Inverters

Hi All

Thinking of getting a 12/230 inverter for my new van. I know nothing about them however.

All I really want to run from it is a 150w halogen floodlight.

Am I right to assume a 150w inverter will run a 150w lamp or is there some sort of power factor involved? Or maybe the 150w claimed for the inverter is 'going downhill with a following wind' and not what you get in practice?

Reply to
The Medway Handyman
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It should do, usually. It's a generally bad idea to run it at the limits, for reliablity concerns.

However. This will rapidly drain the battery - as you'll be pulling some 15A from it. (A 40Ah battery will safely run it only for a couple of hours, and doing this more than 10 times or so will risk the battery failing - car batteries are not designed for this.)

3*22W CFL lights will use a little over a third of the power, and produce around a third more light.
Reply to
Ian Stirling

Inverters are like battery screwdrivers, there are good and crap.

A friend bought a Costco one for 14.99 and it's very good, peaking higher than 150v. I bought a different make two weeks later and it peaks at 150v so I have to run it at less voltage.

A 300w one is only a little more in cost and gives leeway in running.

The main point about them is that they crucify batteries in vehicles and you should have the van altered to provide the power, with a second battery and uprated power from the vehicle charging system, like a caravan. If you are the usual contractor spending 30 mins going to site and 30 mins going from it in the evening, you will not charge the battery enough to power an inverter. Even running the engine while using it may not be enough.

My son uses one all the time in his van to prepare a chemical he has to use and switches the inverter on in transit to the job, so it is cooked when he arrives. His van has a very uprated power system to cope with this, but he does make mistakes and get a dead van some mornings.

Reply to
EricP

|Hi All | |Thinking of getting a 12/230 inverter for my new van. I know nothing about |them however. | |All I really want to run from it is a 150w halogen floodlight. | |Am I right to assume a 150w inverter will run a 150w lamp or is there some |sort of power factor involved? Or maybe the 150w claimed for the inverter |is 'going downhill with a following wind' and not what you get in practice?

Why not get a 150W *12V* lamp?

150W (12.5 amps) out of a 110AH leisure battery will cripple it in about 5 hours flat. Beware invertors do not like high peak starting loads such as you find for incandescent lamps.
Reply to
Dave Fawthrop

Make far more sense to find a 12 volt equivalent - low voltage halogens are more efficient even before you take into account the efficiency of the invertor.

I'd go for a 300 watt one. TLC has them at a decent price.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Buy a cheap petrol generator. Aldi/Lidl will come around again or some will still be on sale from the last batch?

Reply to
George

You may also find that you get enough light with less watts if you use 12v lamps. Low voltage lamps have shorter fatter filaments than mains lamps, and are thus more robust and can be run at much higher temperatures. This results in much more of their output being in the visible part of the spectrum rather in the infra-red part.

You have only to compare the output from a 60w car headlamp bulb with that from a mains 60w bulb to see what I mean.

Reply to
Roger Mills

Slightly more.

CFL worklights IME work quite well. Alternatively, something like the rechargable light -

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Reply to
Ian Stirling

Indeed I've a 720W wolf one, cost £50 from screwfix when it was on offer. Jon

Reply to
Jonathan Pearson

In general, don't. Find ways to run things from 12V instead.

Inverters are a pain. It's becoming easier to find ways to things (even tools) from low DC voltages and this is a superior approach. Inverters also aren't magic power multipliers. 150W at 240V is still at least

150W at 12V and even somewhat more. If it's hard to power a high power device from 12V, it's even _harder_ to do it via an inverter.

If you want lights, get some 12V ones. Fluorescents (caravan shop or mil-surplus "penthouse" lights from eBay) will give you general light to work by. They use trival currents, so have several. High power halogens can be rigged from car headlights or even rabbit-hunting lamps. LED lamps are as bright as you could wish, at a price. If you need more than this, then either go for propane (Bullfinch Handilights or motorway sign floods, again from eBay) or else a 240V generator.

Inverters also produce an ugly output waveform. If they're cheap or lightweight, then this is a very ugly waveform. Lights are OK with it, but electronics, audio and even inductive tools like motors might not enjoy the extra harmonics. You can often find power tools that overheat at 1/2 their normal capacity when run from cheap inverters.

A second battery (in a plasterboard-lined plastic case) and a caravan charging relay is a good idea. Stops a flat lighting battery turning into a flat engine battery and a call to the AA. Otherwise get a battery cutout that says No! when you've partially discharged it. All this stuff is standard kit in the caravan or boat world.

Reply to
Andy Dingley

|> Thinking of getting a 12/230 inverter for my new van. I know nothing |about |> them however. |>

|> All I really want to run from it is a 150w halogen floodlight. |>

|> Am I right to assume a 150w inverter will run a 150w lamp or is there some |> sort of power factor involved? Or maybe the 150w claimed for the inverter |> is 'going downhill with a following wind' and not what you get in |practice? | |Buy a cheap petrol generator. |Aldi/Lidl will come around again or some will still be on sale from the last |batch?

Which will get you hated so any caravan site in the UK. Many sites have no noise after ???? or before ???? rules, which limit generator use drastically.

Reply to
Dave Fawthrop

A 150w invertor isnt going to supply the 1.5kW startup draw of a 150w halogen. Cheap invertors have no load dump protection, so arent long term reliable.

12v halogens are more efficient than mains, more robust, and cost less all in Go for linear fluorescent of CFL if you can, a 150w halogen will hammer the battery Park on a hill or something, or get used to push starts if you do go for 1`50w halogen. Halogens dont give a damn about waveform. Nor do mains CFLs. Electronics linear fls dont either, but old magnetic ballast ones sometimes do object by overheating and cooking.

I'd go with fl if poss, 12v linear or for more money and less efficiency, mains cfl.

NT

Reply to
meow2222

Aha - a test I can do.

150W inverter (19.99 from maplin). Battery - 40Ah battery I picked up at the recycling place when I was disposing of paper. 150W 4.99 floodlight, from Aldi I think.

Yes, it does. It beeps for a tiny fraction of a second, indicating undervoltage.

Reply to
Ian Stirling

You're in the wrong newsgroup Dave - this is uk.d-i-y! Who said anything about caravan sites? The OP wants it for when he's working.

Having said that, I'm sure that these cheap generators are far noisier than slightly more up-market ones such as the 4-stroke Hondas.

Reply to
Roger Mills

|In an earlier contribution to this discussion, |Dave Fawthrop wrote: | |> On Tue, 23 Jan 2007 14:12:17 GMT, "George" |> wrote: |>>

|>> Buy a cheap petrol generator. |>> Aldi/Lidl will come around again or some will still be on sale from |>> the last batch? |>

|> Which will get you hated so any caravan site in the UK. |> Many sites have no noise after ???? or before ???? rules, which limit |> generator use drastically. | |You're in the wrong newsgroup Dave - this is uk.d-i-y! Who said anything |about caravan sites? The OP wants it for when he's working.

He should still be warned, work vans *do* get used for leisure. I have regularly stayed on CCC sites and other respectable sites when working. Some sites even have Contractors rates.

|Having said that, I'm sure that these cheap generators are far noisier than |slightly more up-market ones such as the 4-stroke Hondas.

and even the quietest will get you hated.

Reply to
Dave Fawthrop

My local B&Q were doing a [fairly nasty] 720w two-stroke one for £35 when I was in there recently, and a 1.2kw 4 stroke for about £65 IIRC.

Personally, I prefer the quiet "suitcase" inverter generators, and have two of the "Kipor" brand Honda copies that are available on ebay amongst other places. I've just bought another 1kw version which I'll collect later this week after regretting selling my previous one when I upgraded to a bigger model last year. The 1kw version is very portable which it's 3kw electric start bigger brother isn't!

Alan.

Reply to
Alan

A pointless excersise if there's (mains) facility on caravan site then,ain't it.

Reply to
George

The Medway Handyman explained on 23/01/2007 :

Why the need to invert?

Inverters are only 85% or so efficient. Why not use the power at 12v, using something like an adapted car headlight with a 12v bulb?

Reply to
Harry Bloomfield

|> |> Thinking of getting a 12/230 inverter for my new van. I know nothing |> |about |> |> them however. |> |>

|> |> All I really want to run from it is a 150w halogen floodlight. |> |>

|> |> Am I right to assume a 150w inverter will run a 150w lamp or is there |some |> |> sort of power factor involved? Or maybe the 150w claimed for the |inverter |> |> is 'going downhill with a following wind' and not what you get in |> |practice? |> | |> |Buy a cheap petrol generator. |> |Aldi/Lidl will come around again or some will still be on sale from the |last |> |batch? |>

|> Which will get you hated so any caravan site in the UK. |> Many sites have no noise after ???? or before ???? rules, which limit |> generator use drastically. |

|A pointless excersise if there's (mains) facility on caravan site then,ain't |it.

Big *if* many sites do not have hookups, over on uk.rec.caravanning this is a regular question. Indeed I have written a FAQ on the subject.

Reply to
Dave Fawthrop

Depening on your requirement why not look at HID lamps? I seem to recall that you can get them in a worklight version but these might do...

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cheap, but very good light and low power consumption.

Reply to
garym999

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