Does the car need to be on at all times to operate inverter, if not how long can a regular battery last running 1500watts?
1871819
We installed in a Fire Dept Truck with an A/C Auto Ejector that could run it while plugged in or off the battery while it was running. It will kill the batter quick if not being recharged.
1871820
No - the car does not need to be on to operate the inverter. As far as 'runtime' is concerned, two factors are important: A) the draw from the connected device and B) battery capacity. You can likely find runtime information and calculation formulas on the manufacturer's website or via a web search.KEEP IN MIND that car batteries ARE NOT designed to be constantly drained (it will affect long-term battery performance), so it would be best to periodically run the vehicle to prevent the battery from running down too far.
641419
Rajesh,The run time depends on the size of your battery not the inverter.Joe
1969590
We do not recommend connecting the inverter directly to the charge controller; connect it to the battery instead. 8 AWG be sufficient.
1072085
I would say it can be done. Having done a lot of electronics in my day it seems like a no brainier. The battery in the unit is a Lead Acid type so the charge circuit should work fine. You should consider a sealed Lead acid Battery rather than a standard Car battery or consider wiring several in parallel. The sealed battery will be much safer to store in general. If you use a standard Car battery, you could find your self boiling it or deep discharging it. In either event that would not go well if you stored in someplace that is not acid safe. You can get a pair of 9AH sealed batteries for $20 and almost quadruply this units capacity. The one in this unit is only 5AH. Just wire them parallel and you should be fine. Honestly, I would not use a standard car battery unless I stored it in my garage or at least out side my living space. One last thing to consider is that by adding a bigger battery, you are only increasing the length of time you can support the load without the Grid. You can not put a heavier load on the unit. The inverter will only safely put out the rated power no mater how big the battery is.
409247
Yes you can use the inverter when the car is running and your battery is charging as long as your electrical system voltage level does not drop too low. Most modern invertors will shutdown to keep from draining the battery to the point of not starting the car (at least in theory) at around 11-10.5 volts. The question of using two power drills at the same time will come down to how many amps they are pulling, as the inverter is rated at 1500 watts continuous power that gives you ~14 amps (you would be safer to think around 12-13 amps @ 110-120 volts AC if your going to plan on using all day, but then I would suggest a generator instead of an invertor in your car, less gas, less idling your car, and it is a product built to make electrical power where you need it) to run your tools. So back to two drills, if they were say, two Dewalt 3/8" variable speed drills that pull 5.4 amps like mine that I have used and abused for 15 years, yes you could use this inverter to do it. And that should be find even if the guys are both running them like mad men at the same time (~11 amps total).
313387
For a battery of this size, I'd not go over 240 watt inverter. Actually, you can use any inverter (I got a 400 watt unit that came with a lighter plug as well as other wires), but I'd not connect up a load greater than that ~240 watts. I have at least 2 reasons. First, the lighter outlet that you'll likely want to use is for sure intended for under 20 amps (and maybe fused for only 10 amps). Secondly, the battery is likely rated "18 amp-hour" hinting it can give you 18 amps for 1 hour, or 9 amps for 2 hours, etc. For something needing just 1 amp at 120V the inverter will pull 10 amps at 12V from the battery making it last under 2 hours (or under 1 hour for 2 amps at 120V). I recommend against pulling power faster than it's rating (~20 amps) since I've seen statements in manuals like "Don't crank a car for even 5 seconds because the battery will overheat internally" and I think you're pushing your luck to expect more than that continuously.
1547202
It depends on how many hours of sun and how long you use your inverter. It is all a matter of Watt-Hours. If you charge your battery for 10 hours with 300 Watts you can use your 3000 Watt inverter for 1 hour. So you see, the answer depends on your application and location.
1528835
Yes, from the law of conservation of energy (physics) it's clear that you can't get energy/power for nothing so if you're using this inverter it is drawing power from somewhere (your car battery). However, the car's battery is constantly re-charged when the engine is running so your battery shouldn't run out if you're driving while using the inverter. Also, how fast the battery drains depends on what you have plugged into the inverter. If you're just charging a phone, little power is used as compared to having a hair dryer plugged into it. So, long story short -- don't charge or run high-power devices for long periods of time with this (or any) inverter while your car is turned off because that will quickly drain your battery. If you're driving, you should be fine but your gas mileage will probably go down (conservation of energy again, your car has to get energy from somewhere to be able to recharge your battery -- it gets this energy from gasoline). Hope this helps, sorry for the in-depth info -- I'm an electrical engineer and haven't had a change to 'nerd out' yet today :-)
2023950
Yes, this past summer I used an old 12 volt car battery, but the system was turned on for about 10 hours at night-time only. For my situation, I simply charged the battery once a week. It worked fine, but a deep cycle battery would be preferred to avoid the need for frequent charging.
279998
I have a 5000 watt power invertor. I have 4 solar panels on the roof to keep 4 group31 batteries charged to power the invertor. I also have a battery isolator to charge batteries from the alternator and shuts off when they are charged back up.
2171698
I can only tell you what I did. I have a 400W inverter and a 12V car battery. I use this in my small horse barn that I wired for three bulbs and an outlet. There are 3 small watt bulbs. The panel keeps the battery at full charge with no problem. I don't use the electric all the time, and for only short periods when I do, so I don't know how long the charge will last.
1920786
The accessory port in your truck is not strong enough to handle this inverter. You Must go directly the the battery. Remember this inverter has 6000 watts of peak power.
312064
No the vehicle does not need to be running. This unit can be wired to a charged 12V battery. The battery wired to the unit provides the power.
375514
The short answer is "Yes". David Tullos says it will last 8 - 10 hours on full load (1500 watts) but I do not believe it will last any where near that long. The first link I have provided below computes the battery will last .66 hours at a continuous 1500 watt load and that makes sense to me. I have run a 2500 watt inverter on 1 of these 12 volt 100 amp hour batteries. The inverter must be a 12 volt inverter. The question is...how long will the battery last. That depends on the average (a refrigerator for example) or continuous wattage (maybe a 1500 watt heater running continuously) used by the electrical devices being powered. Of course the fridge doesn't run continuously so you have to take that into account. If you run a 1500 watt heater continuously off of this 100 amp hour battery you should be able to compute how long it will last. You also do not want to discharge the battery too much below 50%. There is a certain amount of research you need to do part of which involves using very thick gauge (probably at least 4 awg but maybe as large as 0 awg) cables from the inverter to the battery which your inverter documentation should tell you. The general rule of thumb for DC current is that for every 1 amp of AC current used by an appliance you will draw 10 amps of DC current from the battery. 10 amps of AC current will draw about 100 amps of DC current. Here are some links that might help. I do not know how reliable these are but they seem to be correct with my understanding of electricity and the research I've done. The first link seems to be the simplest to use by plugging in your own data. http://usasolarwind.com/Tools/BET.html http://powerstuff.co.za/battery-size-calculator/ http://www.bdbatteries.com/dcdcsolar.php I hope this helps.
1374359
It depends on how much power your device uses and how big battery is..Inverter will run at over 90% efficiency so is up to power usage and available power from battery. I think I would recommend a second battery to support your need. That way if it does run down you still have truck battery to start truck and as backup.
2033695
I have read somewhere you should connect the inverter to the battery. Because of the potential load you are pulling could exceed the charge controller. I am just passing on what i read just got my panels will be installing them soon
942779
It runs on the DC power of your vehicle's batteery . No additional battery required.