thinking about getting one for the service truck. basically just to recharge cordless tools, laptop, etc. don't know much about them. how much wattage do I need? any recommendations? :notworthy
I have used one on my service truck for years. Mine is too small, and it's still great. I just have a little $80 750 watt, 1500 watt surge Coleman. It will run most power tools. I have been planning to hardwire it for years, put keep putting it off planning to get a bigger one. I just keep it in a compartment and set it out and hook it's 2' cables to the battery to use it. Two series 31 batteries will run a 4.5" grinder for a long time and still start the truck. A lot of them will cutoff on low voltage, so they won't strand you. On size: You can estimate wattage by multiplying voltage times amperage, so a 15 amp tool is 1650 or 1800 watts, on 110 or 120 volts. Add up everything you think you might want to run at once. I would recommend an absolute minimum of 2000 watts, and would add at least a 1000 to that for running floodlights. In other words, get the biggest you can afford, it costs nothing extra to run 1000 watts through a 5000 over a 1500.
Except the $1000 extra to buy.:jawdrop
I have a 750 watt inverter I use to run my laptop it's ok. I also use it to charge cordless batteries. I will get a bigger one when budget allows. I would x's 2 what mitch504 said about getting a 2000 watt inverter. More wattage is better.
Thanks guys this is the info I'm looking for. The snap on guy tried to sell me one for $700. Claimed I could run a mig welder off of it. That seemed a like a stretch to me.
in most cases you get what you pay for in a inverter........you can run pretty much anything from a appropriately sized one ........but at some point the cost of the inverter and cabling and batteries far outweigh the cost of a fuel powered generator... they do seem cost efficient to me to use smaller ones to recharge cordless tools and light usage i use a small one to recharge cordless batteries regularly ........and have used a 2500 watt one to run light tools.......in my opinion much bigger than that and you would need some extra battery capacity and heavy cabling as for the snap-on man......i would tell him to hook it up to his truck and bring it over and plug in your mig welder and buy it if it works good .....
Never trust the snap on man
Does anyone have a brand recommendation for a 5000 watt inverter? I found some for around $400-500. Made in China. Then there are pure sine wave ones for $1700. I'm just asking because in my post earlier I probably sounded like a smart *** but maybe there are good ones for around $500.
Shouldn't need a pure sine wave except for running sophisticated electronics. The only brand I know anything about is my poor little overworked Coleman. I think it was made in China, but it's sure been good.
After overloading a couple of them and burning them out I just went with a little 2000w inverter generator. I picked up a Yamaha for a little under $900 and have been very happy with it. They idle down to very quiet level when running a low load and easily portable to carry to a remote location. Much quieter than having the welder/generator running all afternoon and it always starts on the first pull. I still have a couple small 12v inverters for battery charging and such. :my2c Twisted
If your system is 12V, this one should be good: http://www.shopepal.com/p-9828-xant...campaign=cse&gclid=CJnCtrDm4cACFQGVfgodKTwA_w 24V works lots better, twice the voltage in, half the amps.....
I have a 3000w inverter generator which works great on somethings........seems to struggle starting motors like a worm drive skil saw etc.......really not sure why.......really love those inverter generators (quiet, low fuel ussage, lightweight etc)
For frequent heavy starting loads I just leave it on full throttle. It helps with the initial load and it's still quiet. I've used it on grinders, 5000btu A/C units, airless paint sprayers, battery charging duties, torpedo heaters and countless other applications. I'd buy another one in a heartbeat if the one I have **** the bed. Fuel consumption isn't even an issue. Change oil spring & fall and it works great.
I carry a variety of electronics in the car (Honda Pilot), including an HP Envy 4500 inkjet printer that I use when I'm out giving estimates. I plug a small (200w) inverter into the rear cargo area 12v power port and then plug a small (350 VA) UPS to run the printer and any other crap I need to power. The UPS gives me some surge capacity. I think I spent $35-40 on the UPS and maybe $20 on the inverter.
we must have the same snap on salesman!!!!!
I have used a 400 watt and a 750 watt inverter for years. At first I thought bigger would be nice but it takes way too much battery power to run the big ones . just use it for charging a laptop, running lights and charging batteries. If you want to run more than that get a Honda or Yamaha inverter generator . I have a Honda 2000 and its way better than trying to use a 12 volt inverter. If I need more than that I fire up the Miller bobcat 10000 watt
I am a solar power nut, here is what I have learned. I used a little 400 watt harbor freight inverter for several years, worked OK, but you couldn't leave it on because it pulled about 1-2 amps with no load. Also, 400 watts is not enough power to run a lot of things. You can run a small drill, but you have to be careful with the trigger and its really easy to over load the inverter. Finally, this year the old inverter died and I replaced it with a 1500 watt/3000 surge inverter. This inverter has worked better, I can leave it on, with no load, it only pulls about .5 amps, and when running say a drill, it doesn't over load. I can run the same drill and stall the drill and the inverter will not trip out. Keep in mind, you will need to run some welding cables or something similar from the batteries to the inverter. Also, some devices do not like inverters, no matter what you do. The cobra inverter is not a pure sine wave inverter, drills, fans, motors, battery chargers, etc... don't seem to care. But my 200 watt stereo ... no go. The digital tuner locks up when you run it off of the inverter. Basicly, my advice, go with a 1500 watt because that way, it is roughly the same as a 15 amp residential outlet. If it doesn't supply enough power or you need power for a long time, I would recommend the generator route. I have been tinkering with running an air compressor off of the inverter, the start up load is really hard for the inverter, and the power draw is hard on the batteries, sometimes you just cannot beat the old school mechanical generator. I don't know if the inverter generators have similar problems with the modified sine wave, I don't have one yet so I haven't been able to experiment.
We just have 400s for our laptops and recharging cordless tools. I would hard wire it. We have generators for anything else.
We have a little lincolin portable stick welder it will run off the building but not off a generator so you have to make sure you use pure sine wave inverter to run things like that