Power from Pure Sine Wave Inverters

rayJen, nope, an invertor converts 12 or 24 volts DC into 240 volts AC, it does not store power, it just converts it. Have a look at the links under your question, they will give you more information.

hey rayjen, look at it like this, any power you use in from the battery your 4by is like using the money in your wallet, plug in the Waeco and you start using money from your wallet, run out of money (i.e. run your battery flat) and you have to go back to work and get some more. An inverter will use the same money that you have in your wallet, but its clever and it changes the money so you can use it in the US or another country (in the inverters case it changes it to 240v like in your house) but to get that US money you have to use some of your own money from your wallet to change over.

So if you have used all your money running the Waeco then you try and use your inverter, you dont have any money left to convert, you gotta go get some more.

Now money doesnt grow on trees but you can top up your battery from the engine of your 4by or from the sun via a solar panel and when yiu have enough back in your wallet away goes your waeco again..

The funny thing about energy is that it cannot be created from nothing, only transformed, so you run your 4by off petrol which you put in the tank, the engine changed the petrol energy into electrical; energy which your battery stores, the solar call turns the suns energy into electrical but you always have to use some form of energy to make another, the nifty thing with the sun or the wind is that that energy is free. UNlike petrol. oh ...money isnt free either

Hi RayJen,

Your Waeco fridge will more than likely have a lead to run it straight off of 12V supply (if it is somewhat new, it will run from either 12/24/240).....don't worry about buying an inverter if that is all you want it for, especially an relatively expensive PSW type.

Andrew

Hi Rayjen. As explained above, an inverter is not used for the fridge.

Most people carry an inverter to run other items - like a laptop computer (needed to store photos from the digital camera, or run mapping software); or a small mixmaster. The inverter _Affordable_Storage_Drawers.aspx power from your camper battery and converts it into 240V immediately (does not store it), so you can run devices that need 240V.

It would be interesting to have forumites post a list of things they power with their inverter. It would make interesting reading.
regards.................Keith

Thanks everyone for such helpful explanations for us new 4wd-ers. Great forum and great to get interested people helping each other.

As it says, it only converts the DC power from a battery to the AC (mains) power and the conversion is always with a loss (typical 5-15%) but they do not store power! There are items which will only run on AC power like mains motors, microwaves (use gas, cheaper!) and most chargers like for your video, shaver etc.
A sine wave converter does not only step up the incoming voltage but also converts the "flat" wave form to a "sine wave" by simulating the wave with as many steps as possible right up to the "pure" (multistep) wave which I consider too expensive, a waste of money and not needed at all in camping applications. Get yourself a "simulated" sine wave converter between 100 to 150W, they are cheap and do all things you will need, Jaycar has a cheap unit, 120Watts, converts the power to 3 steps and runs absolutely cold and is fully protected, like for shorts.

Rayjen,

I use a 12volt transformer cable, available at most electronic retail outlets, to power the laptop , and charge the internal battery. I also use rechargable batteries in the digital camera which i recharge with a 12 volt operated battery charger. Both AA and AAA. So I haven't yet found a necessity for an inverter.
Mac