do you leave your inverter hooked up?

[mechanic021]

Is it alright to leave my power inverter hooked up to the power source all the time in my truck? I was reading the directions that came with mine and it says to not leave it hooked to the battery all the time even if its off. The place I am mounting it will make it difficult to hook it up. I was just curious if anyone who has one just leaves it hooked up without any troubles

Mike

 

[aldive]

Mine is hooked up but turned off except when in use.

 

[mechanic021]

so if i keep mine hooked to the battery but keep the switch off it wont hurt anything? Im just worried about draining my battery

 

[draft]

Being hooked up is one, being powered on is another. If you leave it "on", it'll drain the battery in a good 1-2hrs. It's perfectly fine to hardwire it to your battery otherwise.

 

[mechanic021]

aright cool I will be fine then, One more question do any of you guys know how many amps a computer fan usually is? I am hooking 2 computer cooling fans and 1 150 watt amp up to a relay that goes to the remote turn on lead . and I was told to use a fuse for the constant power wire for the relay.

 

[Crankcase]

Always turn it off.....

My friend drives a big rig...those have like 6 batteries...his inverter will run down the battery to 11.5 volts in a few hours.

 

[Jason94sport]

I had one on my Bronco II. It was mounted right under the ash tray. It had an on/off switch & was plugged into the lighter. I keep it off & when I needed I turned it on. Ran that for 3 years. Never had a problem.

 

[draft]

aright cool I will be fine then, One more question do any of you guys know how many amps a computer fan usually is? I am hooking 2 computer cooling fans and 1 150 watt amp up to a relay that goes to the remote turn on lead . and I was told to use a fuse for the constant power wire for the relay.

Computer fans aren't really measured in amps, but they each run about 20-30 watts though. There's an equation for this, but if you're trying to get the right fused amp, go for a 30A, you should be plenty fine, it should handle about 500W of power, if you need more, 60A, about 1K-1200.

 

[mechanic021]

so i dont need to fuse the fans? I have the relays constant power wire fused with a 20 amp fuse and everything is working good. I just have 2 3 inch fans and my remote turn on lead for my amp running through the relay so i should be good then?

 

[erond]

I bought/installed a 1200W inverter in my Suburban a couple of years ago. Instructions said the same thing "don't leave connected to power". I called the manufacturer and asked for clarification, since there is "power applied, inverter off", "power applied, inverter on with no load", and "power applied, load applied".

On with load will suck your battery down quick. On with no load will also drain your battery after several/many hours. "Off" still draws a tiny amount of power, but roughly in line with the "off" power for a radio, etc.

I'm selling my Suburban and had it parked for over a week. No hesitation at all starting up and inverter is hard-wired to the battery.