Inverter---Which One For General Use, Like A 20" Televi

[Marylyn]

I was thinking that I would get an inverter to run my 20" television in the evening when I have no hookups so I don't have to run my generator. My house battery is strong enough to handle a few hours of TV, I think. I know I'm going to have to hook it up to the battery directly, so I want to know how others have done this.

It doesn't have to be a huge expensive inverter either, but what would be suggested in terms of size? Do I run an extension cord from the inverter which is clamped onto the battery? We have a 2653 and have not used it much yet, but this is one thing I'd like to be able to do. I go to dog shows and if I want to watch late night TV I'm out of luck because quiet time is after 11PM. Besides, I don't want to run the generator all night.

So, suggestions on brands, types and size? How about the ones at Walmart, I think my local Wally world has black and decker ones. Or, do I need a "pure sine wave" inverter? Please say no

[264SRinPA]

we use a small inverter for our tv. it's a 75 watt inverter that plugs into the 12 volt / cable outlet. we have a 19" LCD HDTV that only draws 50 watts of power. Just check how many watts your tv uses and get an inverter large enough. if you can stay under 100 watts you can just plug it into the 12 volt outlet. if you need more watts then you might have to wire it to the battery.

[Marylyn]

I just bought the Xantrex from Costco, I think it's 1500 watts and comes with cables. Then I saw the post a bit down the board asking a similar question. I know our television draws more than we can get from a cigarette lighter inverter, or very close to too much, because I have a 400 watt one that won't work for this.

I'm going to hook it up as needed and run an extension from the TV to the inverter, which will be up front near the battery. I think that's going to work okay, and probably avoid whatever interference I've read about in some inverter web pages.

Thanks, though, at least I'm not the only person who wants to watch TV, even mindless TV while camping.

[Honda03842]

The key point is that LCD Tv's take very little power. The simplist solution is a 75 watt cigarette lighter inverter for about $19.

We have a 15 inch LCD TV and it easily runs off a 75 watt cigarette lighter type inverter. Our dish satellite receiver is equally happy on a 75 watt inverter.

For more AC power we have installed a 1200 watt inverter connected directly to the battery, to allow us to make coffee and run our electric refrigerator. We bought this inverter at Walmarts for $119.

Norm Milliard

[Honda03842]

Oops.

Forgot to mention that you don't need the pure sine wave inverter. The unit I bought is the Whistler 1200 for $112. You never find one in a store but you can get it on line and they will deliver to your local store for pickup.

I basically plug the trailer into the output of my inverter, making sure that we don't use the electric hot water heater and that the converter is off.

Norm Milliard

[Marylyn]

Okay, Norm...

I think I understand why you would want to turn off the converter if the main plug on the trailer is plugged into the inverter...because it would be trying to charge the battery? Is that it? So how do you turn off the converter? And is this the only time that you would do that?

Don't have to worry about a hot water heater, ours is all gas, but the fridge...I wouldn't want to run that off the inverter just because gas is easier once it's going. But a coffee pot is a nice idea, I've begun to expect that my coffee has to brew with the gentle sound of a Honda 2000 purring in the background.

Thanks!

[Honda03842]

You're correct on the reaon for turning off the inverter. We added electric HWater because it saves gas, ditto for a small electric heater.

Our coffee pot is a rather light load, only 600 watt, and runs on the 1200 watts, peak 2400 watts. It only take 5 minutes to brew coffee so it doesn't pull the batteries down..

Norm