The Sewing Place

Battery operated Bernina?

annieeg

Battery operated Bernina?
« on: June 07, 2022, 11:05:12 AM »
Has anyone heard of running a Bernina off a battery? 
TIA
Annie

So Chic

Re: Battery operated Bernina?
« Reply #1 on: June 07, 2022, 14:37:10 PM »
I seem to remember a programme on TV where some one was using a sewing machine on a narrowboat but I can’t remember if it was electric or not.  I wouldn’t risk using a computerised machine off a battery.
So Chic
Bernina Artista 630, Bernina 800DL, Janome Cover Pro 1000CP and an elderly Singer Touch & Sew 720G as a back up

DrMike

Re: Battery operated Bernina?
« Reply #2 on: June 07, 2022, 16:30:23 PM »
An interesting question!
IMHO, any sewing machine, computerised or not, can be operated on battery power.
In order to avoid modifying the sewing machine an inverter (preferably pure sine wave) that converts the direct-current battery voltage (often 12 V in caravans and RVs) to 230 V alternating current is needed. Here is one example out of many:

https://www.offgridcamper.co.uk/product/12v-300w-pure-sine-wave-inverter/

Non-industrial sewing machines are not very power hungry so an invertwer capable delivering of a couple of hundred Watts is more than enough. When the sewing machine is idle, it is only the lighting and electronics that consumes energy. If you have a machine with incandescent lighting it pays off to purchase a LED replacement lamp, which will lower the power consumption significantly.

Edit: Just for fun I checked the power draw of my Juki DX-7, which is labelled 230V/75W. At idle the power is 22 W and when sewing in six layers of ordinary cotton cloth at full speed, the power rises to 36 W. The label value, 75 W, is probably a value that may be reached when the machine is operated at its capacity limit. This is similar to the power consumption of an ordinary laptop PC.

/Michael
« Last Edit: June 07, 2022, 17:16:06 PM by DrMike »

Kwaaked

Re: Battery operated Bernina?
« Reply #3 on: June 07, 2022, 19:04:00 PM »
I run a featherweight off a generator.  Biggest problem is the fluctuation of the gennie.  Other ways I have done it before is 12 volt with an inverter and solar power battery banks.

I would not use a new machine or a computerized one.  I also would have the wiring double checked to withstand the electric.  My own preference...I use a computer, tablet and cell phone on an inverter/generator system.

But a treadle or hand crank is easy enough to find and easier to use in the situation over all.

DrMike

Re: Battery operated Bernina?
« Reply #4 on: June 07, 2022, 19:40:04 PM »
Powering electronic equipment directly from a generator can be risky since not all of them are properly regulated. Some cheap generators use simple square wave or modified sine-wave inverters and since there is no battery functioning as a "buffer", the inverter has a hard time keeping up with RPM variations of the generator.
A solar-powered battery bank should be fine as long the batteries and solar panels have sufficient capacity.
In my caravan I have a 12 V, 60 Ah battery and a 1000 W inverter to power a computer display, my laptop, a 4G Wifi-router and some other 230 V appliances. I have never experienced any stability problems. If the supply voltage gets too low, the inverter simply shuts off.
« Last Edit: June 07, 2022, 20:17:55 PM by DrMike »

DrMike

Re: Battery operated Bernina?
« Reply #5 on: June 07, 2022, 20:35:47 PM »
This is what you are looking for:
A computerised Bernina B570QEE powered by a pure sine-wave inverter connected to a solar-power battery bank..
Of course it doesn't matter how the battery bank is charged, be it solar power or something else.
/Michael