I do alot of no campsite camping that invovles no hook ups, and I am looing to buy a invertor, I see that a 1500W invertor that surges to 3000w being ample but let me know if it is. I plan to run anonther 125 amp deep cycle battery to bring it up to two and the uses are usually microwave to heat a meal or so, the kids watch the tv and dvd on rain days and maybe a toaster or somthing. Anybody ahve any thoughts. I plan down the road to put in solar panles possibly or maybe I'll justvfire up the generator once a day it is just so loud

 

Your microwave will likely make that size of inverter struggle. On my system I have 4 deep cycle 6 volt batteries, a 1750 watt inverter, and two 75 watt solar panels. It works well with the toaster and coffee pot but struggles with the microwave (depends on your microwave wattage). We can make several pots of coffee and the panels will recharge the batteries adequately however we do not camp continually, it is mostly weekend camping and the batteries are still being topped up during the week.

 

Smokeman is right. I have a Prosine 2000w inverter. Buying an inverter is not the place to skimp. And, while you are at it, do yourself a favor and make sure it is also a battery charger. The Prosine is a three stage smart charger that will not boil the water out of your batteries, will peak them and hold them there. You will pay the difference in the first set of batteries you have to buy. You will need 2000w if you even dream of running the microwave. And, you will need a minimum of 4/0 twelve volt wires - - really big suckers. If you want to run hair dryers, coffee pot, get 2000w. It is best to plan on a 300a catastrophe fuse in the 12v line.

Do yourself another favor and buy two 6v true deep cycle golf cart style batteries, something like the Trojan T-105. If you have a smart charger they will last you will not replace batteries for 4 or 5 years.

Do not add a second new 12v battery in parallel to a used battery. One bad thing about parallel batteries is the weakest battery pulls the other down to its level. If you replace one, you need to replace both. Now is the best time to bite the bullet and buy 2 - 6'ers. You can pull true deep cycles down lower without hurting them and they will take multiple times more recharges than the RV/Marine battery. Try this website for some good reading and laughs at "Phred". He has great info on batteries and inverters written in plain English.

www.phrannie.org

 

Hey thanks FiverBob for that usefull web site on batteries & such. I book marked it into my favorites for some later reading. Alot of good info there.

 

Phred is a riot at times. I learned a lot from that site. Glad you could use it.

 

Aren't most microwaves like 900-1000W ??

 

I think I'll just start a fire I never imagined it would be this complicated to heat a bottle of milk

 

Good idea Build a woodstove into your trailer

 

Most all of your equipment you are going to plug into this thing will have a label on the bottom or the back telling you the maximum or average wattage. Make a list of all the numbers off all the equipment and add them up. Just remember, when you first turn thing on that have inductive motors and such, they will have an inrush current higher than the normal operating current, hence, the inverter will state 1000 watts constant, 3000 inrush, or max. After adding up all the numbers, give yourself some cushion. Multiply by 1.25 or 1.5. If you can afford that one, get it.

Hope this helps.

 

Yeah...... Usually starting loads are like 2X....... I believe so if you had a 1000W microwave wouldn't an inverter that will surge to 3,000 W be fine?

 

Yes, a 3000W surge for a 1000W microwave would be great, until the ol' lady plugs in a hair dryer in the other room.

I really like the "Good idea Build a woodstove into your trailer" idea above!

Rock on!

 

There are lots of other things to consider in an inverter, such as output waveshape, idle current, efficiency. If you intend to run the computer or TV on it, you want a sine wave output. Look for the lowest idle current as possible to prevent additional drain on the batteries. Efficiency obviously reduces the amount of current the inverter draws to produce a given output power. In inverters, you get what you pay for. And, a little larger is a lot better than not quite enough.

 

Don't skimp on the 12V cables you use to power your inverter. There are lots of amps flowing thru the cables, and if you choose to run long cable lengths in 12V (rather than 110V) you'll need some thick 00 or better wires.

Next thing to consider is fuses. Think of an arc welder if those hundred amps short out. Its cheaper to replace a fuze than any high priced mechanism that you were powering a moment before. You can find fuses like that at any Boaters World etc....

If you're still unsure, look up Ohms Law when converting 12V-amps to 110V-amps.

Disregarding the little 400W inverter that plugs into a cigarette lighter to power a DVD and TV in the vehicle, I wouldn't buy anything less than a 2KW inverter. I have and use both types. I've run wet vacs, refrigerators, air compressers etc with the bigger one. I didn't buy the bigger one to use for camping, but mostly for emergency uses when the power goes away (or there isn't any power available).

 

Ohm's law? Impressed to see that on the message board! Ah, I see. A retired navy man, this Chris. (assuming that is what USN means)

Greenworks, looks like it is unanimous. Bigger is better and don't cheat on the wires and fuses. Also consider breakers instead of fuses. They will cost more, but you can reset the breakers at a remote locaion if you don't have any fuses left. Just remember to buy breakers rated for 12 volts on the DC side and one rated for 120 volts on the AC side. Remember KISS. Keep It Simple Stupid. Works for me.

 

We bought a generator during the ice storm of 2000 that was so loud it was almost unbearable. After putting duals and glass-paks on my Ram 1500, I had a BIG muffler laying around so I put it on the generator. IT's mounted on a small trailor like you pull behind a lawn mower. Welded a bell flange to the muffler and used some flex pipe so vibration would'nt break weld. Runs so quiet you can here the piston going up an down.