What Capacity Of Battery Do I Need For My RV?

May 5, 2023Justlithiumbattery0 comments

Introduction:

I believe many consumers may have such a question: I need to buy a lithium battery for my RV, but there are so many types of batteries on the market; how should I choose? Common questions include the following:

Should I buy a lead-acid battery or a lithium-ion battery?
What is the difference between these two types of batteries? The price gap is so big.
The parameters of the battery are too professional, It’s hard for me to understand it well.
Should I choose a 12V 24V or 48V lithium battery?

If you have the questions above, here is the right place to come. The meaning of this article is to lead you to sort out what we know about choosing the right battery. If you read this article carefully, you should have your answers to the above questions. Let’s dive into the questions now!

Firstly, how do I know what capacity battery I need for my RV?

Before figuring out this concept, let’s first understand the concept of W. Here, W generally refers to watt, an electrical unit. In physics, watts are the product of voltage and current. That is Volts * amps = watts. Keep this concept in mind, we will use it again in a moment, we need to remember for now that watts are used to describe power. For example, your refrigerator, TV, air conditioner, and washing machine all have different powers, which we express in watts.

What is the relationship between W and kWh? What’s the difference between them?

Here is a concept that is very confusing to everyone, and that is power. We generally express it in kWh. kWh is also an electrical unit. In physics, volts * Amps * hours = kWh. Half of us use kWh to represent the electricity you need.

Do you see the difference between Watt and kWh now? If you’re still a bit confused, let me give you an example:

Household small refrigerators are 70-90 watts, medium models are 90-110 watts, and freezers are generally 100-135 watts. Assuming that the refrigerator works at this power 24 hours a day (actually not; the power will change at any time, the actual power usage should be a curve, not a straight line, but for the sake of understanding, we now assume that the power remains unchanged), with Take the first type of small refrigerator as an example. If the power of the small refrigerator is 90w, we can calculate that it needs 90w*1h=90wh of electricity per hour. Then 24h needs 90wh*24=2160watt hours=2160wh. There is a unit conversion problem here. 1000w is equal to 1kw, so 1,000wh=1kwh. So if a 90w refrigerator works at constant power for a day, it will cost 90w*24h=2160wh=2.16kwh.

Seeing this, you must be clear about the relationship between w and kWh.

What should we prepare before choosing the right battery?

First of all, observe how much electrical equipment does your RV have? What is their power? You can usually check your RV’s manual for this.
Make an Excel form, list 1, 2, and 3 clearly, and write down all the electrical equipment and their respective power.
Then, write down the approximate working time of all equipment every day.
Multiply the respective power by the respective use time. You can know how much electricity (kWh) each device needs daily.
Add them up, and this is how much power you need to power your RV!

Let’s take an example and see how to calculate how much battery capacity and output power we need to buy.

This is simple. As we mentioned above, we can multiply the voltage by the capacity to get the power. We can also do the multiplication directly to see how much power the battery has.

It is worth noting that in addition to power, we also pay attention to power. Because lithium batteries all have BMS, the power that can be loaded is limited.

For example, 12V 100Ah lithium-ion battery, if the BMS is 100A, then its effective power is 12V * 100A = 1200w, which is 1.2kw. If the power we need is less than 1.2kw, then it can be used, otherwise, we need to choose a higher Voltage, such as 24V or 48V, or a higher current.

Due to limited space, we will stop here today, and then we will publish more tips on lithium battery selection in the follow-up Blog. Please stay tuned to JustlithiumBattery©, stay tuned!

Author Profile

Thomas Chen

Thomas Chen is a seasoned expert in the new energy industry, with a focus on lithium battery technology. A Shenzhen University alumnus, class of 2010, Thomas has cultivated a wealth of experience through pivotal roles at EVE and BYD. Renowned for his profound insights into the sector, he possesses a unique aptitude for identifying market trends and understanding customer needs. His articles offer a distinctive perspective, drawn from a rich background in the field.

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Introduction:

I believe many consumers may have such a question: I need to buy a lithium battery for my RV, but there are so many types of batteries on the market; how should I choose? Common questions include the following:

Should I buy a lead-acid battery or a lithium-ion battery?
What is the difference between these two types of batteries? The price gap is so big.
The parameters of the battery are too professional, It’s hard for me to understand it well.
Should I choose a 12V 24V or 48V lithium battery?

If you have the questions above, here is the right place to come. The meaning of this article is to lead you to sort out what we know about choosing the right battery. If you read this article carefully, you should have your answers to the above questions. Let’s dive into the questions now!

Firstly, how do I know what capacity battery I need for my RV?

Before figuring out this concept, let’s first understand the concept of W. Here, W generally refers to watt, an electrical unit. In physics, watts are the product of voltage and current. That is Volts * amps = watts. Keep this concept in mind, we will use it again in a moment, we need to remember for now that watts are used to describe power. For example, your refrigerator, TV, air conditioner, and washing machine all have different powers, which we express in watts.

What is the relationship between W and kWh? What’s the difference between them?

Here is a concept that is very confusing to everyone, and that is power. We generally express it in kWh. kWh is also an electrical unit. In physics, volts * Amps * hours = kWh. Half of us use kWh to represent the electricity you need.

Do you see the difference between Watt and kWh now? If you’re still a bit confused, let me give you an example:

Household small refrigerators are 70-90 watts, medium models are 90-110 watts, and freezers are generally 100-135 watts. Assuming that the refrigerator works at this power 24 hours a day (actually not; the power will change at any time, the actual power usage should be a curve, not a straight line, but for the sake of understanding, we now assume that the power remains unchanged), with Take the first type of small refrigerator as an example. If the power of the small refrigerator is 90w, we can calculate that it needs 90w*1h=90wh of electricity per hour. Then 24h needs 90wh*24=2160watt hours=2160wh. There is a unit conversion problem here. 1000w is equal to 1kw, so 1,000wh=1kwh. So if a 90w refrigerator works at constant power for a day, it will cost 90w*24h=2160wh=2.16kwh.

Seeing this, you must be clear about the relationship between w and kWh.

What should we prepare before choosing the right battery?

First of all, observe how much electrical equipment does your RV have? What is their power? You can usually check your RV’s manual for this.
Make an Excel form, list 1, 2, and 3 clearly, and write down all the electrical equipment and their respective power.
Then, write down the approximate working time of all equipment every day.
Multiply the respective power by the respective use time. You can know how much electricity (kWh) each device needs daily.
Add them up, and this is how much power you need to power your RV!

Let’s take an example and see how to calculate how much battery capacity and output power we need to buy.

This is simple. As we mentioned above, we can multiply the voltage by the capacity to get the power. We can also do the multiplication directly to see how much power the battery has.

It is worth noting that in addition to power, we also pay attention to power. Because lithium batteries all have BMS, the power that can be loaded is limited.

For example, 12V 100Ah lithium-ion battery, if the BMS is 100A, then its effective power is 12V * 100A = 1200w, which is 1.2kw. If the power we need is less than 1.2kw, then it can be used, otherwise, we need to choose a higher Voltage, such as 24V or 48V, or a higher current.

Due to limited space, we will stop here today, and then we will publish more tips on lithium battery selection in the follow-up Blog. Please stay tuned to JustlithiumBattery©, stay tuned!