I just installed a 1200W/3200W peak inverter in my truck. I used 4AWG to go to the starting batteries from under the driver's seat and a 80A fuse at the battery. The unit seems to perform very well. I'm using the unit for dry camping to run small appliances on occasion and am not trying to use it as a generator replacement.

My question is this: I know I should leave the engine running to keep from deep-cycling my starting batteries. Will this have a negative effect on the alternator? At fulll load, the inverter pulls about 111 amps from the battery (W/V=A, (plus 10% for inefficiency) right?)

The alternator is 165A, am I gunna blow sumthin up? I don't plan to run the unit at full capacity; I bought the oversized inverter because it was cheaper than the 900W because of a sale.

 

The wire size is ok... As far as keeping the engine running... Nah... unless you plan to use it for running a fan all night or powertools or refrigerator or something... Where did you mount it?? One thing you might do is get a deep cycle battery and put it in the bed to run the inverter and let it get charged by the alternator. You will probably need a battery isolator to do that but it would be better than cycling you primary batteries...

 

That efficiency (90%) is probably too high. Figure maybe 75% efficient.

~Rob

 

Thanks for the input. I put it under the driver's seat. Surprisingly, there is plenty of clearance and airflow (no power seats here) and the outlets are easily accessible. Only drawback is having to run an extension cord inside the truck, but it's not too bad otherwise.

 

Make sure to clean it out pretty frequently... They will collect a LOT of trash and lent down there even when they are not running... I use an air hose and blow it out >> works pretty well... I mounted mine (700w) under the glove box so that you can only see the face and it pick up a lot of lent and the fans gets out of balance and makes a lot of noise.

OG

 

Will do; thanks for the heads up. I would have never thought about it.

 

I don't think I would use it off the alternator, or the electrical system
of the truck. Just to many electronic stuff in the new trucks,
expensive to fix,
I think I would run a seperate RV battery with an isolation relay
and only run the inverter when the RV battery is isolated from the system.