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bighatnohorse's avatar
bighatnohorse
Explorer II
Jul 13, 2016

DC current pull from a 150 w inverter with 14 w load?

Here's the set up: A 150 watt inverter is being used to power a small 14 watt appliance. (The inverter is a Tripp Lite and claims a 90 percent efficiency.) How much 12 volt DC current will be requ...
MrWizard's avatar
MrWizard
Moderator
Jul 13, 2016
at 90 percent eff, and a fully charged battery
the math says about 1.2 amps

reality is probably 1.5 amps 18~20 watts

that max efficiency is near the max output, operational overhead for the control circuit chips doesn't change so at very small loads the several hundred milli-amps of the control circuits skew the efficiency curve

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