Club 80-90 Forums

hi. guys, had a look on wiki cannot find it, so here goes can anyone explain in simple terms what a power inverter is, and what does it do, also how useful is it in our everyday camping and if i bought one what size is best & who have the best deals. , aaaaaaaand as her indoors says do i really need one. thanks in advance for any advise cheers rick.

It converts a 12Volt DC power supply to a 230 Volt AC power supply

so that you can use household Mains appliances from a Car battery

I must add here that 230Volt electric heaters of any description cannot be used due to the Amperage involved.

However.... TV's ...X-box ... phone chargers.. lamps.. laptops.. shavers.. DVD players... can.

I have a 600 watt inverter and use it for my 17" LCD Tv whilst we are travelling long distances
along with the X-box.

As Kev says, You can run the hair dryer, TV, Dvd player etc will be running off your leisure battery, but remember the equipment will be drawing 20 times the current it would on mains.

T

Quoted 600watt would not power the average hair dryer (1000-1500watts)
So obviously consumers upto 600watts (look at the continuos figure as this is often lower)
Remember they are pretty inefficient and higher consumers will quickly flatten your leisure battery.
Occasionally useful, although I haven't used mine once in the last year.
Martin

For a good deal on inverters try Towsure, their web site will give you a run down on them. Just campers are a rip off so stear away. Also Halfords have a few decent ones the price isn't great but it's better than JK and there's Halfords everywhere if you can't get to a a Towsure branch.
Also try looking on Towsure web under electrical/12volt appliances for a hair dryer, they have a 12v 160watt one for under a tenner. I can't vouch for how efficient it is but it will keep the Mrs happy.

Maplins usually have them at very reasonable cost

From experience I'd recommend you avoid the cheap ones on eBay, especially from Hong Kong etc. They can be pretty pants and if like me you get sent a dud you'll rip your hair out in frustration trying to get it replaced.