Power inverter.

[Paul31733]

As already mentioned, an inverter is only converting DC to AC. I think it would help everyone help you if you first told us what your power supply is. Generator? Battery? Because you are talking about an inverter people will assume you are using some kind of DC power source (battery, solar). Let everyone know what your power source is first so it is known and people can help. Size (kW)/ Energy (kWh) would also be helpful.

Power inverter ran from my truck... Which is also an AC voltage being changed to DC... Then with my.inverter back to ac lol. Good stuff.

 

[zachj7]

Power inverter ran from my truck... Which is also an AC voltage being changed to DC... Then with my.inverter back to ac lol. Good stuff.

Ok so the truck battery is your power source. I don't know typical car battery specs...what is the max power it can deliver?

I would recommend an inverter that produces a quality sine wave. Any type of AC rotating machine wants that. A choppy sine wave is just trouble for lots of devices. A resistive load (heater) won't care much, but everything else...

 

[Paul31733]

A typical car battery fully charged is 12.6 volts when not being used. When running it can vary based on load bit usually 13.5 volts or higher.
Amperage can vary depending on load as well.

 

[Paul31733]

Basically I am wondering if I can use this item to run my heater and return pump from my truck... Due to a power outage for at least 6 hours...

 

[zachj7]

A typical car battery fully charged is 12.6 volts when not being used. When running it can vary based on load bit usually 13.5 volts or higher.
Amperage can vary depending on load as well.

Well that's just voltage (potential) not a measure of power. Looking for a W or kW number on the battery for max continuous power.

 

[Rybren]

As others have already mentioned, you never know for certain what will run without issue on a modified sine wave (MSW) inverter. Similar items from different manufacturers will react differently. For example, some 18V power tool battery chargers can handle MSW without issue and others won't.

I have a solar powered off-grid cabin and use a pure sine wave inverter. Everything runs perfectly off of it.

If I were in your boots, I'd spend the extra and get a pure sine wave.

 

[Paul31733]

Wattage is voltagexamps. Car batteries are rated in amps or cold cranking amps here in Canada. A small vehicle would have around 400 cold cranking amps and a large one could have close to 1000. While running. A vehicle draws around 50 amps.

 

[zachj7]

Basically I am wondering if I can use this item to run my heater and return pump from my truck... Due to a power outage for at least 6 hours...

I'm guessing that would work fine, what's it say about the sine wave output. Description says for laptop...but that's a device with it's on power brick converting that AC back into DC for the laptop, so the sine wave quality doesn't really matter there.

 

[Paul31733]

It says modified sine wave.

 

[Paul31733]

As others have already mentioned, you never know for certain what will run without issue on a modified sine wave (MSW) inverter. Similar items from different manufacturers will react differently. For example, some 18V power tool battery chargers can handle MSW without issue and others won't.

I have a solar powered off-grid cabin and use a pure sine wave inverter. Everything runs perfectly off of it.

If I were in your boots, I'd spend the extra and get a pure sine wave.

Thanks for your reply.

 

[Paul31733]

Ok I have ordered 2 different models from amazon. I will try the cheap one and hope it does not fry my pump or heater. I will update you this thread(pending my memory) and let everybody know which one worked!
I appreciate everyone's help! Seems the answer is pure sine wave...which is a reasonable assumption seeing as Better quality never hurt anyone! But I will try the cheaper one to experiment for the rest of us ... 100 bucks of savings could be a nice coral...

 

[zachj7]

Like others are recommending, try to find a "pure" sine wave inverter, will be more useful to you all around. Though if you are really in a pinch i'm sure that device will serve this purpose.

 

[BrandonS]

Fan of the "reliable" brand pure sine wave inverters. I have a large battery bank (dc) that I run off of for emergency. Off-grid situation but has been rock solid for almost 2 years now.