how big of an inverter for Direct TV

Rmack1 wrote:

donn0128 wrote:
Remember you can turn off the dishes power once it has homed. So that is a savings. You are going to want a pure sine wave inverter to begin with. Get one around 800 watts and install it correctly and go happy.

I don't think that is true.

The only way I have of cutting off the power to my Trav'ler, short of unplugging it, is to hit the on/off button on the little controller box, and this would begin the shutdown/fold-up sequence.

I suppose I could try unplugging it, but that seems pretty inelegant. I would be surprised if it still functioned, but what do I know?

That's exactly how you do it. My traveler has been up for 5 months now and as soon as it locked onto the signal I unplugged and replugged it. No power draw. When I want to move or put it down all I do is turn it on, let it home and then do the normal power off. The antenna does not need any power feeding it after it has found the correct birds. The SWM power supply provides the 19V to the LNB. Just remember all of this stuff is drawing power all the time. So batteries are not going to last very long. That is the main reason I use a non SWM system when boon docking.

donn0128 wrote:
Remember you can turn off the dishes power once it has homed. So that is a savings. You are going to want a pure sine wave inverter to begin with. Get one around 800 watts and install it correctly and go happy.

I don't think that is true.

The only way I have of cutting off the power to my Trav'ler, short of unplugging it, is to hit the on/off button on the little controller box, and this would begin the shutdown/fold-up sequence.

I suppose I could try unplugging it, but that seems pretty inelegant. I would be surprised if it still functioned, but what do I know?

If it were me i would install a 600WATT PURE SINE WAVE INVERTER. Having more capacity doesnt cost you power drain until you use it... i.e. if your load is only 300WATTs then that is close to the power drain you will be drawing from your batteries...

I started out with just a 150WATT and went to 300WATTS right away. Then it wasn't too long after that I figured I would like some other "must have" units on when camping off the power grid so decided on the 600WATTS PURE SINE WAVE model.

Ocassionally I might draw more than 300WATTS and it is great that I can do it...

My normal drain is very close to 300WATTS.

I got the AIMS PURE SINE WAVE INVERTER from AMAZON for around $149 five years ago or so... I think they still have those for sale. There are several different PURE SINE WAVE INVERTER units you can purchase aorund this price range.

I installed my unit as close to the BATTERY BANKS as I could and then run the 120VAC extension cords to where I needed 120VAC. Using the short 4AWG 12VDC INPUT cable gives me good performance from my 600WATT PSW INVERTER. There is no loss to be concerned about on the 120VAC side of the INVERTER. You most likely won't be more that 12-20 feet away from the INVERTER...

AS you probably have discovered by now from the many posts in the past there really isnt many different ways to do this and be successful about it...

Having some reserve power is a good thing...

Roy Ken

Remember you can turn off the dishes power once it has homed. So that is a savings. You are going to want a pure sine wave inverter to begin with. Get one around 800 watts and install it correctly and go happy.