Forum Discussion
BFL13
Jun 18, 2014Explorer II
I don't think the 750w inverter nor the 1000w one will do the job as described. eg, the PD converter has a power factor of 0.7 which makes its VA draw on the inverter near or over 1000.
Meanwhile the alternator has to be able to run the inverter and the vehicle and there are limits to that. I tried a version of doing that charging method and posted about it some time ago.
In my case I powered a 600w Vector 35a charger from a 1000w MSW inverter (no advantage to have PSW for this job) that worked ok, but the limit was in the truck.
The inverter was connected to the truck's battery with short fat wires so that was ok. The truck engine running (in idle--revving made no difference with this truck) was able to keep the truck's voltage (dash meter) needle pointing up at 14v as long as the inverter load was not too much.
When I tried to increase the inverter load by adding a second Vector charger but set to less than 35a at the 20a, I found the inverter could handle it (300w at 20a vs 600w at 35a so 900w total) but now the truck's voltage fell off, needle sagging down to the left. 10a more ok needle stays up quivering like it is on the verge of sagging down to the left again. So that is the limit. Got to keep the truck's voltage holding at 14v. (It helped when I shut off the truck's climate control too!)
So the OP set-up could work given that:
-the chosen inverter is high enough in watts to supply the VA draw of the PD converter, and
-The vehicle's 12v supply will be 'strong' enough to run the inverter plus the vehicles own requirements to hold its voltage at 14v. I know you can do better connecting from the alternator instead of the battery, so the OP method could be better than what I did for that part.
Meanwhile the alternator has to be able to run the inverter and the vehicle and there are limits to that. I tried a version of doing that charging method and posted about it some time ago.
In my case I powered a 600w Vector 35a charger from a 1000w MSW inverter (no advantage to have PSW for this job) that worked ok, but the limit was in the truck.
The inverter was connected to the truck's battery with short fat wires so that was ok. The truck engine running (in idle--revving made no difference with this truck) was able to keep the truck's voltage (dash meter) needle pointing up at 14v as long as the inverter load was not too much.
When I tried to increase the inverter load by adding a second Vector charger but set to less than 35a at the 20a, I found the inverter could handle it (300w at 20a vs 600w at 35a so 900w total) but now the truck's voltage fell off, needle sagging down to the left. 10a more ok needle stays up quivering like it is on the verge of sagging down to the left again. So that is the limit. Got to keep the truck's voltage holding at 14v. (It helped when I shut off the truck's climate control too!)
So the OP set-up could work given that:
-the chosen inverter is high enough in watts to supply the VA draw of the PD converter, and
-The vehicle's 12v supply will be 'strong' enough to run the inverter plus the vehicles own requirements to hold its voltage at 14v. I know you can do better connecting from the alternator instead of the battery, so the OP method could be better than what I did for that part.
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