power inverter advice

Discussion in 'Questions From New Drivers' started by CDLROOKIE, Nov 27, 2014.

  1. CDLROOKIE

    CDLROOKIE Bobtail Member

    35
    21
    Sep 3, 2014
    san bernardino,ca
    0
    hey guys/gals,
    im about to get my own truck and want to get a power inverter to run a real fridge and stuff. looking at charts,looks like i should get something in the range of a 3000 watt inverter which looks like plenty to run a fridge. so question for you all is what brand and size inverter are you using? are you happy with it? what did it cost and probably most importantly, how long can you leave it on before ya kill the truck batterys? do you turn everything off on resets? Ive seen a wide range of prices for same rating so ANY info/input is always greatly appreciated. THANK YOU!!!
     
  2. Truckers Report Jobs

    Trucking Jobs in 30 seconds

    Every month 400 people find a job with the help of TruckersReport.

  3. jason6541

    jason6541 Road Train Member

    2,425
    5,356
    Mar 5, 2012
    Omaha, NE
    0
    i run a 3000 watt inverter, i also have an apu so i don't idle the trk, I hooked mine up to batteries with #1 wire and fuseable link and also secured wired and insulated where needed. i went as far as to run the wires thru 3/4 " heater hose and rubber grommets thru the floor. I am a clean freak,but mine has lasted 5 years with no issues, if you don't keep your trk pretty clean then be sure you clean the cooling fan every so often as the cooling vents will plug up with dust ,hair ect. as far as costi bought mine when i got my apu as a package. try to buy on with true sine technology, especially if you will be using electronics ect. when home on weekends i turn it off and the fridge. but that's a good time to defrost fridge anyway. happy turkey day
     
    CDLROOKIE Thanks this.
  4. gokiddogo

    gokiddogo Road Train Member

    8,775
    14,727
    Mar 5, 2012
    Ontario Canada
    0
    I have the cobra cpi 2575. 5000 watts. Wired directly to batteries, 2x 2ga. wire of hot and another 2x 2ga for negative cables, each hot wire has 125 amp fuse in it about 6" off the battery. Runs anything and will never have to upgrade. Battery life depends on how much load you are drawing from it ... I usually only use it to charge phone, run laptop/printer, and I almost never have to worry about the truck not starting. It also has a voltage readout so if it gets down under 12 I can fire up the truck for a while if needed. I would buy it again.
     
    CDLROOKIE Thanks this.
  5. kemosabi49

    kemosabi49 Trucker Forum STAFF Staff Member

    9,966
    41,259
    Jan 13, 2013
    SW Arkansas
    0
    What jason6541 says about getting an inverter with pure sine wave technology is right on. I first noticed how hot the litle box inline on my laptops power supply got when plugged into a cheaper inverter. I bought a better one (Xantrex) from a retiring driver and now it stays cool.
     
    CDLROOKIE Thanks this.
  6. Starboyjim

    Starboyjim Road Train Member

    2,039
    1,423
    Dec 10, 2011
    Weed, CA
    0
    I think I have a Powerdrive 1,500 watt inverter. Bought it on sale at the Pilot in Waco, used points for the balance. I had a Cobra 1,500 in a Conway truck, so noisy I couldn't use it. My Powerdrive is silent, works perfectly, 1 1/2 years to date. I don't have a lot of appliances, I charge my electronics, I have a refrigerator I usually run on DC, not a lot of demand.
     
    CDLROOKIE Thanks this.
  7. d281833

    d281833 Heavy Load Member

    880
    918
    May 15, 2012
    0
    I've got a Xantrex 1800 Watt charger/inverter. Runs everything I need. Plenty of power and when I'm home I plug into shore power to charge batteries and keep them peaked, makes a huge difference slow charging them. 3rd winter on these batteries.
     
    CDLROOKIE Thanks this.
  8. HaulinCars

    HaulinCars Medium Load Member

    355
    479
    Jan 25, 2014
    Central Florida
    0
    A conversation about inverters can be very short or very, very long. It all depends on the level of knowledge of the "Teacher" and what they feel the level of interest / intent of the "Student" is.

    This is one subject I happen to know a fair amount about. I'll try to hit the high points and give you some things to think about and you can do some thinking and some research to come to your next set of questions...

    Inverters come in 2 basic types. Modified sine wave and true sine wave. What you have at home coming out of your walls is true sine wave. Almost all of the inexpensive inverters make modified sine wave rather than true.

    Electronics and things with motors tend to like (And in some cases absolutely require) true sine wave. What happens when you use a modified unit on a device that wants or needs true? Good question.. In some cases you can get unwanted noise (that you hear) from the device. You can get unwanted electrical noise that can affect other electrical/electronic devices hooked to the same power source. Components can overheat or simply run hotter than normal shortening their life either some or a lot.

    Almost all of the inverters sold in truck stops and your local auto parts super store are of the modified type. A true type will cost you about 50 to 100% more than a modified type. I always buy the true type because over the life of the unit (Which should be several years for a decent unit) I'll have all sorts of things plugged into it and since I tend to like nice things they tend to not be inexpensive so I want to get the most life out of them I can, and providing them high quality electricity is a good place to start in making them last a long time.

    My stepfather was the chief engineer of a TV station so he was very up on electrical and electronic stuff. Apparently some of his knowledge rubbed off on me. I know for sure that wanting stuff to work properly and last a long time and doing things correctly the first time came from him. I'm now in my 50's so I have a moderate amount of experience with this so take the above recommendation to purchase a the highest quality true sine wave inverter you can afford. Do it once, and do it right and you'll never regret it.

    One thing most people never mention is that care and feeding of the inverter properly is very important to making the inverter itself last a long time. Whats that mean? Make sure you mount it in a place where it can breathe. It is going to get warm, you do not want it getting overheated. That is the care part. The feeding part is making sure you use wires that are large enough to carry the load for the given length of your wires. This is super important. Also, make sure the connections are proper. Use high quality terminals and install them correctly. As with any wiring project make sure you route the wires away from moving parts and sources of heat. Make sure you eliminate places where the wires will rub and chafe on anything else. I ALWAYS run ALL my wiring in split loom to help with this, especially when they are the size of large battery cables and run up inside my cab! The last thing I need is a fire. Lastly, make sure you use proper circuit breaker or fuse to protect the install and mount this as close to the battery as is possible.

    What brand? I like Tripp Lite (Found in a LOT of commercial equipment installs) and Xantrex but there are others as well.

    If your ever going to install a generator or plug your truck into shore power you might want to consider an inverter/charger. This unit will give you house power from your batteries and when you have house or generator power available it will charge your batteries.

    Another advantage of a quality inverter is that when it is at "No load" (Meaning nothing it wanting it to make power but it is still turned on and ready) it will draw far less (at no load) than the less expensive units. This will allow you to leave the truck off longer with the inverter on to keep your refrigerator running for longer without killing your truck batteries. Which brings us to the next question

    How long can I keep the inverter on to run my refrigerator with the truck off and not kill my batteries, and how can I extend that time frame? That answer in and of itself can get very lengthy. The easy answer is that "It depends". On what? Assuming you have a quality inverter with a very low stand by (No load) drain and there is nothing at all on using power you could probably leave it for a week or more and still start the truck. Of course leaving noting on pretty much defeats the whole point of the question. Speaking directly to the refrigerator question; The less it has to run the longer you have. How do you keep it from running a lot? There are several things to do. The more full it is the less it will need to run. The cooler the room temperature it is in the less it will need to run. The better it is insulated and sealed the less it will need to run. The more efficient the cooling components of the refrigerator are the less power it will need while running so therefore the longer you can leave it. Don't forget to mount the refrigerator in a place where it can get some cooling air to the coils on the back as this will directly relate to the efficiency of the fridge.

    How else can you extend the "Truck off time"? Install a separate battery or bank of batteries. This aspect can also get to be a very in depth conversation and it can be as simple or complex as you want it to be, but a basic install of a couple Wallyworld deep cycle batteries mounted fairly close to the location of the inverter (to keep the poser supply cables short) and attached to the main batteries with a Ford type starter solenoid (as a relay) wired so that when the truck is on the solenoid is "On" and allows the truck to charge your "House" batteries should get you about a day (more or less) depending on the variables as noted above, assuming your running only the refrigerator and that you have taken steps to address the variables as much as you possibly can. (Talk about a run-on sentence! LOL)

    You could also install the smallest generator you can find that has electric start and is adaptable to remote start and has a battery voltage sensing auto start. Here again, this could lead to an entirely separate conversation but if you do this you can leave the truck almost indefinitely. You could also install a RV type roof A/C (if your particular truck sleeper roof design permits it) and presto, you have your own home made APU at a far less cost.

    A lot of what you do depends on your budget, if you own, lease or are a company driver in an assigned truck and your ultimate goal. I hope the above has been at least somewhat helpful.
     
    disoba, NEWS, CDLROOKIE and 6 others Thank this.
  9. RSQ20

    RSQ20 Medium Load Member

    Glad you had the time and inclination to type that dissertation, save me the trouble..

    .. Philip
     
    CDLROOKIE Thanks this.
  10. snowwy

    snowwy Road Train Member

    19,723
    12,268
    Jul 6, 2009
    0
    for the record, it's not the invertor that kills the batteries. it's the appliances that use the invertor.

    the invertor itself. don't really use any power just to be turned on.
     
    CDLROOKIE Thanks this.
  11. Skate-Board

    Skate-Board Road Train Member

    3,801
    3,994
    Aug 9, 2014
    Merrimack, NH
    0
    This is what you want if you have the money.
     
    CDLROOKIE Thanks this.
  • Truckers Report Jobs

    Trucking Jobs in 30 seconds

    Every month 400 people find a job with the help of TruckersReport.