Perusing inverters for the car so that I could charge my laptop, camera batteries, etc. on a drive. This one at Amazon is getting high ratings.

Anyone here have experience with it or recommend some other inverter?


http://www.amazon.com/BESTEK-inverter-ad...nDateDescending


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+1 to Izzy's comment about getting one with a cable.

I have an old "Portawattz" 300 that I may have bought at Costco many years ago, and it has a 3 foot cable. This has proved itself very valuable and useful. My Forester has 3 12 volt outlets: dash, in the panel between the seats (hidden inside the compartment, but with a cable run) and in the back. The all in one would only fit in my outlet all the way in the rear. I have used my inverter in all 3 because the cable fits anywhere.

Since it has lasted about 10 years, I guess you could say I'm happy with it. It stays in the car at all times.

Check out reviews on fan noise,some are pretty obnoxious.

The Prius has an accessible 12V outlet on the passenger below the dash, and another in a not too bad spot in the center console. For several years I've used an inverter similar to the one shown without a USB connection without any issues. FWIW for dedicated 'car' devices I tend to also purchase dedicated 12V inverters so they can be powered and charged as we go along - such as a Garmin GPS and another for my Yaesu HT. Plug them in and mostly forget about them.

Keep in mind that the higher amperage inverters require more draw than a cigarette lighter plug is designed to provide. I believe most of them have a 10 amp fuse. I suspect Izzy's 500 watt job was hard wired. If you want to go big, prepare to run some high gauge wire directly to the battery.

500/20=41 Amps.

If the vehicle came with an actual cigarette lighter then the outlet will have to be at least 20 Amps, otherwise the element won't heat-up or the fuse would blow. So ignoring inverter inefficiency, the biggest unit you could safely run off 20A is 240W. Older vehicles were 30 Amps, so could handle up to 360W.

You can't just stick a bigger fuse in; the wiring itself has to support the load.

If you want to run new wire to the battery to support a larger inverter you need to choose the right gauge wire. This chart will tell you what size wire is needed, based on current draw and loop distance.

http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/amps-wire-gauge-d_730.html

Note that for DC, the frame is the same as the battery. So instead of running ground all the way back to the battery, just connect it to a nearby frame point to save wire distance and, possibly, going up to a heavier-gauge wire.

To convert watts to amps divide by 12.

I owned one similar to this.. it worked fine for powering my laptop, however it would get hot.. and the fan was louder than I was expecting. It lasted right up to the point that my sons leg snapped it getting into the car when I had it plugged into the back seat power port.

If I were to do it again, I'd mount one under the passenger seat and run power cables directly to the battery.. and get one in the the 750 - 1000w range as they NEVER seem to put out what they claim they do, or if they do, it's for like 3 minutes before they shut down.

RNewcomb has a good idea IMO. Its a reasonably sized inverter with much better utility without much cost really.

For 200 bucks or so with wiring kit you could have one of these,its true sine wave (utility grade) output vrs modified sine wave of cheapo inverters that can have problems with many devices,esp. those with any electronic clock or some batteries.

You want to really be able to charge the Xantrex prowatt series will give HUGE bang for your buck.A Xantrex inverter is about as good as they get.

They come in 600/1000/and 2000watt models,the 2000 watt is only about 369.00 at places like Hodges Marine who seem to have good inverter prices.Thats a lot of power get some good battery cable sized wire and short run of wire to really do it right.As noted before proper wiring is essential to get full power output,folks who dont write bad reviews because product cant perform at spec.




Xantrex PROWatt 600 watt Inverter, Model# 806-1206
by Xantrex
4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (23 customer reviews) |
Price: $176.99

http://www.amazon.com/Xantrex-PROWatt-Inverter-Model-806-1206/dp/B002O5P8BA

Only 3 left in stock.
Ships from and sold by Savingalot.
44 new from $172.80
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For running just from the main car battery 600 watts is a large load,you want one that will shut down before running battery down,and charging while running vehicle works well.

Spuds has it - the Xantrex Puresine is the seriously the cadillac of inverters. I've looked at these before and they at the top of my list. The power is not only incredibly clean, power supplies of all types love them as they are most like you residential power and they play nice with big things like higher-amp compressor motors and the like.

I have no need for an inverter in the truck. My chosen computer for the truck is an Apple iPad which uses the same 12v charger as came with my iPhone. However, the mophie battery/case I have for my iPhone is charged from a standard USB port; for that I have a two port USB output in one of my truck's 12 volt outputs.

My battery charger has input options for both a 100-240v 50/60 Hz ac and a 12v dc. It will charge AAA-D NiCad/NiMH as well as 9 volt so I'm fully covered for charging batteries.

A power inverter is something that some of my gear would need, but I don't plan to take those items in the truck.