heavy duty hardwired inverter

[Arcticat]

I'll be making a trip later this month to stay at a remote vacation camp in Maine with no electricity. I would love to be able to avoid having to listen to a generator every time I want to listen to the radio or run the microwave, and I was considering instead purchasing a heavy duty inverter, which would be directly wired to the dual batteries. I was looking at the Statpower 3000 which has a 5000W surge capacity. http://www.xantrex.com/Products/Inverters/Portawattz/portawattz3000.html

Has anybody here done something like this? Any potential problems? Could I do possible damage to my electrical system? Thanks for any ideas.

 

[Casey Balvert]

Inverters rated that high provide some serious power. If you utilize that serious power your batteries will last about 15 minutes flat. Automotive batteries are not designed for that kind of use. And you would need a huge bank of deep cycle batteries for an inverter that size. Ten minutes of that microwave is about all you will get. You can run a small TV or a radio for a while, but again, automotive batteries are not meant for that kind of cycling.



Regardless, you will wreck your truck batteries after running them flat a half dozen times. Roughing it may be cheaper.



Just my opinion.



Casey

 

[illflem]

5kw generators, especially with a Honda engine, are very quiet, reliable and will set you back only a little more than a large inverter. And as the CC ad says - having your truck start every morning, priceless.

 

[DBR]

I would consider using a Honda EUI series generator instead of an inverter of that large size. As stated, you will not be able to carry enough batteries to run an inverter of that size and load for any lextended length of time... I have the Honda EUI 3000 which works well powering my 25' travel trailer.

 

[PRout]

In my last truck I had an inverter about that capacity permanently mounted in a storage space in the bed. Had a regular light switch, & an AC outlet at the back of the truck. Used 2/0 Welding cable to power it off of 4 Delco voyager batts in the truck.



Was a really handy setup, although like the guys have mentioned it pulls a LOT of juice. If you hooked up a refrigerator up at night, the batts would be dead in the morning. It also takes a lonnng time to get 4 batts recharged too.



Running a small 5k size window Air conditioner would run about 4-5 hrs until brownout. Had to wire up some relays to release the on/off ckt when the voltage dropped to keep from burning things up when the batts were dying.



It was very nice for short-time apps, like running a power drill for projects etc.



Not practical for a refridge, or A/C unit.



Also, be very careful of the Modified sine-wave output. It is not compatible with all electronic devices. For example, it fried the power supply in a ham radio amplifier. It puts lines in the TV that I used. It almost burned up a paper shredder that we had hooked up to an office backup ckt that was running off of it for a few hrs (got very hot & smelled like it was burning up). It was pretty cool to be able to supply power from my truck in the parking lot though. Kinda felt like Mcguyver.



Like the guys say, if your going to spend the money, Id also go for a honda EU series generator. Ive since done the same thing, and like the generator (eu3k). It also puts out very clean power. The only drawback, is the noise factor. The inverter was silent.



If you are really set on going with the inverter, consider spending the extra money for a "Full sine-wave" output type. You will have alot less problem in the end run. Also a set of Trojan L-16 6v batts would power it nicely (if you can find a place to put them).

 

[rjones]

Aren't the power inverters of that size made to be used while the engine is on? I have friends that have the 3000w continous thats hard wired and the truck has to be running to operate anything with hi of watt usage... ... . Rick

 

[The patriot]

Originally posted by rjones

Aren't the power inverters of that size made to be used while the engine is on?

Yup. Unless you got a buttload of batteries.

My brother's buddy wrecks ambulances. He gave me an inverter for free.

If you find a place that does this, you could probibally get one real cheap.

Eric

 

[PRout]

Running a microwave wont be much problem, unless you run it a long time. Just heating things up for a few minutes wont hurt your batts, and it would actually make for a handy setup.



We did this when we had our popup camper, and just ran an extension cord outside and put the microwave (and can-opener ) on a bench and ran it there. Never had a problem running it just for heating up stuff.



Its when you decide to pull a big load for a half hour or so (depending on your battery bank) is when the batterys will start begging for mercy. Just make sure you run heavy power cables, and itll run right.