Power inverter anyone?

[east high]

Has anyone wired up a power inverter in their series truck? I was thinking it would be pretty cool to have a little power inverter mounted on the bulkhead behind the middle seat for all the 'necessary' mod cons. I found this this evening. ROADPRO PowerDrive1500 I'm hoping a Delco 10si would be enough to keep it powered.

[Nium]

Not quite

Has anyone wired up a power inverter in their series truck? I was thinking it would be pretty cool to have a little power inverter mounted on the bulkhead behind the middle seat for all the 'necessary' mod cons. I found this this evening. ROADPRO PowerDrive1500 I'm hoping a Delco 10si would be enough to keep it powered.

What are "mod cons"?

A Delco 10si alternator rated at 100 Amps VDC won't put out enough power to run 1500W at 110VAC. Minimum to supply a full 1500W at 110VAC you would need an input of 125 Amps at 12VDC. Unless the manufacturer specifies otherwise.

If you don't think you will use a full 1500W but only say 1200W or less taking into account the alternator will not put out full output at idle speeds but only at higher RPM's of the engine you should be fine.

Course the alternator already puts out Alternating Current (AC) as opposed to Direct Current (DC) like a generator. So just step up the 12V to 110V and get it to cycle at 60 Hz then you could just install a regular duplex receptacle into the dash. Right?

[east high]

'mod cons' is slang for modern conveniences. You kinda lost me after that :| I saw this out shopping today and thought it would be a neat to permanently mount something like it it to my truck for the occasional road/camping trip.

[Nium]

It all depends what you want to power off the inverter as to whether or not a Delco 10si alternator will supply enough electricity.

1500 Watts = 15 x 100 Watt incandescent light bulbs for example but in order to power 15 bulbs you would need an input of 125 Amps at 12 Volts DC (from the battery) to power the inverter with enough electricity to illuminate the bulbs.

A Wii uses 52Watts(W) at 120 Volts(V) AC when plugged it into the wall using house current. A 19" color TV uses about 70W at 120 V AC. In order for the inverter to power a 19" color TV and the Wii the car's electrical system would need to supply about 10 Amps(A) at 12V DC for the inverter to transform into 122W at 120V AC. That shouldn't be a problem for the vehicles electrical system.

If you wanted to power a window air conditioner that uses 1000W at 120V AC you would need the vehicle electrical system to provide about 84 Amps at 12V DC in order for the inverter to be able to power it.

It all depends which mod con and how many you want to power as to whether or not a Delco 10si alternator would supply enough electricity. Depending to on how much Amperage(A) the alternator is rated to supply is how many mod cons you would be limited to the use of. Additionally an alternator only produces the maximum amount of electricity at 2000-3000 RPM's, depending on the alternator. So if you are using a lot of electricity you would have to keep the engine running to keep from depleting the battery quickly.

If you wanted to use a microwave, coffee maker, and toaster all at once you would blow the fuses on the inverter.

To figure out if you will have enough power for the things you want to supply count up the wattage, usually listed on the bottom of appliances, to figure out the total power you'll need. If you are getting above 1000 Watts that's gonna put a high demand on your vehicle's electrical system. If it's less then about 480 Watts you'll probably be fine.

The power formula is Power (Watts) = I (Amps) x E (Volts)
So for example: 12 Volts x 40 Amps = 480 Watts = 120 Volts x 4 Amps

Don't use all this as law because there is a certain amount of power loss through the inverter that I'm not going into. It's just to give you a rough idea of the demand 1500 Watts at 110V AC is gonna put on your vehicle's 12V DC electrical system.

That's all I was trying to say I hope that clears it up some.

[kevkon]

You could always add a Flux Capacitor! GigaWatts!

[adkrover]

I've been living off the grid for 15 years and know a little something about inverters. The alternator you use doesn't have nearly as much to do with it as does the battery. The inverter will draw power from the battery and the alternator will charge the battery. Think of it like a bucket of water (battery) that is slowly being filled with a trickle of water (alternator). When you turn on the microwave you take a big scoop out of the bucket (amp draw from battery). As long as you don't keep taking big scoops, the bucket will refill on it's own so size the battery to meet your load needs and just make sure you allow time for the alternator to charge the battery. I would install a deep cycle auxillary battery and wire the inverter to the aux. battery.

[NickDawson]

Great thread!
I have an 800w inverter installed, but not wired yet, in my Series III.
My plan is to ground to the frame, run the hot from the battery through an ignition relay - just like the amp for my speakers.

Goal is to power a laptop, the occasional work lamp, stuff like that. It occurred to me that it would be great to run an air compressor but suspect that is pushing the limits.

I'm anxious to hear more about what/how others have done

[Tim Smith]

I have a 750 watt unit that I toss in for long trips where I want the laptop. It has been pretty successful but I've noticed the cooling fan has died out a couple of times already so I don't think an inverter will ever be a permanent install for those mod cons that you plan on needing. They all seem kind of cheap.

I use the inverter to power the laptop and some powered computer speakers. The laptop draws up to 150 watts and the speakers are (I think) 200 watt units.

Using the inverter is a temporary testing environment for this whole carputer thing. Once I get the time for it, I'm going to change the gear around a little bit, hard mount everything and just power the computer/aux components/speakers off of the 12v on the truck. All that stuff works at 12v native so the switch isn't that tough to do.

Then I can use the inverter for my lighted mirror and hair dryer, when things get really tough on the trail.

[east high]

I think NickDawson and I have the same thing in mind. Charging laptops, ipods, cell phones, running a little stereo.. that type stuff. Having a deep cycle battery sounds more important than the alt., but I knew that because these pull out of the DC supply. I guess my mind was wandering back to the serious lack of charging power the Lucas generator had.

[adkrover]

There are good inverters out there and there are absolute junk ones too. If you want a good one, by a Trace, Xantrex or Outback. They will never fail but be prepared to shell out at least double what a cheap one goes for. Most items like laptops and cell phones do run on DC so installing an inverter to power them is really not worth it. Too much efficiency lost in converting the 12VDC battery up to 120VAC just to use the small power plugs that convert it back down to the correct DC voltage. You can get a DC converter that will do it more easily. Goodyear, ARB and others make very good DC powered air compressors also.

For charging a deep cycle, you can get really affordable solar panels that can be mounted on the roof or in a window that will supply a good trickle charge to the deep cycle battery. You wouldn't get enough power to build a hunting cabin but you could power lights and a laptop while on the trail.

[LRMAN]

Inverters are great for powering stuff that have no 12v power supply. For anything that has a 12v supply it will use less power than an inverter supplying power to the same device via 110v. These guys have a great supply of adapters:

http://www.igo.com/

Also, for a good, long lasting deep cycle setup, 2 Trojan T105 6v batteries wired in series will give you 12v and 225ah of capacity. I can run my refrigerator on my boat for days between charges. They are about the size of a small automotive 12v but a little taller and heavier. Plan on spending about $80ea.

If you only have room for one battery, look for the highest ah rating you can get. Wallyworld carrys these.

[allende]

Inverter woes

Have had two 400w inverters in my Series III to power the laptop. On dusty, hot, rough trips they have both gone t...'s up. A friend told me the bouncing does in the circuits. Cooling fan first to go. Suggest if you want to use them, mount where they are protected from shock.

[Nium]

Suggest if you want to use them, mount where they are protected from shock.

Where exactly is that in a Series? I know the Disco following behind with the wife and kids.

[xsbowes]

Have had two 400w inverters in my Series III to power the laptop.

For a laptop I'd recommend getting a 12VDC to 18VDC converter.

http://www.powerstream.com/Produz10.htm

[east high]

This is all good information, but my original thought was just to add a power point in my truck. Something akin to a cigarette lighter or 12v power outlet. I got the idea when I stumbled upon the black & decker inverter. What I like about this one is that it has various receptor ports types, but what I don't like about it is that it doesn't have a hardwire mounting option. With the little guy above I could plug my ipod into the usb port and my 80s era portable radio could be plugged into the wall-type outlet.