Inverter Question

[stewartlittle]

My brother was talkin of gettin an inverter for his camper and hookin it up to run a 110v fan all nite.

I know it will work,but would'nt that drain the battery really fast?

Plus I am getting a inverter mainly to run my laptop in the car,but how much power do they draw.The one I gettin is 400watts-800watts peak.
And what does peak mean?

Thanks,  
    John

[wavery]

My brother was talkin of gettin an inverter for his camper and hookin it up to run a 110v fan all nite.

I know it will work,but would'nt that drain the battery really fast?

Plus I am getting a inverter mainly to run my laptop in the car,but how much power do they draw.The one I gettin is 400watts-800watts peak.
And what does peak mean?

Thanks,  
    John

When installing an inverter in a camper, it's a good idea to have 2 batteries.

We have 2 inverters. We have the small one like you are talking about (400-800) and a 2500w that we hook up to run the microwave oven (sparingly) and for brewing coffee in the morning. With 2 - 29 series batteries, we have no problem going 3 days without recharging. The larger inverters must be wired directly to the battery with battery cables. The smaller ones can be plugged into your cigarette lighter socket.

Running a fan all night shouldn't be a problem with 2 batteries but with 1, it could be a problem. Even a 12v fan running all night may drain 1 battery.

Inverters are rated differently than generators. The first # (400 in your example) is the maximum continuous output rating. The 2nd # (800 in your example) is the "Surge" capacity and it can only maintain that for a matter of maybe 5 to 10 seconds. The surge capacity is for starting heavy draw items like an electric motor that will typically draw twice as much power to start than it does to run.

Generators are rated at their maximum (peak) output. They can only keep up that output for a minute or 2. The "Continuous run" rating on generators is typically about 75% of the maximum output rating.

You laptop can run off of the 400-800 just fine. We keep our small inverter in the car for just that purpose. In fact, it will probably run off of a 100W inverter.

[mike4947]

But, it you intend to use the power port/cigarette lighter to power the inverter you are limited to a maximum of 20 amps or 240 watts. Try and draw more and you'll be hunting under the dash to replace the fuse. a 400/800 watt inverter will work, you just won't be able to use it's full capacity.
 
As for the draw and how long the battery will last in a trailer. Look at the wattage requirement for the 120 volt AC item you intend to power.  The inverter will need an equal number of wattage (negating efficiency) so the amperage will be 10 times the 120 volt amount. So divide that wattage number by 12 instaed of 120 to find the amperage draw from the battery.
A 180 watt computer power supply draw will draw 180/12 or 15 amps from the battery.
If the rating does happen to be in amps @ 120 colt then multiply the amperage by 10 to get the battery drain.

[stewartlittle]

UPS brought it yesterday,The site I got it from had a 200 -400watt max,but it was only a few dollars cheaper so I got the the bigger one.It has a plug for the cigarette lighter and also some cables to hook directly to the battery.

Laptop computer is what I'll mainly useAnd if it would run a 5 cup Mr. Coffee that would be extra nice for camping.My brother was the one wanting to run the fan.Since we've gottin married and camping with our oun family,we have never camped at a site that had power or water.

[mike4947]

You can forget the Mr. Coffee. Most run about 900-1200 watts.

[stewartlittle]

You can forget the Mr. Coffee. Most run about 900-1200 watts.

Just looked at one,it says 600 watts.I dont think would it.Still got the purculator though.

[wavery]

UPS brought it yesterday,The site I got it from had a 200 -400watt max,but it was only a few dollars cheaper so I got the the bigger one.It has a plug for the cigarette lighter and also some cables to hook directly to the battery.

Laptop computer is what I'll mainly useAnd if it would run a 5 cup Mr. Coffee that would be extra nice for camping.My brother was the one wanting to run the fan.Since we've gottin married and camping with our oun family,we have never camped at a site that had power or water.

It should work just fine for your laptop. Just plug it into the lighter socket in the car and/or camper. If you use anything that draws over 250W and has a motor or heating element (that may take it into surge mode) you may have to hook it directly to the battery to avoid blowing fuses.

Be very careful about leaving devises operating while your vehicles engine is not running. You could find yourself with a battery that is too low to start the engine.

[stewartlittle]

It should work just fine for your laptop. Just plug it into the lighter socket in the car and/or camper. If you use anything that draws over 250W and has a motor or heating element (that may take it into surge mode) you may have to hook it directly to the battery to avoid blowing fuses.

Be very careful about leaving devises operating while your vehicles engine is not running. You could find yourself with a battery that is too low to start the engine.

It says it has a safty feature on it to prevent it from getting too low so that wont happen.But there's only one way to find out,that test will not work in the driveway,you got to be out in the boondocks for it to truely work.Know what I mean.

[wavery]

It says it has a safty feature on it to prevent it from getting too low so that wont happen.But there's only one way to find out,that test will not work in the driveway,you got to be out in the boondocks for it to truely work.Know what I mean.

If yours is similar to mine (mine is a Coleman brand) it has a low battery alarm that sounds it the battery gets below 11.9V. However, it continues to draw the battery down. Also, your car may not start on 11.9V.