Just purchased a new inverter for our van. Purchased extra wire to hook the inverter up direct from the battery.
Had to run the wiring thru cupboards and then under the bed then thru a small hole in the floor of the van then to battery. Our battery is in a separate compartment under the boot.
Works a treat. Very proud of my work. Great what one can achieve when one tries.
We still have a smaller inverter which has a Cigarette lighter connection to same similar connection in van. So should be able to us both at one.... Right...????
All I'm gunna say is.... Cigarette Lighter sockets were not designed to put out the current needed by an inverter, it may work but that don't mean its OK.
-- Edited by madaboutled on Wednesday 1st of April 2015 12:20:27 PM
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Steve, Di & Ziggy We named our Motorhome "Roadworx" because on the road works "On The Road Again" Ford Transit with 302 Windsor V8 conversion, C4 Auto, 9 Inch Ford Diff All Lighting L.E.D., 260 Amp/h AGM, 530 Watt Solar + Kipor Backup Gen.
JayDee it would be better to post this type of question in the techies corner. I agree with Steve about ciggy socket type inverters, most cigarette lighter sockets are rated to between 10A and 15A max and they tend to get pretty warm drawing a lot less than that. Inverters should really be mounted as close to the battery as possible using a minimum length of heavy cable. For the 360W I'd use a minimum of 6B&S and try to keep it to under 3M.
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Yes I am an agent of Satan, but my duties are largely ceremonial.
Jay and Dee - your question is whether you can run both at the same time......the experts will give all 'ifs' and 'buts' however the bottom line is that if the new inverter is fused at the battery and the ciggy lighter connection is fused then no problems. If not then the ciggy lighter fuse will blow and the new inverter may switch off if the wiring cannot carry the load - but only when working at near max output.
Sounds good to me and I agree you can do a lot if you put your mind to it coupled with common sense.
Good Luck.
Denis, Yes to both the units re the fuses. So as you say should be ok.
Thanks for your info.
With winter approaching we are hoping to run our electric blanket. Just thought though, I guess that I will need to check to see how many amps it draws. Is that correct??
360w invertor may struggle with electric blanket - maybe on the lowest heat setting - would be a good idea to check before you really need to use it. It might tell you initial current draw on the packaging box if you still have it
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Cheers Bruce
The amazing things you see when nomading Australia
Jay and Dee - your question is whether you can run both at the same time......the experts will give all 'ifs' and 'buts' however the bottom line is that if the new inverter is fused at the battery and the ciggy lighter connection is fused then no problems. If not then the ciggy lighter fuse will blow and the new inverter may switch off if the wiring cannot carry the load - but only when working at near max output. Sounds good to me and I agree you can do a lot if you put your mind to it coupled with common sense. Good Luck
OK.. never mind..
-- Edited by 03_Troopy on Thursday 16th of April 2015 04:16:55 PM
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Yes I am an agent of Satan, but my duties are largely ceremonial.
Denis, Yes to both the units re the fuses. So as you say should be ok. Thanks for your info. With winter approaching we are hoping to run our electric blanket. Just thought though, I guess that I will need to check to see how many amps it draws. Is that correct??
Jay&Dee
Not easy to check how much the blanket draws without proper measuring equipment, however this work has already been done for you at the link below - they tested the Aldi double bed electric blanket and found at max power with both sides on it consumes 140 watts which is well withing the capabilities of your 360 watt inverter. You will not run it on max except for initial warmup.
