So last night I upgraded my inverter, a change I had to make due to my refrigerator change. So let me back up a bit. I had a dorm size mini fridge I had bought off Craigslist. The fridge worked fine when I used it in the van, but the compressor never stopped running. It was just really old. So I replaced it with a newer more efficient refrigerator. I choose the BLACK+DECKER BCRK25V Compact Refrigerator Energy Star Single Door Mini Fridge with Freezer, 2.5 Cubic Ft., VCM – https://amzn.to/2syL6pH. It is running great, but I ran into one problem when I got it. My inverter was under powered to run it. I ordered a new inverter, the Cobra CPI 880 800 Watt 12 Volt DC to 120 Volt AC Power Inverter with 5 Volt USB output – https://amzn.to/2xLws3d. I got a deal on a refurbished one. I last night I had a chance to switch out the inverter, I plugged the fridge in and it ran great. So I shut it down and planned to do some testing today. My house battery bank was at 13.1 volts when I parked here at work this morning. Just took a walk out to van over lunch, the house batteries are now at 13.7 and the fridge is ice cold. Everything is running on the solar panels and a surplus of energy is being produced.
Next round of testing will be to see how long the inverter and fridge and run with now power being supplied by the solar panels.
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