Power inverter suggestions?

[JTang]

Hi everyone!

I've been looking into power inverters for some time, but there are so many small name brands out there, I was wondering if they're basically all the same whether from an Autoshop or KMart, or if there is a real difference amongst brands. Jensen seems to be the only one I recognize. Brand suggestions?

Are there features I should look for at bare minimum? Fuses, etc?

Do more powerful ones tend to cause more noise than smaller inverters?

Thanks in advance,

Jon

 

[aldive]

I am interested in doing a fixed mount install of a 12 v inverter with wiring to a 115 v type ( household tyoe ) outlet in the rear compartment.

I seek your thoughts and suggestions.

Thanks....

 

[hijinks]

In theory its not that hard. Go with the basic power inverter that meets your needs. I got one for that i pluged in a computer and lcd screen into running off the cig lighter wire since thats always on. It makes no noise what so ever.

As for the second post. Its not that big of a project. Just need to get something to test the output of the new wiring to see if it is ok to plug stuff in. You might want to get a better alternator depending on what your running. I found that out when driving in the winter at night wil stero/lights/heat/computer/lcd going and found out it drained my battery.

mike

 

[Jason94sport]

I ran a radio shack one for over a year. Had 1 outlet. Forgot which one it was. But it did work great. I used it in my Bronco 2. Was powering a 150W home powered 10" sub Never had any problem. In fact one night there was a power outage. I ran an extension cord into my house from the truck, to power a lamp. Never over heated, never blew a fuse.

 

[aldive]

If one were to hard wire an inverter into their truck, would they need to have a switch to tirn it on, or is it left powered all the time? If left on will it drain the battery with no load aspplied to it?

Thanks....

 

[BACKWOODS]

I'VE GOT A INVERTER IN BOTH OF MY CARS. I HAVE 1000W INVERTERS AND HAD TO PUT A DISCONNECT SWITCH IN THE ENGINE COMPARTMENT. THE HIGHER IN WATTS YOU GET IN, THE NEED FOR MORE COOLING SO THERE ARE FANS BUILT INTO THE UNIT THAT CAN POSSIBIALLY DRAIN BATTERY IF LEFT CONNECTED. BETTER SAFE THAN SORRY.

 

[mattadams]

I'm in the market for one myself... I need one so I can plug in my laptop, probably looking at about 100-300 watts, don't need too much. I'll by mounting it under the back seat near my amplifier. I'll probably be hard-wiring it in with some sort of inline switch...

 

[aldive]

How would you guys recomment wiring an inverter? What size wire from battery to inverter? What size fues here?

Any other suggestions appreciated....

Thanks

 

[jjue]

If it is weatherproof, install the inverter under the hood or otherwise as close as possible to the battery and run the 110-120V outlet to the back so that you won't have to use as much thick cable to handle the current that far back. Check the current draw on the inverter that you plan to buy and you will be able to determine the size wires to run from the battery to the inverter using the Ugly's electrical book or other electrican/EE reference. Someone borrowed mine and hasn't returned it yet; otherwise, I'd tell you what you need.