# 6 Volt Batteries



## justinsnow0 (Feb 5, 2007)

This may have been asked and may be a silly question but.... If I use a 12 volt inverter with a 6 volt battery is that going to mess things up? or is there no difference.

I am looking to use a 400 Watt inverter to power my TV, satallite and my CPAP machine. I know my TV and satallite draw about 80 Watts or about 1 amp. My CPAP draws about 80 Watts or about .8 amps or so. I am thinking a few hours of TV followed by 8 hours of sleep with the CPAP. Plus the water pump for washing hands, flushing toilet etc... and a light or two (I changed out lights to 7 watt bulbs) This is only for traveling between locations where we would stop at a rest area or a flying J or something for the night.

I like the 400 Watt Husky because it's a good name and has a cigerette adapter so I can plug it in by the TV rather than hooking up to the battery directly. I know this limits my power draw to about 100 Watts or so but that should be okay with these numbers..... I think......


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## webeopelas (Mar 11, 2006)

I am assuming you must have two 6 volts wired up to make 12 volts, if that is the case you should be fine. 12 volts is 12 volts. If you are running just one 6 volt battery (can't see how you could be) then I don't believe it will work.


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## Insomniak (Jul 7, 2006)

The number of amps you're talking about is AC, not DC amps that you'll be pulling from the batteries. If you're using 100 watts of AC power, you'll be pulling roughly 10 amps from the batteries. With the television, satellite, CPAP, etc, you will be closer to 20 amps. Several hours of that will add up pretty quick, but with two 6 volt batteries you should have somewhere around 220 amp-hours of capacity. Try not to go too much below 50% on the batteries, or 110 amp-hours and they'll last much longer.


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## bentpixel (Sep 2, 2006)

I have the Husky 400 watt inverter. It trips off below somewhere between 11 and 10.5vdc. So a 6v battery will not turn it on.

If I'm not on shore power I run my CPAP from a 12vdc AGM 32ah battery directly. So far I've gotten two consecutive night sleep on a full charge. 
I figure about 6amps per night usage. I bought the battery before I saw the CPAP factory recommendation of a 100ah battery. 
That should be good for a week.









The inverter steals almost a half amp just to be plugged in, so I don't like to use it much.

BTW, gel cells and AGM batteries can be use indoors. Wet cells are not recommended indoors.

Sleep Well,
Scott


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## raynardo (Jun 8, 2007)

mons02035 said:


> I am looking to use a 400 Watt inverter to power my TV, satallite and my CPAP machine. I know my TV and satallite draw about 80 Watts or about 1 amp. My CPAP draws about 80 Watts or about .8 amps or so. I am thinking a few hours of TV followed by 8 hours of sleep with the CPAP.


I use a Resmed CPAP machine with its 12v transformer connected to a 12v gas matt battery I keep in the compartment under the bed. I use a $20 trickle charger to keep it charged when I'll on shore power. This allows me to go three days dry camping and still use the CPAP machine. I don't know what brand of CPAP you have, but I'm guessing whatever it is, it has its own 12v transformer. This is much more efficient than a 400w inverter.

Sleep tight!


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