the CI built in charger will take it from 110v back to 12v for charging, also with an efficiency loss. Second is that many inverters are what is called modified sine wave which is a nice way of saying square wave and many electronic devices, including chargers, are not happy with a square wave input. Just don't do it is my advice.

Use the inverter to power the devices directly but don't plug it into the CI.

The idea of using one of those jump start boxes is a good one. Just be careful as a jump box is designed to be able to jump start a car which requires high cranking amps (CA). A battery designed for high CA is not a deep cycle battery. I would also bet that the jump start box has a battery with a very low amp hour (AH) rating. For us it's all about AH as that defines how long a battery will last with a constant draw.

You can connect a 12v source to a 12v source but as Frank mentions both batteries will level. One will be pulled up and one down.

I should have asked this from the start, what is your objective? What problem are you trying to solve?

 

Re: e

Mick thanks for the info I had not considered that it was not a deep cycle battery.

To answer the last part of your reply I am not trying to solve a problem just investigating if there is a second use for a piece of kit that we purchased to take in the TV when we travel for emergency purposes

which really answered mu own question why would you drink your emergency water supply when you have a cooler full of drinks and would then not have the emergency supply when you need it.

 

Re: e

Most of the jump starts are in the 7-10amp/hr rating. Did that investigation a long time ago to power some lights in my art show booth. Investigation lasted about 30 seconds. Would expect that they would give you one or two shots at starting the car at best based on the size of the internal battery.

Deep cycle marine batteries are relatively inexpensive. Costco/Walmart/Sam's Club.

 

Re: e

If you had a true sine wave inverter of large enough size could you use your car battery with the engine running to plug in the Camp inn and power the 110 outlets? Like in an emergency? A sudden blizzard at a rest stop? I mean I get that it's not ideal but I just want to know what is possible.