pure sine inverter recommendations

[tjohns1006]

hello everyone. i'm looking for a pure sine inverter to run my netbook, camera battery charger and maybe a dewalt 18V lithium ion charger. the inverter will be fed from my auxiliary battery, probably a diehard platinum group 65 ?

i have read some of the posts here and have heard that you can run all of these items on a regular inverter but i am willing to spend the extra cash for 'cleaner' power for the added insurance against possibly destroying my netbook.

i can't think of any other 110V items that i would possibly run off of the inverter, perhaps some power tools. i also want to find the correct size of inverter that i would need. i'm dumb when it comes to figuring out the appropriate size and calculating draws and loads. i can wire 12V but when it comes to how electricity works, i'm stupid. can someone jot down an idiot proof equation for figuring out what size inverter i need ?

also, what are your recommendations for manufacturers ?? who should i buy from and who should i avoid ? and approximately what should i expect to pay ? i'm not opposed to paying for quality and buying the correct item once rather than the wrong item multiple times.

thanks in advance for your input. i appreciate any criticism and advice to help me make the right decision.

 

[SunTzuNephew]

hello everyone. i'm looking for a pure sine inverter to run my netbook, camera battery charger and maybe a dewalt 18V lithium ion charger. the inverter will be fed from my auxiliary battery, probably a diehard platinum group 65 ?

i have read some of the posts here and have heard that you can run all of these items on a regular inverter but i am willing to spend the extra cash for 'cleaner' power for the added insurance against possibly destroying my netbook.

i can't think of any other 110V items that i would possibly run off of the inverter, perhaps some power tools. i also want to find the correct size of inverter that i would need. i'm dumb when it comes to figuring out the appropriate size and calculating draws and loads. i can wire 12V but when it comes to how electricity works, i'm stupid. can someone jot down an idiot proof equation for figuring out what size inverter i need ?

also, what are your recommendations for manufacturers ?? who should i buy from and who should i avoid ? and approximately what should i expect to pay ? i'm not opposed to paying for quality and buying the correct item once rather than the wrong item multiple times.

thanks in advance for your input. i appreciate any criticism and advice to help me make the right decision.

First of all, you don't need a pure sine wave for any of those devices. They will all take AC and convert it to DC and don't really care about the waveform. In fact, you can even run some of them (the netbook certainly, maybe the others) off of DC, with higher efficiency.

If you want a good inverter, Xantrex is the cheapest 'good' inverters. If you want the very best, try Victron.

 

[Northern Explorer]

I also agree that a pure sine wave isn't needed for any of your applications. I went with a cheap black and decker 750 watt inverter in my truck (that I have had zero problems with) and a much better XPower 1750 in my camper.

Charging batteries doesn't take much power and just looking at my laptop it takes about 60 watts to run. A smaller wattage inverter will be more efficient, cost less and the size will make it easier to fit in your truck. I like the idea of having a little extra capacity if you decide to run other things in the future. Or more then one thing at a time.

 

[dzzz]

Samlex is a brand that people in electronics businesses buy. I have one of their smaller units. Xantrex pretty much stopped trying 10 years ago and are part of a big company. There are many better inverter makers now.
I have a 120v flash that will only work on a few sine wave inverters. Works on a small Samlex, doesn't work on the best Xantrex. I agree with the suntzu that almost everything will run on non-sine wave inverter. A system running an AC motor is probably more efficient on a good sine wave inverter.
In bigger units a really good large battery charger is expensive. So the price equation includes not only the inverter, but the charger. If your not doing a combined unit, however, a $100 inverter is fine.

 

[angusdevil]

For you camera charger and laptop, why take it all the way up to 120v and bring it down to whatever voltage they run at (5-24v)? For my netbook, I got a 12v power cigarette light power supply, took it out of the dorky cigarette lighter casing and put it in a project box. From there, I just fused, hardwired it and mounted the box inside my console. I ran the cable out of one of my A/C ducts and it goes straight to the netbook. It's gonna be less work on the battery and leave more room for other essentials on the inverter.

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062279

 

[zidaro]

heres one that has had good feedback and on my list(no personal experience)

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Prowatt-SW1000-1000W-Sinewave-Inverter/dp/B002I04A74/ref=wl_it_dp_o?ie=UTF8&coliid=I3EO1JX25VPIP2&colid=5Y5P1BJ7NBQA"]Amazon.com: Prowatt SW1000 1000W True Sinewave Inverter: Home Improvement[/ame]

 

[dzzz]

For you camera charger and laptop, why take it all the way up to 120v and bring it down to whatever voltage they run at (5-24v)? For my netbook, I got a 12v power cigarette light power supply, took it out of the dorky cigarette lighter casing and put it in a project box. From there, I just fused, hardwired it and mounted the box inside my console. I ran the cable out of one of my A/C ducts and it goes straight to the netbook. It's gonna be less work on the battery and leave more room for other essentials on the inverter.

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062279

How do you raise the board off the bottom of the box when doing this kind of mod? (sorry for the O.T.)

 

[angusdevil]

How do you raise the board off the bottom of the box when doing this kind of mod? (sorry for the O.T.)

I glued plastic legs to the inside top and bottom of the box and it holds it in place. If there was enough room on the board, I would have just drill some holes and mounted it down to the bottom.

 

[wrcsixeight]

I know a lot of older Dewalt power tool battery chargers would not last very long on MSW inverters. I don't know if the newer L-ION chargers are as susceptible to MSW, but replacing the charger could be more than half the price of the drill. I had a Sears charger give up after 4 charge cycles on MSW. It was a 9.6 volt drill, and I just hardwired it and now run it directly off my deep cycles. Buttloads of torque!

My laptop seemed to run fine on MSW. When the laptop battery was fully charged the computer seemed to slow down on MSW. The power brick definitely gets hotter on MSW than grid power.

I got so tired of hearing my inverter's fan, I bought a DC/DC car adapter for my Laptop which steps up the DC voltage to 19.5 from 12.xx. It is silent, and uses a minimum of 1 amp less than my inverter did to power the laptop.
http://www.google.com/search?aq=f&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=car+adapter+for+laptop

Check the power brick or wall wart of your laptop. Multiply the output volts times the amps. This gives you the maximum wattage the laptop can consume. If this number is less than 60 watts, a 12 dollar universal car adapter will work fine for you. My laptop is capable of consuming 100 watts, and I smoked an 80 watt universal adapter, and I had to spend much more for a 120 watt adapter, but it is well worth it, IMO. Some of the Universal adapters are designed only to charge the laptop when it is off. They are not capable of powering the laptop and charging it's battery.

I regularly run 5 and 6 amp power tools off of my 800 watt MSW inverter. I do have a 12 amp variable speed Milwaukee polisher/sander I can run on it as well, but I have to bring up the speed slowly, and not press down too hard.
These 55 amp + DC loads are not good for the true Deep cycle batteries if they are of any lasting duration.

I see most PSW inverters are slightly less efficient than MSW inverters.
I cannot recommend brands, but I have heard little good about AIMS, besides the price.

 

[tjohns1006]

cool guys. thanks for all of the input.

it seems as though i should just get an adapter for the netbook and run it straight off of DC. i'll check and see how much power it consumes. does it make sense that it would draw less than a laptop ? since it's smaller ? maybe not but i would think since the OS is more basic, less programs, etc. i know i really don't need it but it's nice to watch an occasional movie, transfer photos off of my camera's memory card, the occasional wi-fi hotspot when provisioning and mapping software.

i'll get a smaller inexpensive inverter for the AA/AAA charger and the camera battery charger. of course i could just get a second battery for the camera. i can eat up a camera battery in a couple of days because i'll turn it on, take a photo, turn it off, turn it on, take another photo, etc. i think the constant on and off and lens movement really adds to the draw.

i threw in the idea of charging my dewalt batteries just because. i never take my drill/set with me but it was the only thing i could 'imagine' taking with me. you never know....

 

[Rufus T. Doofus]

I use a Morningstar SureSine 300 up at my cabin in the woods and it's worked flawlessly for a few years. If you're looking for a permanently mounted/hardwired unit you can find some good stuff at the various off-grid power retailer sites.

 

[adi]

heres one that has had good feedback and on my list(no personal experience)

Amazon.com: Prowatt SW1000 1000W True Sinewave Inverter: Home Improvement

This is the one I picked up, but have not installed or tested it. Still need to get the cables and ends. I chose a large sine wave more for emergency/SHTF situations, and not camping requirements, as the electronics I use the most I run off of 12v (both gps, cell phone, laptop). We have had a few ice storms that knocked out power for 5-10 days, and I don't have room to store a generator at my apartment.

ETA: pick up a kill-a-watt meter. It plugs in between your device and the wall, and tells you how many watts it uses. Add up the devices that you might run at the same time, and add some legroom to that figure to find out what you need.

Some figures for my equipment: laptops range from 65-90 watt, my 14.4v cordless charger uses 13w.

 

[crusader]

I also agree that a pure sine wave isn't needed for any of your applications. I went with a cheap black and decker 750 watt inverter in my truck (that I have had zero problems wiith.

Sounds like your experience was better than mine: Against my better judgement, I bought a Black and Decker 400 watt (IIRC) inverter to run/charge my notebook on a wilderness trip. Turns out that it was willing to power everything BUT my notebook! It kept tripping the fault light the instant I plugged the computer in. My computer worked fine on everyone elses inverter, but not my Black and Decker.

 

[crusader]

How?

For you camera charger and laptop, why take it all the way up to 120v and bring it down to whatever voltage they run at (5-24v)? For my netbook, I got a 12v power cigarette light power supply, took it out of the dorky cigarette lighter casing and put it in a project box.

I don't think I'm following this one correctly--are you saying to run the 19v laptop off a 12v cigarette lighter socket? I understand the part about not going from DC12v to AC115v then back to DC19v. I just don't see where the DC12v is stepped up to DC19v in the example.

 

[angusdevil]

I don't think I'm following this one correctly--are you saying to run the 19v laptop off a 12v cigarette lighter socket? I understand the part about not going from DC12v to AC115v then back to DC19v. I just don't see where the DC12v is stepped up to DC19v in the example.

Yup, I sure am. I bought a simple DC12v laptop charger that boosts the power up to DC19v/1.58A.

More info on boost converters...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boost_converter

I basically bought this...

and put it in a different case so that I could hardwire it. The laptop is mounted to the dash so no reason to take up a cigarette lighter port.