Inverters

spyder is right on this. I've been running those cheap modified sine wave inverters, and you can live with them, sure. But your appliances will perform better, a lot better, on a pure sine wave inverter. Not only do these models produce commercial type power, they produce cleaner, more consistent voltage than commercial power.

I was going to buy a 2,000 watt pure sine wave inverter, 4,000w surge, from The Inverter Store yesterday. $399, on sale for $349, free shipping. I looked at the specs, and the performance temperature range (very important for electrical devices) was 32 - 104 degrees Fahr. Well, my truck goes all over, so that's not enough. I shopped further and bought a used 2,000w pure sine wave model, $275 free shipping, same warranty, temp range -4 to 140F. More like the extremes I see between Montana in January and Laredo in August.

I did this purchase because I'm buying, today, a Frigidaire one room air conditioner unit, $112 at Lowe's. I'll power it with my new inverter, driven by my new battery bank, 725cca deep cycle AGM type. I'm really fired up about this. I just changed my whole electrical system around, and it is a LOT better. I'll see how it likes the 5A AC unit. The specs say I can run up to 15A appliances, brush motors, like that, and my batteries are supposed to have 100ah (amp hours) of storage at 50%, but so far that hasn't been tested. It does only offer 2 AC plugs, I'll maybe have to arrange something on that.

Anyway, thanks for the post, I got a lot out of it. J

 

Another note, to find out how big of an inverter you need. If memory serves me right, amps multiplied by voltage equals watts. So add up the draw of the stuff you plan on using at the same time. And leave room. They work best at about 50 percent capacity.

 

Cheap inverters suck.
Save your money for a good one
If you look hard enough you'll find a really good deal on a used one. I think I only paid like $450 for this one on eBay