Thor Forums

[Chance]

Originally Posted by Long & Winding road

....cut....


Might have to kick the idle some when the A/C unit first kicks on but since its a big v10 it should not get lug down like a one cylinder Genny would.

But a very intresting soluton.

Im sure it would burn a gallon or two of fuel every hour VS a half a gal. So thats another factor.

Plus like you said is it good to run the v10 for 8 hours standing still at same RPM? What bout the tremendous heat from the Cat? All of the wear and tear on the engine. Must quicker and cheaper to pull out the genny and repair or replace.

These systems aren’t meant to operate like standard generators, so we shouldn’t compare their operation directly line-item by line-item.

Think of it as the engine-driven alternator charges the batteries as needed when engine is running. The battery bank then powers the inverter which can power anything depending on its size. The point is that the engine and alternator don’t have to produce enough power to run anything directly, since the battery bank will make up the difference, like the air conditioners’ start-up surge. The V10 and alternator don’t have to be running at all as long as batteries have enough charge and capacity.

I doubt anyone would want to run the vehicle engine steadily just to power an inverter to then run an air conditioner. A V10 can burn about 0.8 gallons per hour at idle, so could go through ~ 8 or 10 gallons overnight. That’s too wasteful and expensive. On the other hand, if a vehicle engine can charge batteries in 1 to 2 hours enough to run air conditioner all night, then efficiency may be similar or even better than running a generator. That’s where these systems are trying to go.

And as mentioned before and in other threads, idling laws could prohibit idling a V10 all night, which is another problem.