edwinsmith

Unfortunately, induction motors will not run at all on Square waves. Thet's why they make Modified square wave inverters. Most electronic devices use capacitor imput powersupplies which take all of their power from the peak of the sine wave which is hard to supply.

A laptop shouldn't pull more than 150 watts even when charging the battery. Check the power supply and see what it's input power requirements are.

The power factor might be more of a problem though because of the inverter peak current capabilities. Normally it's house wiring that causes power factor problems and sometimes as much as 40% overcapacity is necessary. In other words, for each 100 watts of Capacitor input load you need 140 watts of peak power capability to keep the peaks of the sine wave from being clipped. You can really see this effect by putting a scope on the line. Bigger wires all the way out to the pole.

Edwin

Jim Lane

Check this site and read the explanation on the wave form and the problems associated with devices you are trying to power.
Important thing to remember is to feed it well with a decent size wire to the battery and not through the lighter or power outlet. Besides limiting the output of the inverter it will not be good for the wiring in your truck and could melt some wires. Larger ones can draw in the 100's of amps under a full load. I have mine cabled with #2 ga welding cable connected directly to the 8-D deep cycle battery. There is a 250 amp "T" fuse on the Pos terminal and total length of the cable is less than 3'
Jim.
http://www.xantrex.com/support/readf...did=268&p=1348