Inverter Question

Yeah I have the TV already. I thought of buying a 12 volt TV but I would still need 110 for the box. I'm just wanting to not have to run the genny every time one of the kids want to watch a show.

Have you bought the TV yet? My 12 volt TV works great and use very little power.
The satellite receiver is what gives me the problems its a dish 211.

Hi eyetatto,

Ah, but in the "real world" there is this nasty thang called "in rush current". I certainly would not use a 50 watt inverter--and in fact in your shoes I'd use a 300 watt. Why? Because the capacitors in the 300 watt will be lots larger--and therefor "surge" (another name for in rush) may be better taken care of.

I started with a 50, then got a 150, then a 300, then a 700, then 1000, and now I'm pretty happen with a 2500 watt inverter. None of the above were pure sine wave. The 150 and up ran my laptop computers just fine.

That said, pure sine wave in the 300 watt range is fairly inexpensive, and even a 600 watt psw can be had for very little money.

I am looking for a 3000 to 4000 watt psw unit.

Eyetattoo wrote:
So I'm trying to figure out how much "power" I actually need. I don't want to buy something that is way too big, seeing as that would be just a waste of money. Below is a link to my TV and from what I see it draws 25.8 watts. My sat box is a non-HD non-DVR Directv box and it looks like it should draw somewhere between 10-20 watts from what I found on the second link. So if these figures are correct do I really only need 50 watts of power for the two? Thanks!

Vizio TV

Directv Box

Hi Shooted,

In theory, yes the fuse will blow. In real life what may end up happening is voltage drop causing the inverter alarms. Never once have I blown a fuse running a 700 watt inverter from a cigarette lighter outlet.

shooted wrote:

dahkota wrote:
If the outlet only carries 150W, the inverter will only supply 150W.

I disagree with this statement. The inverter will not limit itself to the limited amperage available at the 12 volt socket. It will pull whatever it needs and blow the fuse on the 12 volt circuit.
Edit;
On second read of this, yes, the inverted circuit would be limited to a supply of 150 watts of course, but one would have to limited this themselves or risk blowing the 12 volt fuse.

Put "cigarette lighter inverter" into Google.
Should find something under $30.

So I'm trying to figure out how much "power" I actually need. I don't want to buy something that is way too big, seeing as that would be just a waste of money. Below is a link to my TV and from what I see it draws 25.8 watts. My sat box is a non-HD non-DVR Directv box and it looks like it should draw somewhere between 10-20 watts from what I found on the second link. So if these figures are correct do I really only need 50 watts of power for the two? Thanks!

Vizio TV

Directv Box

dahkota wrote:
If the outlet only carries 150W, the inverter will only supply 150W.

I disagree with this statement. The inverter will not limit itself to the limited amperage available at the 12 volt socket. It will pull whatever it needs and blow the fuse on the 12 volt circuit.
Edit;
On second read of this, yes, the inverted circuit would be limited to a supply of 150 watts of course, but one would have to limited this themselves or risk blowing the 12 volt fuse.

My 300 watt inverter will not run my cable box and hard drive for the DVr pluged in! It has to be hard wired to the battery's which are at the other end of the trailer from the TV.
That being said next time around I will buy one that's bigger and I will hard wire it in to my breaker panel. And have one circuit that only works through the inverter.
Gary

Hi,

Go Power, Samlex, and Morningstar are used by lots of folks in their RV's. They are similarly priced to the ones you listed, and are known to be quality units.

What do you think of these two inverters?
180 Watt Pure Sine Wave Power Inverter

Wagan EL2601 Elite 400W Pro Pure Sine Inverter