Inverters

[warrenpfo]

I have come to the decision after our trip to SA that a 220v inverter in the car makes allot of sense to charge camera batteries, Laptops, cell phones, power tool batteries etc.

What I have thought is that it is no good having the inverter mounted in the back of the car as if you need to run it there and then it means having to get out the car open the boot turn it on and plug in what you want. Then when it’s charged you have to stop the car get out again and unplug it then get going again.

I would like to be in my seat and plug in what ever it is I need to whilst on the road.

My questions are do inverters need a space around them to breath/air as I know they can get warm? My thought being that if I can hard wire it into the aux battery with a fuse at the battery and it mounted on either the left or the right side in the boot behind the grey wheel arch trim it will be out of the way not get dirty and should be quite behind all the trim and soundproofing...not that they are that loud. The concern being that if it breaks for some reason I would have to take the trim off to repair it but not sure how reliable these things are these days?

Secondly if mounted behind the wheel arch trip can I remove the plug and hard wire 2 leads one to the boot and one to the centre console between the drivers and passengers seat so I can plug in at either spot but not both at the same time.

This will solve me having to stop the car to plug things in but am not sure if it’s doable. I am happy to also wire in a switch so that I can turn the whole lot off from the drivers seat and also from the rear to save the battery when not in use as believe they still draw when not used but on.

Lastly I have seen that inverters range in price from around £30 to hundreds of pounds for what seems like the same thing only a difference in the type of current they output. I had thought a smallish form 800w inverter would do the job and supply ample power for what I need but am not sure what a good make is or what a good price for one would be.

 

[sae70]

I've rescently purchased a small 300w Ring inverter myself from off of the Bay for the self same reason as you for just £20

The reason I didn't want anything over 300w is that it appeared to me that anything over this requires hard wiring to the battery and I wanted to be able to use it between vehicles using a 12v accessory plug & in the front or rear without hassle

Used it in Wales last weekend to charge my camera battery & PMR radios while trailing & I'm very very pleased with it.

It never got hot enough for the cooling fan to come on so I think that you have to load them up a bit for some time before temprature becomes an issue

Hope that this helps you

 

[warrenpfo]

Steven

I had thought of getting a smaller one and using the cig lighter but then i like to have things tucked away out of sight and if i want to run something bigger in the future with 800w that should give me the option.

I hace just looked at my laptop charger and it says 16v at 4amp

 

[ignat]

I have one of the Mastervolt 500w inverters hard wired at the back of the truck.

I've run an extension lead to the front with space for 5 plugs (overkill I know) so I can charge laptop/camera etc etc all at once while driving.

The inverter has been great, I've been able to plug in my drill and drill some metal brackets etc at the back.

These mastervolt interters need some ventilation IIRC.

Bear in mind the cheaper inverters are modified sine wave and not pure sine wave. I was fortunate to get this inverter for dirt cheap thanks to Paul

 

[sae70]

Bear in mind the cheaper inverters are modified sine wave and not pure sine wave

What does this mean What can a pure sine wave inverter run over a modified sine wave inverter

 

[ignat]

All I know is, for some appliances modified sine wave is not suitable (not sure what though).

Seems like some rechargeable tools etc should not be charged using modified sine wave, and pure sine is preferable
http://www.donrowe.com/inverters/inverter_faq.html#modified

 

[sae70]

All I know is, for some appliances modified sine wave is not suitable (not sure what though).

Seems like some rechargeable tools etc should not be charged using modified sine wave, and pure sine is preferable
http://www.donrowe.com/inverters/inverter_faq.html#modified

Mmmmm.......interesting link & as I suspected, no advantage for the everyday user to spend out on a pure sine wave inverter then

Modified sine wave all the way

 

[goingdownsouth]

Modified sine wave 1000w from Silverline.

Perfect to run anything and even could be used with a Bosch 800w angle grinder on a remote job.

Apparently it can cut through a wheel clamp I've been told!!!

 

[Chas]

Modified sine wave 1000w from Silverline.
Perfect to run anything and even could be used with a Bosch 800w angle grinder on a remote job.
Apparently it can cut through a wheel clamp I've been told!!!

That's interesting, I'd always been led to believe you needed a pure sine wave inverter to run rotary things like drills and grinders, which was why I got a pure sine wave one, maybe I needn't have gone to that expense although my 2k one was only £140

 

[goingdownsouth]

Modified sine wave 1000w from Silverline.
Perfect to run anything and even could be used with a Bosch 800w angle grinder on a remote job.
Apparently it can cut through a wheel clamp I've been told!!!

That's interesting, I'd always been led to believe you needed a pure sine wave inverter to run rotary things like drills and grinders, which was why I got a pure sine wave one, maybe I needn't have gone to that expense although my 2k one was only £140

Result on that purchase!! Worth the extra

I thought pure sinewave was for microwave ovens and sensitive computer equipment

 

[Chas]

Modified sine wave 1000w from Silverline.
Perfect to run anything and even could be used with a Bosch 800w angle grinder on a remote job.
Apparently it can cut through a wheel clamp I've been told!!!

That's interesting, I'd always been led to believe you needed a pure sine wave inverter to run rotary things like drills and grinders, which was why I got a pure sine wave one, maybe I needn't have gone to that expense although my 2k one was only £140

Result on that purchase!! Worth the extra

I thought pure sinewave was for microwave ovens and sensitive computer equipment

Well it does run my microwave, so that's OK

 

[Gav Peter]

Paul got bunch of the pure sine wave inverters at an excellent price a while back so thats another reason why a load of us have them

 

[sae70]

Used my £20 'Ring' plug & play 300w modified sine wave inverter today to do some soldering in the rear of the truck Worked a treat

 

[Crispin]

Used my £20 'Ring' plug & play 300w modified sine wave inverter today to do some soldering in the rear of the truck Worked a treat

probably teaching grannies to sucks eggs an' all that but...

Your 300W invertor cannot run at 300W from cig lighter. Not sure about others but the LC120 sockets are rated at 120W (10A) which means, well, you'll only get just less than that out before you blow the truck's fuse. I imagine invertor's plug would have a fuse in as well.

If all you wanted to do was charge stuff, get a £15 "can" jobbie from Tesco which has a rating of....120W. it's more than you'll ever need to charge stuff with.

Steven - I did see yours comes with extra clamps if you wanted all the juice

 

[sae70]

Used my £20 'Ring' plug & play 300w modified sine wave inverter today to do some soldering in the rear of the truck Worked a treat

probably teaching grannies to sucks eggs an' all that but...

Your 300W invertor cannot run at 300W from cig lighter. Not sure about others but the LC120 sockets are rated at 120W (10A) which means, well, you'll only get just less than that out before you blow the truck's fuse. I imagine invertor's plug would have a fuse in as well.

If all you wanted to do was charge stuff, get a £15 "can" jobbie from Tesco which has a rating of....120W. it's more than you'll ever need to charge stuff with.

Steven - I did see yours comes with extra clamps if you wanted all the juice

Ah.....All very true But the ciggy lighter/accessory socket that you can see my inverter plugged into in the rear of Fiery is piggy backed from off of the 50Amp feed to the Anderson socket that I put in for my compressor & is not only a permanent live feed but means that I've been able to fuse the ciggy lighter/accessory socket @ 20Amps

 

[Crispin]

I do like the idea of having big power back there. The 120 has a 10A socket but for things like the compressor, I always look like I've broken down having to lift the bonnet...

 

[Red Oktober]

so ... just to re-cap ... what's the benefits of pure sine over modified sine ......

I'm looking at getting an inverter for our 78 . would something like this be suitable http://www.maplin.co.uk/1000w-dc-12v-to ... tor-224283
would just be used for charging bateries, powering netbook etc

and could the sockets be removed from the unit and fitted into the panelling in the rear of the truck (so they look like a normal wall fitting)

 

[Chris]

I had that very inverter in mine before the fire. It was junk in the end but I nicked the cable off it and yes, the socket fascias do come out and I will be using them in the panels of my new build. But for powering a note book etc you really don't need 1000w. I found it to be quite poor in terms of eficiency. Taking 12v turning it into 240v then back t 12v again has significant losses. On its own the battery barely lasted a day before being drained fully and that was just running a coolbox. A smaller better unit might be the way to go.

Chris

 

[Red Oktober]

Cheers Chris ..... any recommendations

 

[Chris]

Not the person to advise. Like I said, I had one of the Maplin 100w ones. Not a small pure sine wave one. I haven't decided what to go for this time. But I have to say that running an angle grinder did come in pretty handy for me on several occasions. But if I go pure sine then they are not only a lot more cash but they get pretty big too. And that I don't need.

Chris