Inverter ?

[Dazz]

Hi as I’m still learning about MH my question is does most owners own an inverter I’ve seen these on e bay not sure if any good

 

[Augusta08]

Looks ok, corrected waveform is not pure Sine Wave so wouldn't try to use it with anything delicate. a Pure Sine Wave 1500w would be better:

12V DC to 230V ac 600W Pure Sine Wave Inverter | Connevans

Connevans

www.connevans.co.uk

 

[Googlebot]

They are useful but the cheap ones may ruin sensitive equipment. Far cheaper to make everything 12volt in my experience. That said, some things need mains so if you need it then you need one.

Don’t scrimp on the invertor or the wiring to it. They need heavy cable. There is then of course the issue of having to put back in what you used out the batteries....

 

[TerryL]

Cheap no good; good no cheap.

I do have a small inverter but as I've tried to make sure everything runs off 12v it only rarely gets used.

 

[funflair]

We use our regularly 2kw pure sine, runs microwave, coffee machine, hair dryer and chargers.

Martin

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[Allanm]

I had a modified sine wave inverter. It ran most things fine, recharged Vac, recharged Laptop battery, powered hairdryer and charged up rechargeable batteries. It blew up my toothbrush charger though!
I now have a 1200 watt pure sine wave inverter bought from an established on line company that I know I can use for everything.
My main bit of advice would be to buy one from a recognised supplier with a recognised name. Most electrical goods come from China and most stuff sold on eBay and Amazon, with an unknown name, is usually just cheap crap that either don’t last, work as it is supposed to, or is just plain dangerous.

 

[tonka]

We have one, mainly for the dreaded wife's hairdryer. !! Or should that be the Wife's dreaded hairdryer ??

What you need to be aware of is that its easy to take out a lot of power from your battery very quickly but a lot longer to replace the energy. Do a bit of research and consider what / why you would use one.

 

[DBK]

... my question is do most owners own an inverter...

No, less than 1% probably would be my guess. I fitted a cheap 1500W pure sine wave* inverter a couple of years ago mostly to run my coffee machine and Mrs DBK's hair dryer. We also use it to recharge the vacuum cleaner, which we do while driving. It's been trouble free and for us it's been a useful extra.

There's a link below to a thread about how it was fitted.

* Well, it's claimed to be PSW.

 

[Guigsy]

It's mostly hot things that need a lot of power. We got use an on-the-stove coffee pot and kettle. Don't have a microwave. Just about everything else we've got is a gadget that we can charge off of USB.

The only things we need mains for are for recharging big stuff like the eBike battery, drone and laptop. We tend to go to a site where we can tether to the grid every few days to top up all the big batteries, and that's normally enough to keep us going. I do have a dinky back-up 200w inverter that'll do the laptop in an emergency. And you can get 12v laptop chargers if you look around.

The thing that put me off big inverters is the amount of battery you need. For a sustained 2kW, you pretty much need at least two leisure batteries to get both the capacity and the current required. And then you need the means to charge them. And it's more faff if you want to be able to switch your internal sockets from the EHU to the inverter as the source. I decided it wasn't worth the hassle.

 

[HandyAndy]

Hi as I’m still learning about MH my question is does most owners own an inverter I’ve seen these on e bay not sure if any good View attachment 350838

Depends what you want to run in your motorhome whether it will be fit for purpose or not..
Why do you think you need one, what battery(ies) will you be running it off?

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[jezport]

Cheap ones are best avoided for your safety, and the equipment you connect.
Have used Ring, Durite, and sterling with no issues. Go for pure sinewave and you can run any type of item up to the capacity of the inverter. Dont forget you will need good batteries to use it.

 

[Guigsy]

Logically most kit shouldn't care about whether it's pure sinewave or not. It's only really older electronics and things with brushed motors that should be sensitive. Things like laptops, chargers and most modern electronics have switch mode power supplies that don't even care what the voltage is, let alone what shape it is...

But then my laptop has issues with the touchpad fritzing out when I use my cheap inverter...

 

[Stealaway]

I have never had a pure sine wave inverter in almost 20 years of boats and vans ---and never had the need for one.
Everything seem to work with a standard 1000w inverter.

 

[HandyAndy]

Same here in my 4x4 camper, modified sinewave inverter has powered everything from Kettles, TV's iphone, Ipads (all at the smae time too) right down to those bluetooth contactless payment boxes, never had an issue with any of them..

and on the other hand I've seen someone at the same camp with a pure sinewave inverter that tried to charge his phone on it and it sent the screen bonkers, yet my modified sinewave one powered it perfectly.

 

[jezport]

I have never had a pure sine wave inverter in almost 20 years of boats and vans ---and never had the need for one.
Everything seem to work with a standard 1000w inverter.

Try an electric toothbrush charger or try using GHDs, it fries them.

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[jezport]

Same here in my 4x4 camper, modified sinewave inverter has powered everything from Kettles, TV's iphone, Ipads (all at the smae time too) right down to those bluetooth contactless payment boxes, never had an issue with any of them..

and on the other hand I've seen someone at the same camp with a pure sinewave inverter that tried to charge his phone on it and it sent the screen bonkers, yet my modified sinewave one powered it perfectly.

There are good and cr4p pure sinewave inverters. Good ones are better than grid mains.

 

[Guigsy]

Try an electric toothbrush charger or try using GHDs, it fries them.

I got a cheap USB charger for my OralB electric toothbrush. Problem solved.

 

[jezport]

I got a cheap USB charger for my OralB electric toothbrush. Problem solved.

I can use the original charger and my wife can use her GHDs

 

[Guigsy]

I can use the original charger and my wife can use her GHDs

The toothbrush charger was £4 and I don't take the orignal, so it actually saves space and weight.... and I don't need hair irons, so for me it works out much cheaper than a £££ inverter.

 

[autorouter]

It's best to think of an inverter as just one part of the energy generation, storage and usage. Solar, B2B or generator charging the batteries, inverter converting the battery power to mains voltage, and appliances using the power. It's asking for problems if you fit an inverter without thinking how it is supplied or loaded. You'll probably need to add extra batteries, and add plenty of solar panels.

Having said that, although not many MHs have inverters it's getting more popular.

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[Campervan_man]

Over 2KW best to use more than one battery.
Some appliances need a big boost { inductive load ] eg, air con, microwave so a bigger capacity inverter will be required to make it work.
Best to buy a pure sine wave inverter rather than a modified inverter.
Turn the inverter ON first the the appliance then reverse the procedure by turning OFF the appliance and then the Inverter OFF.
Some inverters come with a handy wired remote switch.
Giandel sell inverters on ebay and Amazon.

Amazon product ASIN B01J9WWJ4O

 

[Wild Brambles]

Make sure you have a trip switch on the positive connection. I've managed to blow a couple of inverters before I started to use one.

 

[Stealaway]

I only use mine for cheap Samsung 240v 32" Full HD TV and 60W soundbar, never had an issue and it happily charges Oral B toothbrushes.

I would be choosing one of these today

EDECOA 1000W Peak 2000W Power Inverter DC 12V to 240V AC Power Converter for car | eBay

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rover.ebay.com

 

[Richard n Ann]

We have a small 200w pure sine wave inverter, it's Swiss made and the finest inverter money can buy?? The standby current is only 0.2 amps and it often gets left on all night when Ann's finally dozed off ?

Everything uses mains power so if you've got a good mains supply in your van you don't need to faff about with any special dc adapters or supplies.

It gets used for the Samsung TV, toothbrushes, rechargeable vacuum cleaner and occasionally the AA battery charger.