I have an 800 watt pure sine wave invertor installed under one of our dining suites and leave it constantly switched on and a multi-board plugged into it. We keep our two laptops almost constantly plugged into it. Our power either comes from 240 mains or solar via batteries or Anderson plug to tow vehicle.
My question is...............is it ok to have the invertor turned on all the time?
We had it installed by an auto sparkie employed by the Dealer we bought the 'van through and have had it turned on 24/7 since for about 4 months
Peter_n_Margaret said
12:53 AM Jan 6, 2015
Having 2 earthed products plugged in at any one time via the power board leaves potential for an electrocution.
There is no protection.
They should only have one appliance plugged in at a time unless hard wired with an RVD.
Aside from that, depending on the inverter, it will use some power all the time when plugged in, even if the appliances are switched off. If that doesn't matter, there should be no harm.
Cheers,
Peter
Herb said
07:54 AM Jan 6, 2015
We had one in our old van and left it on all time, one day we were going down a dirt road with a few corregations and it burnt out . lucky for use we stopped for a break and smelt it as soon as we entered van. Never know what would of happened if we continued.
We always turn off all power now and let the 12 volt system running off truck do its work (Fridge). The 12 volt system is simple and heavy wired so less chance of issues.
have fun
Karlene said
12:38 PM Jan 6, 2015
We never leave the inverter on unless it is being used. Ours is wired so that an isolation switch (a big one) disconnects the battery supply from the inverter. To use ours we connect an extension cord from the appliance (usually the microwave or the toaster) to the inverter, turn the big isolation switch to connect the batteries, then the switch on the inverter and lastly switch on the appliance. We only ever use one appliance at a time with the inverter.
After each use the inverter and the isolation switch are switched off and the extension cord removed.
Isolating the inverter from the battery after each use means that (1) the batteries don't discharge because of the constant, but small, draw from the inverter in standby mode, and (2) we are confident there will never be an accident causing a short circuit and thus a fire. Inverters can draw very large currents from the batteries so need to be managed carefully and safely.
By the way we also have a large fuse on the positive battery cable going to the isolation switch so that, again, the chance of short circuits, fires or any other disasters are minimised.
Woody n Sue said
07:11 PM Jan 6, 2015
Personally I would not leave it on 24/7 like most things they have a life span, also the fire risk, the battery drain issue, and as for leaving the lap top plugged in all the time NOT a good idea I did this with mine for too long and now the battery is stuffed were told defiantly do not leave it plugged in as this is what kills the battery life .
Baz421 said
09:36 PM Jan 6, 2015
We leave both ours OFF - 1000W and now new one replacing 150W,,, can't recall the w but I think 200/250w strange size.
We also turn off individual isolation switches to them.
Why add an additional risk into the equation.
-- Edited by Baz421 on Tuesday 6th of January 2015 09:36:40 PM
SnowT said
09:49 PM Jan 6, 2015
I have 2 inverter's in My bus..
A 350w and a 2400W..
At the moment both are on Full time..
The 350w one Powers the 240v domestic Fridge and a Ctek 5A Battery charger for the 12v Battery.. No issue there..
the 2400s inverter is On full time at the moment...
NO issue as Both are in free moving air and have the ability to self Cool...
an inverter under whatever should most probably have some form of ARTIFICIAL Cooling... A separate Fan that is controlled via a Temperature sensor..
That is my little rant..
Juergen
Aus-Kiwi said
12:46 AM Jan 7, 2015
Peter_n_Margaret wrote:
Having 2 earthed products plugged in at any one time via the power board leaves potential for an electrocution. There is no protection. They should only have one appliance plugged in at a time unless hard wired with an RVD.
Aside from that, depending on the inverter, it will use some power all the time when plugged in, even if the appliances are switched off. If that doesn't matter, there should be no harm.
Cheers, Peter
Correct but in this case its only the transformer and I doubt they are earthed ?
Earthed products would be too much load I would assume running two of them.. ?
Something to be aware of..
in transit said
09:27 PM Jan 7, 2015
Computer batteries are a bit like humans. If you don't make them work, they forget how to work. When your PC is charged it should ideally be disconnected from power and used that way until it beeps at you.
If you do that now you may find that it beeps after a short time. If you repeat the exercise , the battery may recover some of its stamina, depending on how long it has been mistreated. Unfortunately the price of a new laptop battery is not a lot less than the price of a new laptop unless you buy a dodgy aftermarket one. So you are left with a PC that needs 240V which may suit you anyhow.
I have an 800 watt pure sine wave invertor installed under one of our dining suites and leave it constantly switched on and a multi-board plugged into it. We keep our two laptops almost constantly plugged into it. Our power either comes from 240 mains or solar via batteries or Anderson plug to tow vehicle.
My question is...............is it ok to have the invertor turned on all the time?
We had it installed by an auto sparkie employed by the Dealer we bought the 'van through and have had it turned on 24/7 since for about 4 months
There is no protection.
They should only have one appliance plugged in at a time unless hard wired with an RVD.
Aside from that, depending on the inverter, it will use some power all the time when plugged in, even if the appliances are switched off. If that doesn't matter, there should be no harm.
Cheers,
Peter
We had one in our old van and left it on all time, one day we were going down a dirt road with a few corregations and it burnt out
. lucky for use we stopped for a break and smelt it as soon as we entered van. Never know what would of happened if we continued.
We always turn off all power now and let the 12 volt system running off truck do its work (Fridge). The 12 volt system is simple and heavy wired so less chance of issues
.
have fun
We never leave the inverter on unless it is being used. Ours is wired so that an isolation switch (a big one) disconnects the battery supply from the inverter. To use ours we connect an extension cord from the appliance (usually the microwave or the toaster) to the inverter, turn the big isolation switch to connect the batteries, then the switch on the inverter and lastly switch on the appliance. We only ever use one appliance at a time with the inverter.
After each use the inverter and the isolation switch are switched off and the extension cord removed.
Isolating the inverter from the battery after each use means that (1) the batteries don't discharge because of the constant, but small, draw from the inverter in standby mode, and (2) we are confident there will never be an accident causing a short circuit and thus a fire. Inverters can draw very large currents from the batteries so need to be managed carefully and safely.
By the way we also have a large fuse on the positive battery cable going to the isolation switch so that, again, the chance of short circuits, fires or any other disasters are minimised.
We leave both ours OFF - 1000W and now new one replacing 150W,,, can't recall the w but I think 200/250w strange size.
We also turn off individual isolation switches to them.
Why add an additional risk into the equation.
-- Edited by Baz421 on Tuesday 6th of January 2015 09:36:40 PM
A 350w and a 2400W..
At the moment both are on Full time..
The 350w one Powers the 240v domestic Fridge and a Ctek 5A Battery charger for the 12v Battery.. No issue there..
the 2400s inverter is On full time at the moment...
NO issue as Both are in free moving air and have the ability to self Cool...
an inverter under whatever should most probably have some form of ARTIFICIAL Cooling... A separate Fan that is controlled via a Temperature sensor..
That is my little rant..
Juergen
Correct but in this case its only the transformer and I doubt they are earthed ?
Earthed products would be too much load I would assume running two of them.. ?
Something to be aware of..
If you do that now you may find that it beeps after a short time. If you repeat the exercise , the battery may recover some of its stamina, depending on how long it has been mistreated. Unfortunately the price of a new laptop battery is not a lot less than the price of a new laptop unless you buy a dodgy aftermarket one. So you are left with a PC that needs 240V which may suit you anyhow.