86rader Posted August 15, 2012 Share Posted August 15, 2012 Would like to add an inverter to my Odyssey. I had a 400 watt one in my Sunrader that was fine for running laptop chargers, etc. I was thinking of maybe going a little bigger this time. There is a cabinet mounted microwave which I haven't used yet, but it would be nice to have the ability to use it for warming leftovers when needed. I won't be using it to cook for extended periods. So, my thought was to maybe go with a 1200 watt continuous inverter. They aren't all that much more expensive than the smaller one. My question is, how an inverter running at 1kW kill the typical coach battery. not really planning on adding extra batteries, but, I might be open to this option. Also, is there any loss in efficiency when going to higher power inverters? As high efficiency is more important to me than high power output, since most of its use will be powering laptop batteries or maybe a small flatscreen TV. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary_M Posted August 15, 2012 Share Posted August 15, 2012 (edited) Going to a higher power inverter shouldn't have any loss. I assume your 400 watt was is a 3rd world square wave inverter. These types are very efficient but motors like use with drills will run hot. Sine wave inverters are the best but much more in cost. Sine wave inverters have the same type of output as our home AC. Square wave inverters use much less power in idle mode vs sine wave inverters when on but not used. I prefer the 3rd world power for there are not many applications where I use motors. Going to a higher power inverter means pulling more amps from the battery. Plan on putting a class "T" fuse between the inverter and battery for safety precautions. Amp hour capacity of the coach battery bank will determine how long you can run the microwave before a hitting a deep discharge. Cheers, Gary Edited August 15, 2012 by Gary_M Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WME Posted August 16, 2012 Share Posted August 16, 2012 A pure sine converter will let your microwave run at full power, so it won't run as long as it would with a modified sine wave converter. This would help with your battery life. In any case your going to be pulling about 100 amps out of your battery. Remember its bad to discharge a battery below 50%. So use that as you calculate how long your battery would last. Running the engine would be a big help when running the microwave.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waiter Posted August 16, 2012 Share Posted August 16, 2012 check into the microwave power, the number thrown around is "cooking power". i.e. 1000 watts. look around on the back of the unit, it will have a placard that says how many "Volts" and "Amps" - multiply the volts times amps and that will give you watts. A lot depends on how you plan to use the inverter. we use ours about 10 minutes, just heat up leftovers on an overnight stop, then make a pot of coffee the following morning. The longest we've stayed in one spot on coach power was 36 hours during a blizzard. We started the truck once or twice to recharge the coach battery. Heres a link to my inverter install: http://toyotamotorho...?showtopic=3682 JOhn Mc 88 Dolphin 4 Auto Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanAatTheCape Posted August 18, 2012 Share Posted August 18, 2012 i use a cobra 400 watt continuous 800 watt peak. - walmart.com about $35 - Love truck stops was selling them for about $40 earlier this summer. I wired it directly to the cabin battery. it runs laptop, charges cell phones, camera batteries etc. I start my honda 2000 when I want the microwave which is rare . how much inverter of course depends on what you want to run. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
86rader Posted August 19, 2012 Author Share Posted August 19, 2012 Just remembered I have an old UPS laying in the basement. It is a APC UPS used to keep PCs running long enough to bring them down properly. Anyhoo, I was thinking of just wiring this to the coach battery and see how it does. I would have to disconnect the annoying alarm that tells you it is on battery back up. I do have a bit of a concern that it is not designed to run for more than a few minutes at a time. Guess I will just hook it up with a few things connected and see if it melts down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maineah Posted August 20, 2012 Share Posted August 20, 2012 A lot of UPS use transformers they are not very efficient but they are clean. They do not have to run long so efficiency is not important but in your case battery life is. I would stick with a quality inverter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
90toydolphin Posted August 20, 2012 Share Posted August 20, 2012 decent inverters have gotten really cheap, not worth messing with imo. add up the watts at 120 volts you want to run. then divide by 12, that will be the number of amps you need from your batter. sample below. you want to run tv at 10 watts, dvd at 8 watts, ac frig at 5 amps start up, ie 600 watts. those come to 613 watts. divide by 12 and you get about 51 amps. now your battery has a rating on it somewhere. you want the reserve amps, not starting amps. group 27 deep cycle about 100 at best. so take the reserve amps and divide by total amps you need, in this case you would would get a little under 2. so your battery would have enough power to run everything fewer than 2 hours, regardless of the output of your inverter. the other thing to consider is that you really don't want to be draining your battery totally dead on a regular basis, half dead is preferable to extend the life of the battery. so ideally you wouldn't use them all for more than about an hour. not real practical to run all that unless you add a bank of batteries to increase your available reserve amps to make it worth while. i put in one that was bigger than really needed, but like the idea it never gets warm enough to turn on the cooling fan in the inverter. you can also run the numbers backwards to see how many reserve amps you would need to run what you want to for as long as you want to. i used 5 amps on the ac frig because that is about what little ac units use. not sure about the 3 way. it would be really cool if all you had to do was get a bigger inverter and run everything for lots of hours between charges, but that's not the way it is. can't change the way electric works, at least it hasn't been done yet. i have used here information i have gained over the last year on this site and others, i'm not pretending to be an electrical engineer and the formula watts = amps X volts and the algebraic equivalent amps = watts divided by volts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
86rader Posted August 21, 2012 Author Share Posted August 21, 2012 Good point, Maineah, about UPS's being more concerned with clean power than efficient operation. Looks like i will have to break down and spend a whole 40 bucks or so on one. Have been looking at used ones on CL and feebay. Will probably go that route. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
90toydolphin Posted August 23, 2012 Share Posted August 23, 2012 not sure what size you decided on, but i found in my area the used ones were more money than new. i found an 800 watt for $40 new. the prices have really come down the last few years and i think those with the used ones aren't aware and paid big dollars for theirs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stamar Posted August 23, 2012 Share Posted August 23, 2012 where is the 800 watt one for 40$? Im looking for at laest 200 watt onee now just for a larger laptop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
90toydolphin Posted August 24, 2012 Share Posted August 24, 2012 i just did the google search for inverter, think i ended up getting through amazon. i also got a 175 watt for our laptop, plugs in lighter. might be a little big and cause the fuse to burn. we have used it without any problems so far. it was a few months ago. just looked, lots under 30, the same one i bought, cobra 800 is listed at 43.76. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stamar Posted August 25, 2012 Share Posted August 25, 2012 k at harbor frieght their 200 is 20 their 400 is 30. so for th 90w laptop it recomends 180... so im brainstorming ideas on what I would need a 400 watt for. possibly a big tv? or 800 watts what does that put me in the league of? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eve "n" Stephen Posted August 25, 2012 Share Posted August 25, 2012 With my 400 watt inverter, I can use my digital projector (220 watts) and set up a screen behind my Sunrader. Go to the drive-in anywhere! Pretty amazing to watch a Blu-ray (25 watts for player) movie out in the wilds from the wrap around windows, very cool. I'll admit, I've only done it once, just to try it out. Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davidadro Posted August 25, 2012 Share Posted August 25, 2012 I Bought a Motor Trend 400/800 watt inverter that has 2 plug-ins, came with 4 fuses, and a direct connect to battery cable for 45 bucks and change. I believe I got it at Auto Zone. It’s has a good strong fan and a 2 year warranty and hard carry case. I bought this for my company vehicle, as I need to run my laptop while running service calls, and was reimbursed, so the price was not too much of a concern. You can get a 400 watt at the inverterstore.com for 34 bucks with free ground shipping. Here's the website, they have all power outputs available. Their 800 watt starts at only 69 bucks http://www.theinverterstore.com/inverters-by-watts-800w-1500w.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stamar Posted August 26, 2012 Share Posted August 26, 2012 I cant come up with something I have that uses a 400 watt inverter but not a 200 watt. so Im about to just pull the trigger on the 200 watt, with the direct battery clamps. my only items at the moment are a laptop and a drill battery chargers. the coffemaker and the microwave are both 750 watt which need a 1250 inverter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
86rader Posted August 26, 2012 Author Share Posted August 26, 2012 I just bid on a used 500W tripp-lite. It is quite a bit larger and heavier than a typical newer 500W model. The nice thing is, given its extra size and probably much larger heat sinks, it can get by without a fan. I assume this means a slight improvement in overall efficiency and I don't have to listen to the fan run. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeffrey Posted August 29, 2012 Share Posted August 29, 2012 (edited) The writer of this piece "was" (article written in 2002) traveling in a "21' MH". Good stuff on Inverters. Inverters by Phred http://www.phrannie.org/invert.html In addition... RV Solar Electric has been around for years. Great name brand products, reliable products, reasonably priced products (you get what you pay for). http://www.rvsolarelectric.com/index.php?route=product/category&path=20 Edited August 29, 2012 by Jeffrey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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