Who's Using an Inverter on Board??
 

Looking to power mama's blow dryer, curling iron etc while on board. According to my math a 1000 watts will do what I want.
I can do that for about $100. but in researching it I can go to 2000 watts and have a "pure sine wave" style which of course doubles capacity and works w/TV's which the cheaper "modified sine wave" will not and doesn't cost much more.
Been thinking of this for a while but so far have survived on 12 V's DC.
Bought the Mrs DC stuff for Christmas before realizing that she'll then need her normal AC powered stuff to use at a marina meaning two of everything on our tiny ass boat.(ie, not gonna happen :whistle:)

I have very limited real world experience w/inverters and it has all been 100% negative. What have you guys seen??
Most stuff that I can get to run on DC appears to be more power efficient than running through a DC to AC inverter and eating my batteries..

I have this same model listed below if you are interested.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/XANTREX-FREE...item3f182e7e47

I installed in our old boat to run the a/c but pulled it prior to selling the boat. I have the remote controller, wiring to remote and owners manuals. Unit is approx 5 years old.

PM me if interested.

Chad

Here's mine. runs everything, all the time anytime

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pro-Line-300...item565117472d

No Problems Here
 

I've got an Xantrex PROwatt SW 2000 that I bought new for under $400 a couple years ago. It's a well made unit and has not given me any problems. It comes with a detailed owner's manual so you can install it right the first time. I bought my custom battery cables for it from www.genuinedealz.com and was very happy with them.

You will need a dedicated battery. A blow drier will pull roughly 100 DC amps!

I used a Xantrex 1750w inverter to run my 5000 btu ac unit, worked great with no problems, I also ran a small tv and dvd surround system off of it in the cabin and it worked fine also. It was a regular cheap one I bought at Costco.

Great info guys. Wondering about battery capacity though. You guys in the bigger boats are all probably running dual banks no? I only run two batteries.
I do not have AC either so would only be hair tools for the Mrs and maybe a TV and coffee pot.

Finding these dirt cheap and thinking they'll do the job??

http://www.ebay.com/itm/290838860707...84.m1438.l2649

Thanks for the info guys. Keep it coming.

Anyone doing this on a small cuddy like I am? Two batteries??

battery capacity is just as important as the rating of your inverter. A quick layman's formula is to divide the wattage by ten. That will give you a rough idea of amperage draw. example: a 1500W hair drier will pull roughly 150 amps at 12VDC. (about the same as a car starter)So it would pull down a standard grp 24 battery very quickly. Especially if she is really picky about her hair.

I don't know what a TV requires, but I know from experiance that it will easily go all night on a single battery using the same inverter.

I have a rolling showroom with a furnaces, air cleaner, UV light etc. I run a nice inverter and two batteries. A blower fan on a furnace is a good 300+watts so anything you may be using should be fine.
My first cheaper inverter did burn up though(as in caught fire) so that $61 one you posted is going to be a piece of junk. Anything thats going to last is going to closer to $200+

You are correct that a gas fired furnace with a blower will only pull about 30A from the batteries. But most hair driers are 1500W. That is what the OP is inquiring about. Unless I missed that he is using a gas fired hair dryer. :chimp:

I run (2) group 27 RV batteries for just the inverter (but can link all 4 if necessary), another group 27 for the stereo and a group 24 for the motor. I have a 150 amp alternator as well.

The 12V DC appliances are a joke. Take them back - they don't really work. bought the coffee maker - advertised that it makes a cup of coffee in minutes. Remember 59 minutes is still minutes. Had to have the engine running the whole time also otherwise the voltage wasn't high enough. I bought a 2000 watt inverter and have 2 - 27 series batteries. OH and TV's will run on non sine wave inverters. Mine does and the microwave also.

Good info Thanks

Get her a butane curling iron.

I had a 2 group 24's and two 27's I would run on all four and with the AC on all night they were in the mid 11's in the am. I had this stuff in my 28 daytona.

More great info. Thanks guys.

On the $60. junker I posted, even w/not having heat/AC in the boat to power like you guys do, you still think it won't last?? I did the math and 1000 watts should be more than enough assuming it actually puts out 1K watts. So I doubled it to 2000 watts for security.

And on the DC coffee pts....., I could write an entire thread on them. Went through three on my old Sonic before stumbling on one that actually did what it claimed. Screwed up and let that one got to Panama w/the boat.
Went through two more on this boat before giving up. That was after running separate 10 gauge leads approx. 1' from the battery switch to a designated power out let. Killed both group 24 batteries. Replaced both batteries and tried it again w/same result.
Bet between batteries, cables/supplies and actual coffee pots I've spent $500. to have a hot cup of coffee on the boat.
One of my smart ass buddies told me on one our Keys trips to switch to mountain Dew. I punched him.

Here's a link to the boat in question. I don't have room (nor want the weight) for a 2nd set of batteries. I think I do have room for a set of group 27's though and thats probably next. I may look at the dual cycles as well, as I know starting batteries (using now) are way different than deep cycle and vice versa.

Griff, I almost did. Down side I saw Vs DC/AC was running out of butane.
http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/g...uddy-keys.html

Tinkerer, thats funny. If you follow the link above you can read about my struggles for coffee in the morning ;)
Here's what I ended up with after combining a paint can, single burner stove, an extension hose, a camping coffee pot and some red neck emngineering. Actually works great (10-15 mins for a pot) but is a pain to drag around.
http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/l...coffeept30.jpg

What size ac were you running, I have a 7000btu I need to run for 4 hours. I think 3 group 27 batteries and a 3000 watt inverter will work but store said no.

This is the exact unit here:
http://www.mmair.com/marine_division...200_btu_system

Sounds to me what you want to do should work fine. How many amps does that ac draw when running? it is pretty easy to do the math and figure out how much power you need.

Get you a Honda 1000/2000 Gen.
Lighter and mobile. :)


I have a ProMariner inverter for using the blender and such instead of firing up the genny. 2 group 27 house batteries. If I had to buy it again, i'd get a true sine wave inverter, instead of the modified one.