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Old 08-14-2011, 03:57 PM   #1
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Name: jason
Trailer: 13' Scamp "pending"
Minnesota
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Power Inverters??

Just looking for some advice on getting a dc to ac inverter, i took the fridge and heater out and just left the burner and sink in, and now am looking to expand my options here, we're gonna put in a microwave now, is there a inverter that will allow for that or is that really just a a/c thing? and what size would i look for to allow for maybe a little dvd player a few phone chargers etc.... im a newbie to the Scamp world just got a 13' and worked on it the last few days, ill post pics later, any advice would be great
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Old 08-14-2011, 04:34 PM   #2
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Microwaves don't even like to run on generators, so it wont do much on an inverter, it will work but only for very short periods because it will really zap the battery. As for the dvd and phone chargers they will work on a small inverter, but phone chargers and dvd players and many other things are all available in 12volt, go to a truckstop and they usually have a complete aisle just for 12 volt stuff.
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Old 08-14-2011, 04:51 PM   #3
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Name: Norm and Ginny
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Florida
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Inverters

We have two different size Inverters.

We have a 1200 watt Inverter that we bought at a Black and Decker outlet store for $59.

We don't carry a microwave. Though we've never run a microwave off of it, I suspect it could run a small, 700 watt microwave. We have used it to run just about everything else including an 4 cubic foot AC Fridge.

You should know that running a microwave off an Inverter/Battery combination will be a serious draw on your battery. If the microwave draws 6 amps AC; it will draw 60 amps DC from your battery. Generally not a wise situation unless you're just running the microwave for short periods.

For smaller things like running our computer, charging cell phones or running our LCD TV, we use a small 100 watt cigarette lighter Inverter. We actually carry two of them, one in the tow vehicle and one in the trailer. They cost about $20 each. They are very handy to have.

The small inverters typically only have one outlet so we often plug in a 3 position expander.

The problem of with running a big 1200 watt Inverter for small things is that a big Inverter is inefficient for light loads; hence the small inverters.

Hope that helps

Norm
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Old 08-15-2011, 06:50 AM   #4
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Name: Tim
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We had a 1200 wt inverter in a conversion van that we took to Alaska 5 years ago. I ran a 3way fridge on 110v while driving, then when we camped at night I ran the fridge on lp. That worked out great, but when we used the micro wave we had to pull over as it took so much power. It really wasn't worth taking the micro wave at all , except when using shore power. Another thing that takes a lot of power is a toaster.
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Old 08-15-2011, 02:54 PM   #5
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1200 watt

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tim Wood View Post
We had a 1200 wt inverter in a conversion van that we took to Alaska 5 years ago. I ran a 3way fridge on 110v while driving, then when we camped at night I ran the fridge on lp. That worked out great, but when we used the micro wave we had to pull over as it took so much power. It really wasn't worth taking the micro wave at all , except when using shore power. Another thing that takes a lot of power is a toaster.
Outside of the AC fridge our biggest use of the Inverter was for the coffee pot in the morning. Though it takes 600 watts to run the coffee pot, it only takes about 5 minutes to make coffee.

We have never been able to justify the microwave. We find everything it can do the stove can do as well. We rather have the space.

Norm
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