The 200Ah LiFePO4 battery will save you a lot of space, unlike lead acid batteries that need regular maintenance. A low-weight and small size make it easy to fit into a variety of locations. Simple installation allows you to hook up your appliance directly, or add the battery to your existing solar installation.
While off-grid you may still want to get news of what is going on in the world or keep up with a favorite show. So how long will a 200Ah battery run a TV?
Power Requirements for a TV
The amount of power used by a TV depends on several factors including size, features, type of display, and age. Modern even with more features require less power compared to the old TV. A modern 32-inch LED tv will need around 30 Watts of power to run.
Watt-hours needed for a TV
To run a TV, you need to consider the amount of time you will be using it and the wattage of the TV. Electrical energy is measured in watt-hours, which is calculated by multiplying the wattage of the device by the number of hours it will be used.
For example, if you have a 30-watt TV and want to use it for 5 hours, you will need 150 Watt-hours (Wh) of energy. If you use the TV for 8 hours you’ll need 240 Watt-hours.
How Many Amps Does a 30-watt TV draw?
A 30-watt TV will need around 0.25 amps to run when using it from the standard 120V outlet. This is the number of amps that it will be drawing from the inverter. Depending on the DC voltage of the inverter you can calculate the number of amps the TV will be drawn through the inverter.
To determine the number of amps drawn by an appliance you need to convert the watts requirements to amps. An amp is a unit of charge that the battery is supplying. To find out the number of amps divide watts by the voltage of the battery bank.
A battery bank is usually between 12 volts (V) and 24V, depending on how it is wired.
30/12 = 2.5 Amps
So how long will a 200Ah battery run a TV?
What does 200 Amp-Hour Mean
Amp-hour rating in batteries gives the charge in amps that can be drawn from a battery over a specific time given in hours.
The amp-Hour rating of a battery can also be calculated by multiplying the rated capacity by its terminal voltage. But this does not represent the real-world performance of batteries.
A Deep Cycle Battery battery is intended to produce the charge for a long period of time like 20 hours. So a 200 Ah battery, should produce at least 10 amps over a 20-hour period.
However, you can go higher or lower depending on the appliance you are using. Deep cycle batteries are recommended to be discharged at 20% of their capacity so for a 200 Ah battery the max discharge per hour would be 40 amps meaning it can last 5 hours.
For AGM batteries, this can be lower as they can only be discharged up to half their capacity meaning it’s only 100Ah of its capacity that is usable. This means it can last only 2.5 hours when discharged at 40 amps and 5 hours at 20 amps and 10 hours at 10 amps.
How many watt-hours is a 200 Ah Battery
You can use the following formula to determine how many watts can be drawn from a battery.
Watts = Volts x Amps
So if your battery is 12v and has a 200 Ah capacity, then you can draw 2400 Watts from it. This is for the full battery cycle. With the 40 amps max draw it means you can get 480 watts max per hour. You can push this to 50 amps or 600 watts per hour with LiFePO4 batteries.
How long will a 200Ah battery run a 30-watt TV?
With 2400 Watt-hours to work with you can run a TV for long periods of time.
2400/30 = 80 hours
This battery is enough to run your TV for up to 80 hours that’s more than 3 days without recharging. But you most likely won’t be running a TV alone. With a 2.5 draw this means you can add other high dependent appliance like a refrigerator along with the TV.
A 200Ah battery is a great off-grid solution and can support other devices.