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jornvango's avatar
jornvango
Explorer II
Mar 14, 2022

What size inverter do I need?

Our Casita trailer has one Duracell AGM battery and a 100V Renogy portable solar panel. By 11 AM, the battery is typically 100% charged so we don't use all that much (I presume). Inside the RV, we use LED lights and other than that, the 3-way fridge and water pump use the RV battery, as well as us charging an iPad and cell phone by using the 12V outlet in the RV.

Now ... for charging my laptop while we're traveling, I bought a (cheap) 400W inverter at Walmart to plug into the RV's 12V outlet. Since the laptop charger is 90W, the solar panel barely keeps up while the laptop is charging during the day, but it works fine.

Question: I want to use my electric hair clipper, perhaps once every two weeks for 10 minutes, to keep my hair short. The hair clipper says on the back "120V AC 60Hz 8W".
When I plug it into the 400W inverter however, the blades don't move fast enough to cut my hair. It works but it hurts my head while cutting so I can tell it needs more 'power' to run faster as intended.
Can anyone tell me how big of an inverter I should get if 400W isn't enough?

Is it accurate to say that the hair clipper needs 120V and a 15-amp outlet so 120x15 = 1800W to run as intended and I only have 400W at the moment?

Thanks! (Yes, I'm challenged when it comes to electricity)

Jorn
  • Modified sine wave inverters are like black and white televisions. You could buy one buy why?
  • A Jackery is about as an expensive solution as you could find. (It’s a battery!) Add another solar panel and another RV deep cycle battery. Consider Lithium.
  • jornvango wrote:
    The hair clipper says on the back "120V AC 60Hz 8W"
    8 watts?
    JimK-NY wrote:
    Most hair clippers are now cordless. Problem solved for about $35.
    Good point.
  • Most hair clippers are now cordless. Problem solved for about $35.
  • wa8yxm's avatar
    wa8yxm
    Explorer III
    Inverters. be they MSW or PSW/TSW run around 85-90% efficient (Varies slightly model to model) so if you are putting out 1800 watts you are drawing about 2,000

    So calculate the maximum load.. Add a bit for safety (I'd use at least a 2,000 inverter or a 1500 watt load) Figure motors may need as much as 5 times their rated wattage for starting (Or more in some cases)

    That about covers it. 2,000 watt is what I used. Microwave OR coffee maker plus television/radio and a few tiny loads like LED night light or clock. .
  • Thanks. I've been debating buying a Jackery since that would be easy to keep charged while driving around in the car, and, the Jackery includes a pure sine wave inverter. Based on the above numbers for the hair clipper, what size Jackery would I need which (I assume) needs to output enough Watts for the hair clipper to run?
  • Jorn,

    Motors need pure sine wave inverters. Otherwise they don't run at full speed. Hence the clippers do not work properly.

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