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disastersimon asked

Running a laserjet printer through an inverter/battery system

Hi. I'm new to this site. I work for an organisation that operates in off grid sites throughout the world. We are trying to reduce our carbon footprint/reliance on generators.

I am looking at using battery/inverter systems, either powered through intermittent mains electricity or PV solar. However, past experience tells me I will face difficulties with the use of laser jet printers, fridges, freezers, etc.

These appliances have peak current draw a lot higher than their rated continuous load. I was once told that batteries do not react well to these kind of loads. My questions is whether this is because the peak loads exceed the capacity of the battery/inverter system or do batteries just prefer regular stable loads? Or do I just have to ensure that my batteries/inverter have sufficient capacity to deal with the peak loads? Thanks in advance. Simon

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1 Answer
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Kevin Windrem answered ·

Lots of people are running motors and other loads that have startup peaks successfully on Victron systems. The inverters have peak ratings that should give your devices sufficient time to start up. However you need enough battery capacity to handle the peak current during device startups. This is usually a matter of sizing your battery bank properly for peak current as well as energy (run time).

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