150w inverter

Can't help you Wal but would like to add to the question.

Would this particular unit power a Dremel Multi Tool ?

Any help is appreciated

Coops

I feel you would find that it is no where big enough. They dont reccomd you ran a fluro on a 500w invertor. I have a 500 watt invertor and it will not run a drill but will easly run 2 to 3 100 watt flood light. You get what you pay for. The cheap one would be a waste of money. I cant remember but to run a fluro you either need a sine wave invertor or square wave which is very expensive. Good luck.

Yep... 150 W will hardly pull the skin off a rice pudding.... and lots of appliances use MORE than their stated normal current draw just to start up.....so if an appliance is rated under your Inverter capacity but uses a lot more just to start, it will drop out..... gotta buy capacity ! I have a 300 W - runs a soldering iron from home in the shed - runs nicad chargers etc - shaver - and some low energy 240 V light bulbs. 500 W would be great but the price creeps up. Dick Smith often has clearance specials - would pay to ring them - try Tandy and the other electonics retailers.

try super cheap autos they sell a 500watt inverter with a 800watt kick in for around$250 but when they have 20% off sales only about $200

Have a look at Jaycar inverters. The surge current on the Digitor is hardly more than the continuous current (160w/150w), while the Jaycar 140w has 450w surge and costs less than $10 more.

Stephen.

I can run a 40w and a 20watt flouro at the same time off my (super)cheap 150W inverter. BUT you do need to remove the capacitor -not to be confused with the ballast and starter- from the flouro if fitted (these are fitted internally for power factor correction when running on mainspower.)

They don't like some of the newer compact(electronic) flouros though.

Look at the wattage on the appliance you want to run. If it is under 150Watts, then it should be ok (Fluro's and fridges excepted). Most appliances use a higher start up wattage, hence inverters have a 'surge' wattage.

There seems to be lot of discussions and info on inverters here, and in the archives, but a few questions haven't been asked. maybe I'm the only one that doesn't know these things. Can someone enlighten me, please?

When using an inverter, is the current draw on the battery equal to the inverter's potential output, or only what the inverter is driving? For example, if a 300 watt inverter is driving a 100 watt appliance, is the current draw on the battery 300/12 = 25 amps per hour or 100/12 = 8.3 amps per hour?

Can the inverter and appliance be run with the vehicle engine running? If so, and if the alternator was pumping, say, 35 watts back into the battery, the above example would result in a zero net draw from the battery? Yes?

Can an inverter be hooked up directly to an alternator, with appropriate solanoid/regulator, and be used to run appliances/charge batteries while driving the vehicle?