Battery Selection - Tripp Lite APS Series Owner's Manual

Battery Selection

Select Battery Type
Select "Deep Cycle" batteries to receive optimum performance from your Inverter/Charger. Do not use ordinary car or starting batteries or
batteries rated in Cold Cranking Amps (CCA). If the batteries you connect to the Inverter/Charger are not true Deep Cycle batteries, their
operational lifetimes may be significantly shortened. If you are using the same battery bank to power the Inverter/Charger as well as DC
loads, your battery bank will need to be appropriately sized (larger loads will require a battery bank with a larger amp-hour capacity) or the
operational lifetimes of the batteries may be significantly shortened.
Batteries of either Wet-Cell (vented) or Gel-Cell /Absorbed Glass Mat (sealed) construction are ideal. 6-volt "golf cart", Marine Deep-Cycle
or 8D Deep-Cycle batteries are also acceptable. You must set the Inverter/Charger's Battery Type DIP Switch (see Configuration section for
more information) to match the type of batteries you connect or your batteries may be degraded or damaged over an extended period of
time. In many cases, the vehicle battery may be the only one installed. Auxiliary batteries must be identical to the vehicle batteries if they
are connected to each other.
Match Battery Amp-Hour Capacity to Your Application
Select a battery or system of batteries that will provide your Inverter/Charger with proper DC voltage and an adequate amp-hour capacity to
power your application. Even though Tripp Lite Inverter/Chargers are highly efficient at DC-to-AC inversion, their rated output capacities are
limited by the total amp-hour capacity of connected batteries plus the output of an alternator when one is used.
• STEP 1) Determine Total Wattage Required
Add the wattage ratings of all equipment you will connect to your
Inverter/Charger. Wattage ratings are usually listed in equipment
manuals or on nameplates. If your equipment is rated in amps,
multiply that number times AC utility voltage to estimate watts.
(Example: a drill requires 2.8 amps. 2.8 amps × 230 volts =
640 watts.)
Note: Your Inverter/Charger will operate at higher efficiencies at about
75% - 80% of nameplate rating.
• STEP 2) Determine DC Battery Amps Required
Divide the total wattage required (from step 1, above) by the
battery voltage to determine the DC amps required.
• STEP 3) Estimate Battery Amp-Hours Required
Multiply the DC amps required (from step 2, above) by the
number of hours you estimate you will operate your equipment
exclusively from battery power before you have to recharge your
batteries with utility- or generator-supplied AC power. Compensate
for inefficiency by multiplying this number by 1.2. This will give
you a rough estimate of how many amp-hours of battery power
(from one or several batteries) you should connect to your
Inverter/Charger.
Note: Battery amp-hour ratings are usually given for a 20-hour discharge
rate. Actual amp-hour capacities are less when batteries are discharged
at faster rates. For example, batteries discharged in 55 minutes provide
only 50% of their listed amp-hour ratings, while batteries discharged in 9
minutes provide as little as 30% of their amp-hour ratings.
• STEP 4) Estimate Battery Recharge Required, Given Your
Application
You must allow your batteries to recharge long enough to replace
the charge lost during inverter operation or else you will eventually
run down your batteries. To estimate the minimum amount of
time you need to recharge your batteries given your application,
divide your required battery amp-hours (from step 3, above) by
your Inverter/Charger's rated charging amps and DIP Switch B4
setting .
½" (13 mm) Drill Circular Saw
640W + 800W
Appliances and Electronics
Refrigerator Table Fan
540W + 150W
1440 watts ÷ 12V =
120 DC Amps × 5 Hrs. Runtime
× 1.2 Inefficiency Rating =
600 Amp-Hours ÷ 60 Amps
Inverter/Charger Rating =
8
Example
Tools
Desktop
Signal Computer
Relay with Large
Tower LCD Monitor
+ 500W + 250W
120 DC Amps
600 Amp-Hours
10 Hours Recharge
= 1440W
= 1440W