Using a small Inverter
My skill with electricity and electronics are limited but I had an idea and am not sure if this is a good idea. I have an inverter in my trunk not doing much, that I was given for Christmas a few yea...
Forum Discussion
175 MSW - what you call non-sinusoidal - is all I have. Cost me $25 on Amazon. Using it for electric shaver, charging cordless drill, phone, laptop. When charging a laptop, I sometimes run the laptop at the same time, so my understanding is that it's running directly from inverter on such occasions, plus charging the laptop battery with whatever amps are left after running the laptop. No problems.
From what I hear, laptops normally don't have issues with MSW. Some TV sets "might".
Now, if you ask me why I don't run laptop from 12V cig lighter socket, avoiding the inverter losses, considering that laptop is essentially a DC machine - this is because I DON'T HAVE a 12V receptacle in my trailer :)... No kidding. Darn Dutchmen (aka Thor Industries) forgot to install it. Or they were cheaper yet than me and didn't want to spend $20 in parts and labor.
So you don't need inverter for laptop or a phone if you have a 12V receptacle. All you need is a car charger cable for laptop or phone. But all the other devices it's easier to run off the inverter, because they either have their own different "wall wart", or don't work on 12V DC, ex. a 120V shaver.
Keep in mind that 12V receptacle is only rated to 100W. If you need more load on the inverter, you need to wire it directly to the battery.
You can get a sinusoidal inverter, called Pure Sine Wave (PSW), at 3 times the cost.
From what I hear, laptops normally don't have issues with MSW. Some TV sets "might".
Now, if you ask me why I don't run laptop from 12V cig lighter socket, avoiding the inverter losses, considering that laptop is essentially a DC machine - this is because I DON'T HAVE a 12V receptacle in my trailer :)... No kidding. Darn Dutchmen (aka Thor Industries) forgot to install it. Or they were cheaper yet than me and didn't want to spend $20 in parts and labor.
So you don't need inverter for laptop or a phone if you have a 12V receptacle. All you need is a car charger cable for laptop or phone. But all the other devices it's easier to run off the inverter, because they either have their own different "wall wart", or don't work on 12V DC, ex. a 120V shaver.
Keep in mind that 12V receptacle is only rated to 100W. If you need more load on the inverter, you need to wire it directly to the battery.
rwbradley wrote:
Is there a way to solve this {non-sinusoidal} issue?
You can get a sinusoidal inverter, called Pure Sine Wave (PSW), at 3 times the cost.
