solar wash.flv

Washing clothes on sunshine. Ready for hurricane season.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Avanti
• W797SS
• run
• from
• Sunforce
• Pro
• 1000
• true
• sine
• inverter
• offgrid

[kimirv2005]

Whats with all the cords? Nice looking machine though.

[dnix711]

@kimirv2005 I bought the machine to be able to wash clothes after losing power from a hurricane. We went 3 weeks without electric after hurricane Wilma. The other regular washer in the building takes too much power to run even from a small generator. The cords and inverter were the proof that the setup worked. The Kill-A-Watt meter was used to see just how much power was being used during various cycles.

[LilmasCheerPSP]

how much clothes can it hold at a time ?

[dnix711]

@LilmasCheerPSP Sorry for the delay answering. I hadn't checked my GMail account in a while. The machine washes three jeans and two shirts plus a few socks or wash rags, or a couple of bed sheets and a towel.

Maybe 4/5's as much as a normal "full sized" washer. It makes a fair amount of noise on the spin cycle, too. My new neighbor asked what the noise was, so I know now not to run it at night when she may be sleeping. It tangles up clothes agitating, but hasn't damaged anything yet doing it.

[essaysoftware]

Hope I didn't sound too down. It sounds good. I read they use a stepper to drive it. Pretty cool. Can't wait to get free washers to hack !

[dnix711]

@essaysoftware It definitely has a stepper motor. When it spins up it pulses until it hits the right speed and then it coasts and pulses. After a while it goes full power and then spins down. I'm actually glad I bought mostly hybrid start/deep cycle batteries because the washer pulls in short hard pulses. True deep cycle batteries (golf cart) wouldn't like that. Fisher and Paykel in Australia has been using this motor design for years.

[clowninwitdacamera]

Sounds like something is wrong with the washer.

[Chris242tt]

@dnix711 I have the w789sa model with the agitator! I will get the matching portable dryer soon! nice machine!!!!!!!!!!!

[dnix711]

@essaysoftware

It doesn't look as sturdy as I would have liked, but it cleans almost as large a load as the full sized Whirlpool it replaced and uses 1/2 the power. I couldn't get the Roper to run from a 1KW generator I have. Because the Avanti has a built-in lint filter it gets my clothes cleaner, too.

I didn't have power for three 1/2 weeks after hurricane Wilma. I have enough solar and batteries now to go off grid. My fridge is an Engel MT45 and I have 12v cfl's and a 12v portable fan.

[essaysoftware]

Your washer will die just out of warranty.