Inverters again (1 Viewer)

[Neil S]

Looking for some advice on inverters , were going to following the TDF for a couple of weeks and so will be wild camping.
The problem is my dearly beloved refuses to be parted from her travel hairdryer (900watt max) so I need an inverter .
Will a modified sine wave 1000 watt suffice or does it need to be a pure sine wave inverter .
I have 2x110amp banner batteries and a 120 watt solar panel which I hope will be enough to recharge the batteries on a sunny day .

TIA Neil

 

[Lenny HB]

Hairdryer should work on a modified sine inverter but I would only run it on the low setting (450w), if you value your batteries, on full power you will be drawing nearly 100 amps.

 

[Two on Tour]

Have you already read through the pages and pages of posts on inverters ??

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Gromett]

I think you have 3 options here...
Make sure you have a big battery bank,
Put a limit on how long the hair dryer can be used for,

OR.

As a hairdrier is a an inductive load, a modified sine wave should work. It may run a bit rough though depending on the motor type. However some hair driers have clever electronics in them and these may be fritzed up unless you use a pure sine wave one...

 

[tonyidle]

Devices with wound components (like the motor in a hair drier) don't take kindly to 'modified sine wave'. I'd go with a pure sign wave. It sounds counter-intuitive but the more sensitive the device you plug in is then the less likely it is to be affected by a modified sine wave inverter.

 

[hilldweller]

As a hairdrier is a an inductive load,.

I keep my mouth shut on the basis that if he treats his wife to a Dyson at £400 and the inverter pops it I don't want to be in the firing line.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Gromett]

I keep my mouth shut on the basis that if he treats his wife to a Dyson at £400 and the inverter pops it I don't want to be in the firing line.

The Dyson is one of the ones I was referring to when I said,

However some hair driers have clever electronics in them and these may be fritzed up unless you use a pure sine wave one...

 

[Gromett]

Devices with wound components (like the motor in a hair drier) don't take kindly to 'modified sine wave'. I'd go with a pure sign wave. It sounds counter-intuitive but the more sensitive the device you plug in is then the less likely it is to be affected by a modified sine wave inverter.

I disagree with you there. Anything with a DC to DC converter (generally sensitive electronics) do not like pseudo sine. It can cause unwanted triggering of the FET.

Wound components tend to run a bit ragged depending on the type of motor. I can't remember which type off the top of my head run ok or run ragged. But either brushless or brushed have problems but the other just runs rough.

To be honest I wouldn't use a Pseudo sine wave (modified sine) for anything, the price difference isn't that great any more and the risks just a bit too much.

 

[Gromett]

I keep my mouth shut on the basis that if he treats his wife to a Dyson at £400 and the inverter pops it I don't want to be in the firing line.

PS: My favourite techy youtuber did a series of videos on the Dyson... Interesting to see the guts of them. BOLTR stands for Bored of Lame Tool Reviews. This guy buys them himself so he can't be accused of being a shill reviewer. He busts them apart without trying them first, looks at the engineering of the product then puts it back together to test.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Steve and Denise]

We used a 1600watt drier for 4 years on a 2 kw modified inverter no problems at all
No fancy digital stuff just a simple hair drier.
We never needed the inverter for nothing else.

 

[pappajohn]

just broke my laptop.
fell asleep watching the second video and head butted the keyboard.

 

[The Nomad]

We used a 1600watt drier for 4 years on a 2 kw modified inverter no problems at all
No fancy digital stuff just a simple hair drier.
We never needed the inverter for nothing else.

Nah. For 5 minutes maybe, but for four years?

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[The Nomad]

I fitted a 1800 watt modified sine wave inverter.
Wife uses 1800 watt hairdryer ONLY ON LOW HEAT SETTING so we assume 900 watts, for approx 4 to 5 mins every three days or so. No problems at all, and we stay put in one place wildcamping for many days at a time. We do have have a pair of 125ah leisure batteries plus 3 roof mounted solar panels totalling about 200 watts (in theory).....and these seem to very quickly replace the juice drawn from the batteries by the hairdryer usage ( although this is in Spain,Portugal etc in southern Europe with a lot of sunshine hours usually ).

 

[Steve and Denise]

Maybe should have added 330ah/hour batteries plus 240watt solar oh and 45amp B2B but nothing else.

 

[Stretto Boy]

Could your wife be persuaded to wear a polyester hairpiece when motorhoming? This could be tumble dried when on a proper site or hung on the line when wild camping.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[peterc10]

We have a 2000W (4000W peak) modified sine wave inverter and it works perfectly well with my wife's travel hairdryer which is 1200W. We have 2 x 95Ah AGM batteries. She uses it for at most 10 minutes every 3 or 4 days. It uses about 20Ah after losses, which is about 12% of the batteries' total capacity. We have 250W of solar panels on our roof and it doesn't take long to get the batteries full again in the summer.

BUT you will need some thick short cables between the batteries and from the batteries to the inverter!

 

[eddie]

We have a pure sine wave inverter. Lyn my wife uses a domestic hairdryer, we use a Dyson mini ball vacuum and we have a Dyson DC16 (I think lol) rechargeable handheld

All runs perfectly

 

[Zigisla]

We have a 2000W (4000W peak) modified sine wave inverter and it works perfectly well with my wife's travel hairdryer which is 1200W. We have 2 x 95Ah AGM batteries. She uses it for at most 10 minutes every 3 or 4 days. It uses about 20Ah after losses, which is about 12% of the batteries' total capacity. We have 250W of solar panels on our roof and it doesn't take long to get the batteries full again in the summer.

BUT you will need some thick short cables between the batteries and from the batteries to the inverter!

We have almost the same set up - 1800W inverter. The only snag we have found is that Jane tends to want / need to use the hair-dryer during the Winter months more than the Summer when she can Air Dry her hair. This takes a lot longer to replace the power drawn from the batteries. But we still manage. Would be better if @eddievanbitz had fitted me a B2B.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Richard n Ann]

We had a Studer AJ 150 years ago in the caravan for the TV. Great little light weight inverter, let it go with the caravan unfortunately. It's discontinued now so as part of the solar upgrade I'm on with I've just ordered the Studer AJ 275, looks the same size as the 150 but is 200w continuous. it's a lot lighter than the one we've got and it will run the TV, toothbrush chargers, ceiling fan and vacuum charger.
On standby it only uses a very frugal 0.2 amps... big isn't always the best

 

[eddie]

We have almost the same set up - 1800W inverter. The only snag we have found is that Jane tends to want / need to use the hair-dryer during the Winter months more than the Summer when she can Air Dry her hair. This takes a lot longer to replace the power drawn from the batteries. But we still manage. Would be better if @eddievanbitz had fitted me a B2B.

The answer is still "NO" Until Jane lets you!

 

[eddie]

We had a Studer AJ 150 years ago in the caravan for the TV.

Wow! I didn't know that there was TV 150 years ago

What is a Studer AJ ?

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Richard n Ann]

Lol sorry Studer AJ150

 

[funflair]

Wow! I didn't know that there was TV 150 years ago

What is a Studer AJ ?

http://www.studer-innotec.com/en/products/aj-series/

Martin

 

[eddie]

http://www.studer-innotec.com/en/products/aj-series/

Martin

Thanks my post was a little tongue in cheek

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Nik]

just broke my laptop.
fell asleep watching the second video and head butted the keyboard.

You got as far as the SECOND video! Hats off mate, good staying power.

 

[Zigisla]

The answer is still "NO" Until Jane lets you!

Need a "Humph" button.
Birthday is coming

 

[funflair]

Thanks my post was a little tongue in cheek

OK "got it wrong again" but might be of interest to ther people like me who had not heard of Studer.

Martin

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Lenny HB]

We have a 2000W (4000W peak) modified sine wave inverter and it works perfectly well with my wife's travel hairdryer which is 1200W. We have 2 x 95Ah AGM batteries. She uses it for at most 10 minutes every 3 or 4 days. It uses about 20Ah after losses, which is about 12% of the batteries' total capacity. We have 250W of solar panels on our roof and it doesn't take long to get the batteries full again in the summer.

BUT you will need some thick short cables between the batteries and from the batteries to the inverter!

You really don't want to do that Peter if you value your batteries, although the overall a/h used is not a problem caning them by drawing a over a 100 amps for 10 mins will not do them much good. For long life best to limit current draw to 20 amps per battery at any one time.

 

[peterc10]

You really don't want to do that Peter if you value your batteries, although the overall a/h used is not a problem caning them by drawing a over a 100 amps for 10 mins will not do them much good. For long life best to limit current draw to 20 amps per battery at any one time.

18 months since I had them and not had any problems with them yet Lenny (touch wood). I know others have had problems with AGMs but I seem to be lucky. Maybe it is because the MPPT Schaudt solar controller we have has a setting for AGMs.

Occasionally check batteries immediately after use and they do not appear to be getting hot. But at the end of the day I have no choice. If we are not hooked up she has to use it to dry her hair and the lower wattage ones are next to useless for her.

 

[Lenny HB]

18 months since I had them and not had any problems with them yet Lenny (touch wood). I know others have had problems with AGMs but I seem to be lucky. Maybe it is because the MPPT Schaudt solar controller we have has a setting for AGMs.

Occasionally check batteries immediately after use and they do not appear to be getting hot. But at the end of the day I have no choice. If we are not hooked up she has to use it to dry her hair and the lower wattage ones are next to useless for her.

18 months, you are living on borrowed time.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}