Inverter power consumption

[pcatterall]

Thanks to helpful steers by forumites my BM1 is now reading discharge as discharge and not charge ( the advice was to ensure that the negative lead was attached the end of the shut away from the battery)........thanks guys!!
The issue I have , now I can measure it, is that when switched on the unit is using 1 Ah even when nothing is running.
The fridge cycles off for 15 and on for 5 minutes, when 'on' the consumption is 4 amps but still an amp for the 'off' period' This indicates a lot of wasted juice. Is this normal?
I guess that I could time the unit to come on for 15 minutes every hour or is there some cunning trick I could use?

 

[PaulRainbow]

Thanks to helpful steers by forumites my BM1 is now reading discharge as discharge and not charge ( the advice was to ensure that the negative lead was attached the end of the shut away from the battery)........thanks guys!!
The issue I have , now I can measure it, is that when switched on the unit is using 1 Ah even when nothing is running.
The fridge cycles off for 15 and on for 5 minutes, when 'on' the consumption is 4 amps but still an amp for the 'off' period' This indicates a lot of wasted juice. Is this normal?
I guess that I could time the unit to come on for 15 minutes every hour or is there some cunning trick I could use?

That's the penalty for using an inverter i'm afraid Peter.

 

[Gumpy]

Is the inverter in low power/search mode?
My Victron is rated at 2watts in search mode, that is about 0.17A at 12.5v so its not worth worrying about.
Fridge does need to be a non electronic one to bring the inverter out of search mode when needed.

 

[Boater Sam]

Any inverter uses some current standing still, how much depends on the inverter.
Normal.

 

[Richard10002]

Is the inverter in low power/search mode?
My Victron is rated at 2watts in search mode, that is about 0.17A at 12.5v so its not worth worrying about.
Fridge does need to be a non electronic one to bring the inverter out of search mode when needed.

I find that low power mode is useless if you want to power low power mains stuff..... there is not enough demand to wake the inverter up.

If my Victron is on, it's on Full Power mode, and uses 0.8A, (which isnt really a big deal). I used to have a Sterling inverter charger, which used 4A!!!

 

[Richard10002]

The issue I have , now I can measure it, is that when switched on the unit is using 1 Ah even when nothing is running.

What make/model is your inverter?

If it's only powering the fridge, it might work OK in low power mode.

 

[Gumpy]

I find that low power mode is useless if you want to power low power mains stuff..... there is not enough demand to wake the inverter up.

If my Victron is on, it's on Full Power mode, and uses 0.8A, (which isnt really a big deal). I used to have a Sterling inverter charger, which used 4A!!!

The only thing that can be a problem for us are the fans in the oven, however we often have the TV on and that holds it on.
If not I just turn search off when we are using the oven, via the app. I don't have any other low power 230v stuff to worry about.
All my chargers etc are on 12v driven USB sockets.
I did play long and hard adjusting the on/off settings for the search mode until I got it just right.