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power inverters

Submitted: Monday, Jun 10, 2002 at 00:00

swogger

hello
I have been looking at purchasing a power inverter for a while now and i would like to hear from anyone who has or is still using one. The 1000watt range is where im leaning towards. I am not a serious camper and i will mainly use on overnight or weekend fishing trips. I have dual batteries on 93 patrol. Heading over to esperance in a couple of months and any help would be greatly appreciated. thanks
ThreadID: 1284 Replies: 6
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AnswerID: 4122   Submitted: Monday, Jun 10, 2002 at 00:00

P.G. (Tas) replied:

G'day. You are going to need some serious battery power if you want to run a 1,000watt inverter. Some quick calculations tell me you are going to draw upto about 85 amp/hours. Thats less than 1 hours use with a fully charged N70 size (75a/h) deep cycle battery! If you get a bigger battery you will have to strengthen the front springs, because they aren't light items! I have a 400watt unit and find that does most of what I need and gives the second battery a reasonable life between charges. I use the inverter to charge the mobile phone, video battery, power the laptop, recharge the battery drill and so on. It might pay to add up your actual reqirements (240V/amps=watts) and be brutal about what you really need and what you really need running at the same time! Remember 60watts @ 240v=0.25amp/hours, at 12volt this same 60watt load = 5amp/hours! Hope this helps. Cheers!
Reply 1 of 6
FollowupID: 1781   Submitted: Wednesday, Jun 12, 2002 at 00:00

Fred posted:

PG I think you should have been brutal about what you neede too!!! Mobile phone, video, laptop can all be done from a 12v socket! I really would advise anyone even considering an inverter to check out all the 12v possibilties first. All that you mentioned PG plus excellent fluoro lighting plus refrigeration can be done with 12v and/or gas. Your calcs are spot on and they really add up to one thing ... don't even think about it!!
FollowUp 1 of 1
AnswerID: 4126   Submitted: Tuesday, Jun 11, 2002 at 00:00

Bob replied:

Swogger

I use a 300w model from Dick Smith for the same things that PG does. No problems at all until it was pinched from the vehicle recently. If you need more power than that you really should be looking at alternative ways of powering your gear (12 volt direct or gas) or getting lower power appliances.
Reply 2 of 6
AnswerID: 4133   Submitted: Tuesday, Jun 11, 2002 at 00:00

Ross replied:

Swogger, one issue is that the cheaper inverters will output a "modified" sine wave, usually square wave rather than a smooth sine wave that you get out of the mains. Some appliances dont like this, and depending on what you are running you may need to pay more for a pure sine wave inverter. I was looking at buying a Piccollo 400 watt unit for about $450, but may end up with a cheaper Dick Sm alternative if I can convince myself it will do the job. Main thing I am worried about is a laptop computer. Maybe someone can comment on appliances that have trouble with some inverters?? Regards Ross
Reply 3 of 6
FollowupID: 1776   Submitted: Wednesday, Jun 12, 2002 at 00:00

Paul posted:

If you want to power a laptop and want the cheap alternative do as i did and by a $54 60 watt inverter from Jaycar or somewhere and only use it to recharge the battery via the 240v battery charger for the laptop, then only run the laptop off the battery.

The 60watt also happily runs my cd/radio/tape player. I run the fridge straight off another battery.
FollowUp 1 of 2
FollowupID: 1778   Submitted: Wednesday, Jun 12, 2002 at 00:00

Ross posted:

Thanks Paul. I'll look into this, as apart from the laptop, the only other thing we need the power for is to run a battery recharger or two. I may need a new battery for the laptop, as it runs out in an hour or two (although this may be normal).. Ross
FollowUp 2 of 2
AnswerID: 4153   Submitted: Wednesday, Jun 12, 2002 at 00:00

Mark replied:

A good explanation of Pure Sine wave vs Modified sine wave can be found at http://www.reidtechnology.co.nz/sinewave.html
Reply 4 of 6
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AnswerID: 4179   Submitted: Friday, Jun 14, 2002 at 00:00

Michael replied:

Another thing to be aware of is possible radio interference. I bought a cheap inverter (150 watts max) from Radio Parts, to run a 240V radio/casette/CD unit, and found out that it generates unacceptable RF interference (possibly due to the modified sine wave?). It's fine for playing a tape or a CD, but if I want to listen to the radio I have to run the unit from its own batteries. Don't know how far the interference carries - whether confined to unit attached to inverter, or if it radiates, in which case it could be annoying to others camped nearby. Also don't know if the interference would affect laptops etc.
Reply 5 of 6
AnswerID: 4448   Submitted: Wednesday, Jun 26, 2002 at 00:00

ggg replied:

for a weekend i could not understand why you would need that many watts you can run a house hold fridge and freezer on that many watts i would do a recount on your electricals you are taking 1000 watts = 4.15 amps at 240 volt and 1000 watts = 83 amps an hr at 12volt so even with 200 amp hr deep cycle battery you would only 2 and a half hrs use id look at a 4 stroke generator get them cheap in trading post
Reply 6 of 6