Can someone explain how the inverter in a truck works? (gaming?)

So let's assume my inverter is a 1500w unit. Does that mean it can handle 1500w continuously or max? My main concern is that I have a gaming PC (desktop) that I'm thinking of putting in my truck. It has an 850w power supply and probably doesn't draw any more than 600-650w max, but I was wondering if I can just plug it in and play and how quickly will it drain my batteries?

I'm not 100% sure what my inverter specs are yet.

 

An inverter flips dc (one direction) current to alternating current (cycles the electrons to go both ways, flipping about 50/60 times a second)

Household use is ac, what your compy needs, but the important thing here actually is not that your inverter is big enough (an 850 watt power supply is fine on a 1500 watt inverter)

But that the sine wave (how polarity flips) is ACTUALLY a true sine wave inverter.

You want the middle one so as not to mess up your sensitive electronics

 

I don't think keeping Full ATX tower in truck good idea.
Don't forget that desktop CPU and GPU always using deffirent power at idle vs gaming. God know if your Inverter will be able to keep it up stable when you will play Cyperbunk at 4k with RTX.
Any USA roads not that smooth, way to harsh and bumpy.

Just buy laptop

 

Just to keep it simple with the math, let's say you're drawing 600w. That's only 5A on the 120V side, but that's 50A + the inverter losses, so probably between 55 or 60 amps from the batteries, so it'll draw them down very quickly.

 

Truck would need to idle at high RPM (950 I think) for a constant draw for gaming, also take into consideration the TV needs to be plugged in and other equipment that’s plugged in as well.


I would suggest a tablet or maybe or a laptop with a usb controller.

 

Can always get a UPS and plug it into the inverter. It should clean the power into a pure sine wave as well as prevent your system losing power when your truck kicks on to idle.

Company I'm with inverters always loose power on start up so have to use batter pack. Of course I game on a $4000 laptop and have had no problems so far.

For me a desktop pc would be to bulky to fit snugly and I'll worry the constant vibrations of the truck going down the road might damage components.

 

Totally forgot about a UPS, might need to get one for my 1500w kettle.

 

That’s like a constant starter load. The batteries and the alternator both are going to hate him.

 

I think the advertised power of inverters is usually the continuous watt rating, not the peak. I dismissed previous warnings to make sure to use a pure sine wave inverter when I started taking my laptop in the truck. Using a non pure sine wave inverter caused my power brick for the laptop to get very hot. It stays cool when running on actual house current. So, if you want to use the inverter to power computer gear, only get a pure sine wave inverter. These cost a little more, but nothing extreme.

There is no way to guess how long your PC will run on your truck batteries. Your truck batteries could be days away from failing are brand new and meticulously maintained. The thing to worry about if your truck isn't running while you use your PC, or the APU is running, is that the inverter shuts off due to low voltage with no warning. It's not good for the PC hard drive to just have power disappear, especially if data is being written to the hard drive at moment of power loss.

You should have no problem running your PC on a 1500 watt inverter, but I would only do it if something was charging the batteries as you used it. Also, monitor the temperature of the PC power supply. Any unsually high temps is not safe for very long.

 

I use a MSI GS75 Stealth, have had zero problems with it on truck. I did have a Xantrex 2KW pure sine wave inverter though. Although if you decide to switch to a laptop, be sure to use a screen protector when the lid is closed, due to the vibration.