Inverters


T

thumbs

Member
What are the pros and cons of inverters? Do they eat up your battery power pretty quickley? I was considering getting one to run a tv, vcr and kitchen appliences. My guess is they aren't very efficient in the conversion. Do you guy's use them and how do you like them?

Thanks for the help
 
C Nash

C Nash

Senior Member
Inverters

Gary, no experience with the inverters but I would think they would be used more for short time use for tv and such. Most kitchen appliences would probably use up the battery pretty quick. We'll bump the question back to the top and maybe someone with inverters will respond. I would also like to know. No end to the gadgets we think we have to have :laugh:
 
B

Butch

New Member
Inverters

Gary,
Well, Yes, they will deplete "a" battery rather quickly. I have a bank of four T-105 golf cart batteries and they allow us to run the micro/convection oven for our meal then watch TV for our evening if we do not go out. IF the temps drop down to the zero mark, I will also run a very small AC heater set at 34° F. in my service bay. This along with running the furnace all night will get me thru the night and still not deplete the bank. Do bear in mind that if your invertor is turned on, it will absorb some amperage even tho you have nothing else turned on...
 
T

thumbs

Member
Inverters

Butch

Hey thanks for the info. Man that sounds like a lot of stuff. I am runnin two T-145's. Had to put them in to get my furnace to run all night. The original 12 volt was a joke. What inverter do you have?
 
H

hertig

Senior Member
Inverters

Note that inverters convert DC to AC. The crappy ones do it via a square wave waveform, which will give sensitive electronics fits. Better ones use a modified sine waveform which most electronics with tolerate with minimum effect. Best is a True Sine wave, which is essentially indistiguishable (and sometimes better) than shore power. Note that the bigger inverters often have top quality battery chargers built in...
 
R

rbraucht

New Member
Inverters

I installed a 42" plasma Tv in my motorhome with dual sattalite dishes for HDTV. I was really styling plugged into shore power. Then I headed to the desert and sat back to watch the tube and nothing worked.I had to fire up the generator to watch TV. Found out the high dollar TV only works on a pure sine wave. Went into hock for a Pro-Sine 300 watt inverter. Back to the desert I went, Kicked back and watched TV for two hours and found my 4 new golf cart batteries were depleted. This TV sucks so much power and gives off so much heat I shouldn't need a furnace next winter. Did some reasearch and discovered Rolls batteries. They are the real deal. They are pretty pricy but have a lifetime of 10 years instead of 3 like golf cart batteries. Also have twice the amp hours of the best golf cart batteries.
I wish I'd have learned to read. A good book only takes one light bulb. A whole lot cheaper.
Actualy, everything works fine now
 
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