Power Inverters

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I have a 500W inverter fitted in my van, not that I use anything anywhere near that heavy but my 'better looking at it than looking for it' attitude persuaded me to fit a larger rated one just in case I ever needed that kind of mains power in the middle of nowhere.

At that kind of power draw, the leisure battery would be supplying 40+amps which of course is not sustainable for more than relatively short durations. Should I need that much power for any appreciable length of time my plan (untried thus far) is to start the van and attach jump leads across the starter and leisure batteries therby giving the leisure battery (which supplies the inverter) a direct link to the alternator via cables large enough to take the load - the split charge cables would be too small. In a perfect world I would also have someone with me to rev the engine a bit but I'm not sure if that would actually be necessary. Inverters are designed to cut off below a certain voltage so theoretically the starter battery would not go flat regardless.

Other than that, I just use it for charging phone, camera etc and running the laptop so they are a handy tool to have fitted to the van anyway.