By Wes Legaspi (Wes) on Wednesday, August 22, 2001 - 10:57 am: Edit

Looking back into the archives, Discosaurus posted that power inverters are notorious for blowing fuses, anyone else have any experience with 'em? what's the max size I can use without making any changes?

By Perrone Ford on Wednesday, August 22, 2001 - 11:29 am: Edit

I installed a 600 watt unit last winter. That damn thing has been FLAWLESS and a HUGE help. I use it to charge up my drill, to run my blender at Rover events, to power my laptop, to charge my cell phone, to run my 500 watt Halogen lamp for working on the truck after dark, etc. One of the best mods I've ever made on the truck.

I've not ever blown a fuse, BUT if you install one, PLEASE use adequate wiring. I follow the ABYC wiring codes when working on my truck to keep me out of trouble.

By jay caragay (Jcaragay) on Wednesday, August 22, 2001 - 12:58 pm: Edit

Perrone-

Which inverter are you using?

By Wes Legaspi (Wes) on Wednesday, August 22, 2001 - 01:35 pm: Edit

When you say adequate wiring, what do you mean? The inverters I see in stores basically plug into cigar lighter. Do you need to hook up special wiring?

By Perrone Ford on Wednesday, August 22, 2001 - 01:36 pm: Edit

I'm using the porta-wattz. Its pretty good, but I wouldn't recommend it for critical applications. You need to do your homework on them before buying and then buy the best you can afford. I had about $100 bucks when I did mine so I got what I could afford. The wiring set me back another $30 or so... I use only marine grade wiring and connectors in the truck to avoid electrical gremlins

The install info is on the Spanish Trail page.

Good luck,

-P

By herky on Wednesday, August 22, 2001 - 02:16 pm: Edit

Run it to your battery if at all possible, use 8 gauge power wire for everything up to 30 amps.

By Perrone Ford on Wednesday, August 22, 2001 - 02:24 pm: Edit

I used 6 gauge wire because I mounted my inverter in the rear of my truck. The run from the battery to the inverter and the 600 watt potential draw specified the wire I used. The units that plug into the lighter are usually rated at 200 watts, not enough to run the equipment that I wanted to run...

By Alex Schubow (Alex) on Wednesday, August 22, 2001 - 04:15 pm: Edit

I have a chepie $25 flea market special rated at 150W. Runs my laptop and a sears flourescent shop light just fine. Blenders, coffee grinders and microwaves? who knows.

Alex

By Discosaurus (Discosaurus) on Thursday, August 23, 2001 - 06:00 am: Edit

If you're gonna run a inverter that's rated at more then ~200W, you better run it to a big fuse through heavy cable.

Depending on what part of the AC sine-wave they fire up on, the bigger ones can draw a HUGE spike of DC current. It's best to have nothing plugged into the inverter when you fire it up. I had a lot of experience with them about 10 years ago - most of it bad (these were B I G ones). Given the advances in switching power supplies over the last few years, they may be better now. But, since the prices have also decreased about 75%, I kinda doubt it.

If you install it well, they sure are handy !

keith
discosaurus

By Perrone Ford on Thursday, August 23, 2001 - 06:16 am: Edit

Yep Keith,

I agree. The unit I got is fused, and like I said, I didn't BS around with cheap wiring. I have an outdoor grade 25 ft extension cord on mine that I run to the backseat floor. Nothing is plugged in until the unit is on. The exception to that rule is the laptop but the battery is conditioning that power anyway.

Great advice you gave. And I find my unit invaluable. You just never know when you are going to want A/C to run a tool, charge a battery, get some light, etc. For $100-200, its almost silly NOT to have one on a well outfitted truck. I look at any number of expedition equipped vehicles and people intalling multiple 12v outlets and buying insanely expensive 12v doodads. Makes little sense to me.

-P