inverters

We are using a 400 watt inverter from West Marine, for exactly the same purpose as you described. It has been hard wired to our battery bank for 10 years without any problems. My thinking was a marine grade device should stand up to our needs.

I fitted it below the sink(the shortest run to our battery box) and use a short HD extension cord to power the Satellite box and DVD when of the grid. Its also a convenient locale to run the laptop. I use the lowest wattage that will supply the needed power to reduce battery drain. I'm not sure that is important but its worked well so far.

Good question.

I run two Xantrex Pure Sine Wave Inverters, a 2000w and a 1000w as a backup, when needed.

In addition to your items mentioned, I also run a MW off my 2000w inverter. Also of importance, sizing the battery bank to match the demand of your needs and inverter. I have my main bank connected to my 2000w inverter with 4 ought cable and 250a Cat Slow Blow fuse, as well as a Blue Sea Marine switch.

b

msiminoff wrote:
Will you only ever be running the TV, DVD, Sat' tuner, & computer??
If so then you can use a fairly small (~300W) inverter. In that size category and considering that you want to hard-wire and are running AV equipment, my suggestion would be the MorningStar SureSine.. It is a pure sine wave (PSW) inverter and rated at 300W continuous and 600W for up to 10 minutes. They can be purchased from online retailers for less than $200.
Cheers
-Mark

x2 on the Morningstar Suresine 300. That's what I use and I've been very happy with its performance. A great little unit.

msiminoff wrote:
Will you only ever be running the TV, DVD, Sat' tuner, & computer??
If so then you can use a fairly small (~300W) inverter.

x2
It depends on what you plan on running. Like others have mentioned, I'm also running a Prosine, a 2.0 2kw meant to go inline with the TC's shore power pigtail and power the entire TC. I can even light the roof air with it (not that I would do it for long).
I can run coffee maker, dish, tv, microwave... all at once. But I also have a couple more batteries.

Just keep in mind, anything you run @110v will draw roughly 10x the amperage @12v, so your 300w inverter can draw 30amps @12v. That can kill two deep cycle batteries pretty quick.

n7bsn wrote:
I wired in a Xantrek

Xantrex

Xantrex on the interwebz

I have and recommend GoPower 300w sine wave. 150w is probably enough.

This is what I'm installing tomorrow in my TC. http://www.donrowe.com/Xantrex-806-1206-PROwatt-SW-600-p/806-1206.htm

Will you only ever be running the TV, DVD, Sat' tuner, & computer??
If so then you can use a fairly small (~300W) inverter. In that size category and considering that you want to hard-wire and are running AV equipment, my suggestion would be the MorningStar SureSine.. It is a pure sine wave (PSW) inverter and rated at 300W continuous and 600W for up to 10 minutes. They can be purchased from online retailers for less than $200.
Cheers
-Mark

I have the Xantrex PROwatt SW & transfer switch. Adding the wired remote before the next trip.

I wired in a Xantrek ProWatt, with the transfer switch and wired remote. This allows me to run one entire circuit of the rig off the inverter