1200W Inverter

[Nick]

I bought this 1200W power inverter (12Vdc to 120V, 60Hz ac) yesterday and, although I have no specific current needs, I'm looking to the future and thinking of the various ways I can put this monster to use.

It's output is 1200W sustained, 3000 peak "modified" sine wave (stepped), not a pure sinusoidal wave pattern. About five years ago I rigged up a 20" tube-type TV and a VCR to a small 300W inverter for the grandkids to have movies on a long road trip and it worked very well. Here's a short list of uses off the top of my head. I would appreciate having the benefit of your brilliant ideas as well, within the rated 1200W capacity of the unit, of course.

- off-site use of a/c-only power tools
- recharging batteries of 'cordless' tools
- remote construction sites
- emergency power for appliances, especially refrigerator/freezer
- TV, VCR DVD
- satellite receiver
- camp lighting
- outdoor sound system
- emergency lighting, communications, medical gear
- remote car repairs

What I don't know yet is how well, if at all, a power-sensitive electronic device such as my laptop pc will do operating on a stepped sine-wave. Any experience in this area, or other ideas?

[AllieVi]

... What I don't know yet is how well, if at all, a power-sensitive electronic device such as my laptop pc will do operating on a stepped sine-wave. Any experience in this area, or other ideas?I expect your laptop will work just fine. The power you're supplying is being used to recharge the internal battery which then generates the low-level DC voltages that the electronics actually need. A stepped wave should work just fine for that application. In essence, a laptop has its own uninterruptible power supply built in.

On a side note, here's a suggestion for anyone wiring his/her own house. I regret not installing a special UPS circuit throughout the house to places where I eventually put electronic devices that use little power, but would benefit from not losing it (the telephone answering machine, clocks, laptops, etc.). Most of those devices include a battery backup feature, but for some reason the clocks always run fast and need to be reset and the answering machine battery life is very short. The money I would have saved by not having to replace all those individual backup batteries would eventually pay for the wiring. A single high-power UPS could then power the entire system.

[DonLandis]

AllieVi-

Something you need to consider. I did here, what with now 13 computers in this home based business and a home theater. All of this is on 6 UPS systems. Each is of the 1500watt variety of UPS. But that is just good enough to shut things down safely. Not to run the operation.
I decided to investigate a generator addition that would allow me to run the system normally during extended (longer than 20 minute outages) While a 7KW generator is not expensive, I found that those low cost generators are not good for electronics, only for lights and some motors. The reason is regulation and wide voltage swings during surge currents. Generator engineer specialist was consulted and I found that the recommended generator was an inverter regulated generator. Honda makes good ones but are about 3x the cost. Today, I have one of these generator/inverter combo's installed and wired with a manual switch panel including meters to balance the circuits in my house. I can be on emergency power within a minute of an outage but I must do the switch manually. It is not whole house automatic. I have not scoped the sine wave from this source nor run it long enough to check for clock accuracy but from what I saw from Honda it is designed to handle that.


But when it comes to a simple inverter wiring, I'd have to ask, Nick, what will be your DC voltage supply? Just remember to figure the amperage on that DC side and use proper ga wire diameter to handle the current. Most of the time this is where people go wrong. They do not use heavy enough wiring for the size inverter in use. I have a 150 watt inverter in the van and it is wired with 7 ft. of #8 Ga wire from the battery posts in the engine compartment. This results in only a 0.5 VDC drop under full load. Then, I use a 0.5 mfd capacitor to cut the inverter noise from getting into my sound system. This is tied across the inverter DC input. There is a 30 amp fuse in line in case the capacitor shorts.

[Richard King]

Nick: I used a small inverter to power my laptop to use with my GPS receiver on my national tour last summer. It worked great all the way and the laptop still works just fine. When the laptop battery was fully charged I would use the inverter to recharge the batteries for my GPS receiver. The one I had ran off the cigarette lighter. One nice feature of my car is that I have 3 lighter locations, two in the normal front seat location and one in the cargo area. I had the inverter plugged into the rear outlet, leaving me one of the front ones for Sirius and the othe one available for cell phone charging if necessary.

[AllieVi]

Don,

Your need clearly goes far beyond that of a simple homeowner. A generator definitely makes sense for you.

My advice was for those of us with more typical residences. I was thinking more along the lines of supplying power to the kinds of devices I mentioned (clocks, answering machines and maybe a laptop computer). The kinds of things that typically have a small battery installed to keep them alive until power returns.

[Nick]

BTW, and I've said this before, for medium to whole-house gens, especially with critical apps, a permanently installed natural gas gen is more dependable and safer (if natgas is avail.), and no worries about availability or storage of gasoline.

Google on "kohler" for NG gens.

:backtotop

[Bogy]

Like Richard I use a 300 watt inverter to power my laptop with GPS. I tried a "cheap" ($35.95) inverter at Wal-Mart at first. It was rated at 400 watts surge, 200 watts continuous. It could not handle my laptop, which is rated at 90 watts continuous. I brought it back to Wal-Mart and exchanged it just in case the first one was defective. The excange was no better. (That reminds me, I was on vacation when this happened, and I still want to put my tester on it and see what the actual output is. Then I went to Radio Shack and bought their 300 watt inverter. No problems at all. The fan makes some noise, but with the road noise and the radio cranked up you don't even notice it. :)

1200 WATTS. You should be able to run a small office off that thing. :lol:

[Richard King]

Mine is a Belkin AC Anywhere and is rated at a mere 250 watts. It runs the laptop just fine, which is the reason that I bought it.

[Nick]

1200 WATTS. You should be able to run a small office off that thing. :lol:Yes, but it's mostly for emergency operations, plus I've been developing a worst-case emergency plan and kit that includes an inflatable boat, GPS, pair of 2-way walkie-talkies (GMRS), emergency scanner, flares, nylon rope and everything except the inflatable to fit into a waterproof floating "ICE Box" or soft-side bag with dye-marker, a radio beacon and an externally mountable strobe light, potable water and MRE - way beyond the usual band-aids and extra flashlight batteries - the depth of the situation in New Orleans has served to provide greater impetus to improve on and complete my preparations which will probably include some means of remotely-targeted self-defense.

Later, I'll post progress on my list of included (or recommended) items, all of which will neatly and safely tuck into a waterproof, floatable container, and along with the inflatable boat, will fit easily into a trunk or the back of an SUV, and will float, lashed together in the event of a flood or storm surge here on the Atlantic coast.

Hey, it can happen!

http://www.westmarine.com/images/full/rapidditch_f.jpg
Rapid Ditch Bag (http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10001&langId=-1&catalogId=10001&productId=54932)

http://www.westmarine.com/images/full/30413_f.jpg
Abandon Ship Floatable Bag (http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10001&langId=-1&catalogId=10001&productId=13858)

And if all else fails, this...

http://s7ondemand1.scene7.com/is/image/LillianVernon/007926?$250x188$

:D

[AllieVi]

Yes, but it's mostly for emergency operations, plus I've been developing a worst-case emergency plan and kit that includes an inflatable boat, GPS, pair of 2-way walkie-talkies (GMRS), emergency scanner, flares, nylon rope and everything except the inflatable to fit into a waterproof floating "ICE Box" or soft-side bag with dye-marker, a radio beacon and an externally mountable strobe light, potable water and MRE - way beyond the usual band-aids and extra flashlight batteries - the depth of the situation in New Orleans has served to provide greater impetus to improve on and complete my preparations which will probably include some means of remotely-targeted self-defense. ...Nick,

Save yourself all this aggravation. It almost never floods in the higher elevations of Arizona... :D

[Nick]

Nick,

Save yourself all this aggravation. It almost never floods in the higher elevations of Arizona... :DAlmost never...? :confused:

Thanks, Allie, now go get the spare bedroom ready - I'm packing my sinuses and sending them your way. :icon_da:

:)

[Bogy]

Mine is a Belkin AC Anywhere and is rated at a mere 250 watts. It runs the laptop just fine, which is the reason that I bought it.
The other aspect is what laptop you have. I've got a Toshiba Qosmio, 15" screen, and it's very bright. Particularly in the daytime is is very visible in the daylight. But it sucks energy like crazy. Very short batterytime. Which makes the inverter a necessity.

[Richard King]

Toshiba QosmioToshiba Quasimoto? Mine is a Compaq also with a 15" screen. I haven't played with enough laptops to know if the screen is anything special. I doubt that it is though since it was not a high buck machine at the time.

[AllieVi]

Almost never...? :confused:Someone once advised never to say an absolute "never." So I never do. :)

[Bogy]

Toshiba Quasimoto? Mine is a Compaq also with a 15" screen. I haven't played with enough laptops to know if the screen is anything special. I doubt that it is though since it was not a high buck machine at the time.
The Qosmio is a "media center" laptop with dvr. When I was shopping it had pretty much the brightest, best looking screen I saw, IMO. It's not the highest buck machine out there, but it was about $2500.

[Richard King]

Probably puts my $850 machine (from when $850 was a real bargain basement price) to shame.

[Bogy]

Probably puts my $850 machine (from when $850 was a real bargain basement price) to shame.
It's sweet. Like I said, it has a dvr built in. Can play TV with or without the "computer" turned on. Last week we drove down to Omaha. When my wife was driving I turned on the laptop and watched the Cards game. When needed I would switch over to the GPS. One of our daughters called and needed some advice on where to find a gas station on her way back to St. Louis, so I looked it up and gave her directions. The only drawback is that the battery only lasts about 2 hours, a little longer if you dim the screen. But with the inverter I really don't use it very often when I can't plug it in. For me it is a mobile computer, not a cordless computer.

[Richard King]

I don't think mine even lasts two hours. Maybe one if I am lucky.

[SimpleSimon]

Whew. OK. ots here.

My place has lots of UPSs - and a standard gasoline alternator (generator). The UPSs will condition the slightly unstable power from the generator. It gits-r-done.

I have 3 portable battery boxes with built-in lights and inverter. I've used two of them to power a desktop computer and monitor - just as an experiment. Worked fine.

Anyone that can call themselves a mountain (wo)man, has a nice pile of stuff in their car at all times. The only things we really have to worry about is blizzards, but water, snacks, and extra clothing can be useful at ANY time of year.