Planning on a road trip soon and realised I need a power inverter as I have a macbook / Toaster / Kettle
I would like to run when Im parked up for the day.
How many Watts should i be looking at? and I don't plan to run all 3 items at the same time..
So Far I'm ASSUMING the 300W from Super Cheap is what i'll need?
Thanks :)
3000w at least for the kettle
MacBook would run off 100w fine
toaster the same needs at least 2400w
3000w would do the job
will need to be mounted direct to battery and fused for safety
Op is looking at 300w, not 3000w.
did you not read
you arent going to run a kettle off 300w
i was making it very clear the MINIUM requirement for surge wattage
For a Kettle I think larger than 2000W to handle it.
But say you're using a 2400w, your car cigarette socket would need to handle 200A, which none will come close to afaik.
So you would have to connect the inverter under bonnet direct.
I would look at a cheap 2 to 3000W 2-stroke portable generator. This is also great during blackouts, and to run powertools etc anywhere. See Ebay for a general idea.
I bought a 750W 2-stroke for $95, and it can run lots. I have several sizes of cheap 12-240v inverters, and advise just don't buy the very cheapest (chinese carp). One "Doxin 1000W" set on fire in 2 minutes, under bonnet.
Also the cheapies can't be run continuously.
Happy travels.
Don't waste your money buying a small one
Get a 300w for the computer, or better a direct 12v power supply. Then get gas for cooking, the only people who use 240v appliances for cooking on the road are staying at powers caravan parks or have a massive battery pack and solar setup.
This is the only solution. There is no mobile solution that gives cost effective power to run a kettle or toaster.
I always thought that gas toasted bread was pretty yuck.. But maybe if there was a toaster device available, not just bread on a skewer over the burner lol
There are toaster devices available. Sits the bread on a rack a couple of cm above a steel mesh that helps distribute the heat. Bread on a skewer is cheaper though!
Wow! Thanks for all the replys :)
I had no idea!.. sounds like the toaster/kettle ideas can be thrown out the window.. I didn't realise they needed that much power :O
I suppose I will leave the inverter to charging the macbook / iphone / ipad? / dslr in stead
and just use a gas cooker to boil the water / bread
Thanks for everyones input ! :)
Yea mate gas is the way to go just buy a portable stove :D
assuming your macbook is a higher voltage than your 12V battery, a step-up DC converter will be far more efficient than using an inverter.
An inverter and AC adapter has too many losses. You're going like this: DC battery > inverter > AC adapter. Every step here involves loss. Inverter is a constant drain on your battery and so is the AC adapter converting AC back to DC again. It's far more efficient to just go DC voltage from a battery to the correct voltage DC with a DC converter. For some other items an inverter might be necessary (power tool chargers, camera chargers, etc) but it's an idea to use a DC converter for items like laptops if you plan to use them often and want maximum battery life.
A step-up unit like this should be suitable if the input voltage is higher than the battery.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/150W-6A-DC-DC-10-32V-to-12-35V-Bo…
You have to wire it up with the suitable connectors used on your laptop and probably a cigarette lighter plug with a wire thick enough to handle 60W or so (this should be easy). If the input voltage is lower than the battery, a similar step-down converter would be used. They both come with a little dial you dial up with a screwdriver to get the right voltage for your device. Hook up a multimeter to find out what it's outputting. Don't buy any cheaper ones without a heatsink; these are only suitable for low-wattage items. Your laptop will probably draw in excess of 25W when charging its internal battery so a heatsink on your DC converter is necessary.
If using solar
bare minimums I recommend:
* 40W solar panel (100W+ better)
* 20Ah deep-cycle AGM battery (50aH+ better)
* 10A regulator / charge controller with temperature compensation
Forget any electric cooking or toasting on such a small system.
Lead-acid batteries don't last as long if discharged more than say 20-30% of their rated capacity. They also don't like temperature extremes.
USB
search ebay for: dual USB cigarette
inverters
If you still need an inveter for some items that you can't run off DC, keep in mind that higher-powered inverters also tend to have greater losses. 300W(600W peak) is probably enough for most electronic gadgets that we use daily. High-powered corded drills and angle grinders and toasters and kettles and irons suck a lot more juice than these little inverters can handle though. For all the other stuff they are fine. Get a pure sine wave unit if buying one. Modified sine wave units are a waste of money, in my opinion.
Hey mate i do not know to much about inverters for you to buy! But if you want to boil a kettle you will need a much bigger inverter then 300watts a kettle is about 1000-2000 watts so you need around that size the bigger the better. I think it would still boil but it would take ages.
Or you could try and buy low power consumption gear. Your macbook should be able to charge of the cigarette lighter.