Inverters - mounting and cooling

Hi Truckster, I've got my 800 watt inverter mounted in the false floor compartment behind the rear right wheel arch of my troopy. I've left about an inch clearance space around the top & sides, otherwise it's fully enclosed with the outlet panel showing. It's been in the vehicle for 10 years now & I've used pistol drills, grinders,impact wrenches etc & there's been no signs of overheating.
By the way David & Michelle should be back from their Tassie trip at the end of the month. I hope to pick their brains before I head off in that direction. Cheers.

Hi Truckster,

Most perminantly mounted inverters that I have seen are fitted to the cargo barrier. Plenty of ventilation there. Personally I have not mounted mine, but prefer to carry it in a plastic toolbox with an angle grinder mainly for tyre repairs so that I can use it away from the vehicle with a mobile battery pack. Also you don't need a pure sine wave job unless you want to run something with speakers such as a 240 volt radio or TV.
If your only using it for power tools and charging your appliance batterys and laptop, a square wave will do the job and you'll get a higher wattage one for the money.
Hope it helps

Chaz

Truckster,

I had mine mounted on the cargo barrier in the 80 series and now in the Troopie. It is near a sliding window so that it easy to get to if power is required outside the vehicle.

I charge battries while I am driving which means that the inverter has to run for a couple of hours and for that reason I put it up high to help with the cooling.

A couple of heavy cables, I am using the cable from the Piranha dual battery isolater, and that supplies the power from the second battery.

Wayne