 | Home > Expedition & Overland > What do you use your Inverter for ? |
 
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| Go Beyond Member Since: 30 Jan 2012 Location: Headcorn, Kent Posts: 6678  
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I've just come by a 1200watt 'Industrial' 12v to 240v inverter and wondered what it was that people ran off their inverters .... ?
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2nd May 2012 3:14pm |
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| twopoint6khz Member Since: 18 Aug 2011 Location: North Lakes Posts: 654 
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The wife's hair straighteners?
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2nd May 2012 3:16pm |
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| AndrewS Member Since: 10 Apr 2007 Location: Hereford Posts: 3707 
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I have a 1500w and run 110v transformer, plasma cutter, loads of other stuff. 130's have feeling's as well you know
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2nd May 2012 7:25pm |
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| GREENI Member Since: 22 Aug 2010 Location: staffs Posts: 10382
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2nd May 2012 7:26pm |
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| landy andy Member Since: 15 Feb 2009 Location: Ware, Herts Posts: 5700 
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As above wife's hair drier/straighteners, camera charger, and battery charger for battery drill driver
Andy Last edited by landy andy on 2nd May 2012 8:15pm. Edited 1 time in total |
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2nd May 2012 8:13pm |
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| landy andy Member Since: 15 Feb 2009 Location: Ware, Herts Posts: 5700
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Double post
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2nd May 2012 8:13pm |
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| noworries4x4 Member Since: 24 Dec 2010 Location: Newton Abbot Devon Posts: 1195 
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I have a 800watt inverter bolted to the baulkhead behind the passengers seat heavy duty leads straight down into the battery box, as for what it does, 3x 2way site radio chargers, 2x Remote contol battery chargers, 1 Makita li-ion charger all permantly plugged in to a 6 way extension 1 plug left for either lap top or phone chargers. If we are working on a very remote site with no facilitys i have a hotel style 750watt kettle boils a litre of water in just under 10mins (coffee adict) sachets of 3in1 coffee always carried (and tea bags for mrs noworries)
 Click image to enlarge Picture while the new vehicle was being set up (wiring all in spiral wrap and cliped properly now) If everything is under control you are not going fast enough. Every Day 16 MY Discovery 4 Commercial Workshop and Escort Vehicle Weekends 07MY L322 TDV8 Vogue SE Series 1 80" 3ltr 6cyl with overdrive No Worries 4X4 |
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2nd May 2012 8:41pm |
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| JWL Member Since: 26 Oct 2011 Location: Hereford Posts: 3443 
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Mine doesn't run a hairdryer, not enough hair
 , the hair straighteners are defunct in my house or truck, the wife went walkabout 18 months ago  What it does do is recharge batteries for the Makita and Paslode, does the recharging of the laptop when out and about, the boys PSP, haven't got round to getting a 12v charger lead for that yet. I also have a tubular greenhouse heater attached to the legs on the 2nd row seats, I plug that into a lead from the garage overnight when it's cold and into the inverter when on the move untill there is sufficient heat output from the trucks heater I also use it to plug the airbed pump into when camping. It will run a 4 1/2" grinder, a 150w flood light, there is a block of stables I occasionally visit and it's easier to run the 4 striplights off the inverter than struggle to hear yourself think running the womans generator  Once you get one, you'll allways find new uses, whether they are actually usefull or not |
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2nd May 2012 9:08pm |
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| tatra805 Member Since: 16 Aug 2011 Location: Dolany Posts: 436  
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Let me give me thoughts on these. (I graduated in electronics and did my practical end test with a project inverter and solar power and was involved in building them in my first job. So i have a long time interest in inverters)
We also had long thoughts about one, 1200W seems to be the standard now. and a true sine for 300 something is a possibility from the financial side. Even if i was already sitting in the car ready to rush off purchasing one i all of a sudden saw the light and went sorting all electronics we carry to see if the 1200 watts were sufficient. 3/4 of what you are carrying can be used on something in the range of 5 to 19vdc, check the power supplies. So basically you are downstepping the 220 anyway. Buy a good DC-DC converter and the right plugs and you cover a lot already before you start wasting amps on upstepping to 220 and then downstepping to some lower DC voltage. Both steps waste energy, simple. Anything not true sine-wave can cause issues and is to me not worth its money as it causes even more waste by making the device it is connected to even less efficient. (so not only internal losses but also secondary losses) We have a 150w can sized one which is doing everything i need, being charging those things that cant be put on 12vdc or which we don't want to risk (notebooks, video and photo equipment, power tools) Another issue with inverters is that running full power will eat your battery in minutes, not hours if the engine is not running. (mainly as voltage drop will make it go into protection before the battery can recover) And using a 1200W inverter with a typical 80% efficiency to run a 35w charging device is nuts in my logic.(you consume more amps in losses than your charger is using) The 150w will run longer and more efficient. Power tools are available in battery versions which will run longer and better than 220 ones on an inverter Using half of the battery to cook 1 liter of water while a couple of minutes more and the coleman does the same leaving my amps available for the fridge... etc etc I saw a lot of people once they have their inverter build a collection of 220v appliances which can be easily and without sacrificing comfort be replaced by 12vdc versions. (even saw a guy running normal 220 bulbs as campsite lights..... )
If i could have one for free or near that i would have it and install it, just because i can. But a real purpose for these big power versions i did not find yet. I am sure for some people it makes sense, eg ambulances etc where there is no option to run their instruments on 12vdc. Just 2 cents |
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6th May 2012 4:58pm |
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| ken Member Since: 18 Aug 2009 Location: Banging Birds with my bitches !! Posts: 4328
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Our key cutting vans run pure sine inverters at about £1800 each and we run them off two parallel truck batterys
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6th May 2012 5:32pm |
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| Go Beyond Member Since: 30 Jan 2012 Location: Headcorn, Kent Posts: 6678
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It's a lovely bit of kit this inverter, was used by a windscreen fitting company to run a hot air gun, but as has been very well pointed out, most stuff can be run off 12v ..... Might sell it on I think
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6th May 2012 9:41pm |
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| JWL Member Since: 26 Oct 2011 Location: Hereford Posts: 3443
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I know that when charging some of my power tools is defying logic, i.e. the Paslode is IIRC about a 5v battery(well less than 12v) and there is an adapter to run the charging holder with a 12v lead. What happens when trying to charge 14,4v or 18v batterys?
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6th May 2012 10:16pm |
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| The Musketeer Member Since: 07 Feb 2012 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 193 
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Can anyone recommend a good converter to run x2 240v sockets, looking at powering a laptop and a spare for whatever else.
Not looking to spend a fortune but would like something permanent as opposed to the cig plug jobbies! S Good things come to the wild and free |
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7th May 2012 7:04pm |
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| JWL Member Since: 26 Oct 2011 Location: Hereford Posts: 3443
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All mine have come from Maplins, not used the ciggarette sockets, just hardwired in with a fuse.
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7th May 2012 8:47pm |
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