Inverters, who has one??

Joined: 28 Oct 2002 Location: Sydney

Bought a 150w (300w peak) inverter today, and only plan on using to charge the various camera batteries when im out in the middle of nowhere. Its a MUCH cheaper option than buying 2-3 12v camera chargers (Olympus one is $200, and the panasonic one is $175!!).

How do they handle vibrations?? It will be mounted in the cab, but corrugated dirt roads do their best to damage/destroy any electrical component.

Phill

Posted: Sun Feb 08, 2004 8:12 pm

I've got a small one - 150W - mounted on my cargo barrier with zippy ties, with some foam between the contact surfaces. Although being solid state, the circuit boards are still able to be cracked and dry joints can appear with components.

Joined: 15 Apr 2003 Location: Somewhere in Australia.......

Have a 300w digitor from tricky dicky. Has been o 2 trips so far. Used for charging the camera battery and running the laptop. No probs so far. Don't know why I waited so long to get one.

Joined: 31 Mar 2003 Location: Brisbane or 169.254.243.241

yeah had mine for 3 years 300W jaycar job, mounted to the body of the car, no foam or anything has been fine, charges everything, used to run a whole pc no probs, great little unit, just looking into upgrading at the moment would look at a bigger one of the same brand, they are good units

Tom

Posted: Wed Feb 11, 2004 3:10 pm

If you mount it on some kind of 'insulation', u can buy this waffle kind of material from most rubber suppliers which is excellent, dad and i mounted out split system air con compressor on it, and the frame hardly vibrates now... to give u some idea... and mount it on the insulation, and then bolt, cable tie, screw the insulation to the mounting point seperately, it should be ok.

I have seen a dick smith one roll around in a space case under winch cables, bottle jacks and other various crap and still work fine.

If not, just keep it loose until you need to use it?

Area54... i would have thought a cargo barrier would vibrate too much? Giving you cracked circuit boards and dry joints...

Joined: 31 Mar 2003 Location: Brisbane or 169.254.243.241

+dj_hansen+ wrote:

Area54... i would have thought a cargo barrier would vibrate too much? Giving you cracked circuit boards and dry joints...

If the cargo barrier is bolted top and bottom to the car then it will rattle as much as the car not any more or less, I've bolted computer hard disks to the body of my car and ran them for around two years without a hassle, I know inverters are a lot hardier than hard disks

Joined: 28 Oct 2002 Location: Sydney

I mounted it to the rear of my centre console, as its quite big (the console) and looks rather neat (if i must say so my self Very Happy

). It makes it uber easy to plug stuff in then, being right next to the passenger and driver. Also put an isolating switch in the dash, cos the specs say it draws 0.15A when turned off at the 240v side. So i switched it at the 12V side aswell.........i know, pointless, but i got nuthin to do after work Rolling Eyes

Joined: 24 Dec 2003 Location: Brisbane, Australia

slowhilux wrote:

I mounted it to the rear of my centre console, as its quite big (the console) and looks rather neat (if i must say so my self Very Happy

). It makes it uber easy to plug stuff in then, being right next to the passenger and driver. Also put an isolating switch in the dash, cos the specs say it draws 0.15A when turned off at the 240v side. So i switched it at the 12V side aswell.........i know, pointless, but i got nuthin to do after work Rolling Eyes

I got a 1700w mounted on the back cab wall behind the rear seat, I used a 3 phase 32A 56 series industrial isolator and plugtop because it probably draws over 100A on full load Cool

Posted: Wed Feb 11, 2004 10:00 pm

Rainbow Warrior wrote:

I got a 1700w mounted on the back cab wall behind the rear seat, I used a 3 phase 32A 56 series industrial isolator and plugtop because it probably draws over 100A on full load Cool

Maximum current draw is around 10% of total wattage, depending on internal efficiency of the inverter. So around 170amps could possibly be drawn with this inverter, damn, what do you run with this thing?

Joined: 24 Dec 2003 Location: Brisbane, Australia

Area54 wrote:

Rainbow Warrior wrote:

I got a 1700w mounted on the back cab wall behind the rear seat, I used a 3 phase 32A 56 series industrial isolator and plugtop because it probably draws over 100A on full load Cool

Maximum current draw is around 10% of total wattage, depending on internal efficiency of the inverter. So around 170amps could possibly be drawn with this inverter, damn, what do you run with this thing?

The fridge, computer, TV video in blackouts. A 240v compressor on the ute, a 166 586 MP3 player, pedestal fans & bug zapper while camping.
Got it's own pair of batteries. Smile

Joined: 03 Mar 2003 Location: St Helena, Melbourne.

So what is the best type of battery to use with an inverter ?

Joined: 24 Dec 2003 Location: Brisbane, Australia

Loanrangie wrote:

So what is the best type of battery to use with an inverter ?

Well seeing my inverter cuts out at 11volts anyway, I don't see the point in a deepcycle, 17plate light truck batteries is just sweet in my book, making all 3 batteries the same type, so should charge together better, and can be rotated.

Joined: 03 Mar 2003 Location: St Helena, Melbourne.

I am loking at buying an inverter but not sure on the wattage to get, just want something that will recharge camera and camcorder batteries and power a 3 way fridge and an electric kettle ? I saw some 400w units on ebay that seemed ok, 400w continous 900w surge.

Posted: Wed Feb 25, 2004 11:44 am

Loanrangie wrote:

I am loking at buying an inverter but not sure on the wattage to get, just want something that will recharge camera and camcorder batteries and power a 3 way fridge and an electric kettle ? I saw some 400w units on ebay that seemed ok, 400w continous 900w surge.

Buy a 150-300W inverter to run the battery charger, the three way fridge will run on 12V, and buy a seperate 12V kettle. You will spend way over what you need to on an inverter to run these items (kettle and fridge) and you will lose power in the conversion - not a very efficient way to run things.

Joined: 24 Dec 2003 Location: Brisbane, Australia

Loanrangie wrote:

I am loking at buying an inverter but not sure on the wattage to get, just want something that will recharge camera and camcorder batteries and power a 3 way fridge and an electric kettle ? I saw some 400w units on ebay that seemed ok, 400w continous 900w surge.

Just get a 400w or 12v battery charger, 3 way fridges won't run any better on an inverter than on 12volt, they're designed for gas really. Forget the kettle, I've tried heating appliances like sandwich toasters/ kettles on my 1700w, they work at about half heat. Even a 650w microwave runs slow. A 240v bar fridge would be more efficient than a 3way.

Joined: 17 Aug 2003 Location: Cairns, (capital of Nth QLD)

If mounting the inverter in the back of your truck don't forget to run heavy cable (approx 6-10mm2) back to the batterys to cope with the high current drawn.

If you don't the inverter will simply shut down well before its nominated wattage.

Posted: Thu Mar 11, 2004 3:57 pm

slowhilux wrote:

Bought a 150w (300w peak) inverter today, and only plan on using to charge the various camera batteries when im out in the middle of nowhere. Its a MUCH cheaper option than buying 2-3 12v camera chargers (Olympus one is $200, and the panasonic one is $175!!).

How do they handle vibrations?? It will be mounted in the cab, but corrugated dirt roads do their best to damage/destroy any electrical component.

Phill

I bought a 12v converter to play my CD Walkman through my casset player and came with other addapters to use on just about everything small like mobil phone and my camera batteries for $40

Joined: 03 Mar 2003 Location: St Helena, Melbourne.

i think you missed the point, we are talking 12v to 240 v inverters not 12v to various plugs type that plug into the ciggy socket.

4sum4 wrote:

slowhilux wrote:

Bought a 150w (300w peak) inverter today, and only plan on using to charge the various camera batteries when im out in the middle of nowhere. Its a MUCH cheaper option than buying 2-3 12v camera chargers (Olympus one is $200, and the panasonic one is $175!!).

How do they handle vibrations?? It will be mounted in the cab, but corrugated dirt roads do their best to damage/destroy any electrical component.

Phill

I bought a 12v converter to play my CD Walkman through my casset player and came with other addapters to use on just about everything small like mobil phone and my camera batteries for $40

Posted: Fri Mar 12, 2004 10:32 pm

Loanrangie wrote:

i think you missed the point, we are talking 12v to 240 v inverters not 12v to various plugs type that plug into the ciggy socket.

[/quote]

he mentioned he`s only using it to charge his camera battery.

Joined: 15 Apr 2004 Location: Brisbane

4sum4 wrote:

Loanrangie wrote:

i think you missed the point, we are talking 12v to 240 v inverters not 12v to various plugs type that plug into the ciggy socket.

he mentioned he`s only using it to charge his camera battery.[/quote]

hehehe the difference, Converter =12v(or 13.8v for that matter)>3.8v for your mobile phone or Inverter = 12v < 240v for use with "normal house hold appliances.

Joined: 06 May 2004 Location: Bavaria, Germany

I run a 1000Watt (1500 peak) in my Patrol. Mainly used for electric tools on trips, the PC, PS2 for the kid, various chargers and all other crap that runs on 220V. Hooked it up with 16mm² wire to the aux. 70AH dry battery out of a continious power supply station. Two trips through the Sahara desert without any problems or hassles. The unit comes with integrated fan and low voltage cutout.

Joined: 26 Oct 2002 Location: Ringwood East, VIC

As a minor sidetrack, when wiring up an inverter do you wire for the current draw of the continuous rating of the inverter or the peak/surge rating?

ie. A 1000w continuous rated inverter should draw approx 83amps when being used at 1000w on a 12v supply but if it's surge rating is 2400w it potentially can draw up to 200amps on a 12v supply.

So, should it be wired for 80amps or 200amps?

Joined: 24 Dec 2003 Location: Brisbane, Australia

RoldIT wrote:

As a minor sidetrack, when wiring up an inverter do you wire for the current draw of the continuous rating of the inverter or the peak/surge rating?

ie. A 1000w continuous rated inverter should draw approx 83amps when being used at 1000w on a 12v supply but if it's surge rating is 2400w it potentially can draw up to 200amps on a 12v supply.

So, should it be wired for 80amps or 200amps?

About 100Amps, if you plan to run it near peak amps long enough to significantly heat 100A cable, then the inverters going to fry sooner than the cable.