i’m living in Germany and after the 3 day power outage in Berlin. I’d like to prepare a little emergency setup to keep my fridge running and only the fridge.
I’ve got a Victron Superpack 12,8/200 from my RV, which i’d like to re purpose in such an event.
My Fridge is a Bosch KGN39VICT/03 from 2022 according to the label it uses 1,5A at 220-240 V and 120 W.
I also measured the consumption and after a duration of 80 days i got the following data:
741 Wh per Day
Minimum Wattage: 0.1 W
Maximum Wattage: 187,4 W
I’ve read that the inrush usage of a fridge can be a lot and that the inverter should have 3 times the capacity.
Also to minimise loses the inverter should be as small as possible.
Currently I’m considering a Victron Inverter VE.Direct 12/375 since its peak power is above 187 * 3 and the continuous power has a a lot of headroom to the 187 maximum wattage.
Do you think its the right choice or should i consider a different option?
I’ll also get a Shunt, some fuses etc.
Thank you very much.
800VA on my single door maxxes it out (overload max) for a split second on start up. But yes it does it. It uses 80-100watts continuously. Extended it’s run time with a 75/15 mppt and a 450watt panel. When its hot it uses 2-2.5 kw a day.
800VA will definitely shutdown at that load.
@LundiMcEnergy i want to chat about the above statement. I re read it. for some when i originally read it, i read 1,874watts…. I guess the comma use? Is that is 187.4w? If it is 187w then it should be fine and DirkW has made an excellent point if it is this type then it will be fine.
Thank you @water_rat and @lxonline.
Based on your answers using a 12/1200 should work reliably for this specific application or at least be worth a try.
Since the battery is rated for 100A Peak for 10s it should provide the inverter long enough to deliver the needed start up power and for the continuous consumption the 70A rating should be good enough.
Do you have a good link to understand the difference between VA and W ?
Also my power meter shows a Power Factor of 0.57. Does that help in choosing a fitting inverter?
The difference between Watts and VA is an interesting one to wrestle with.
The copy paste definition is…
Watts (W) measure “real power,” which is the actual power consumed by devices, while volt-amperes (VA) represent “apparent power,” which includes both real power and reactive power in an electrical circuit.
By real power, they mean what is actually doing the work.
And apparent power is all the power working and knocking around in the circuit not working (which when inverting is defined as VA all of this power has to be supplied).
The difference between the 2 is defined mostly as power factor.
So if you have a 0.57 pf. The load will show as 57W on the AC reading, but the system needs to be supplying 100VA (this is what you will see from your battery as DC doesn’t have PF.)
Its a little more complicated than that, as an inverter system also has a self consumption figure based on load to cater for. But you don’t need to be a full electrical engineer to add a percentage on for ease of mind as a consumer. Or look at datsheets to add a few watts for every component in the system.
It depends on whether it uses modern inverter technology (speed-controlled compressor) or old technology with PTC start.
Our 10-year-old LG fridge-freezer combination with a total capacity of 600L (inverter technology) starts up without any problems with a VE.direkt 250VA inverter.
