Inverter in new cars

[Hank]

I just bought a new 2011 Hyundai Santa Fe. It has a 110 volt- 150 watt inverter. I can't think of many uses for it. Other than a trouble light, what else is it good for?

Hank

[Nate Nagel]

[Jim Elbrecht]

Plug in your AC phone, computer, whatever, charger so you don't need to buy a 'car charger'.

Jim

[Shaun Eli]

With an extension cord it'll run a sump pump when the power in your house goes out during a storm. Or recharge your cell phone if you don't have a lighter plug-powered adapter.

[Shaun Eli]

I stand corrected. Even an electric drill to drive a small pump would consume too much electricity.

How much electricity do the chargers for cordless power tools use? Could you charge a saw or drill from it?

[The Daring Dufas]

I just looked at the bottom label on one of my chargers and it lists power input 115 volts AC at 12 watts. Look at the label on your charger or power supply and see if it lists watts, if not, watts = volts x current. The manufacturer may use different voltages anywhere from 100 to 230 volts AC for a universal type power supply and it may list current for both high and low voltage input. A little math will tell you if it will work or not.

TDD

[ransley]

I dont think so, I dont know of any sump pump that will run on 150, those pumps also have a heavy surge startup load, maybe 4x so that would easily lock out an inverter

[ransley]

[Art Todesco]

[gfretwell]

[Pete C.]

The Ford / M$ Sync setup plays MP3s and damned near anything else with a nice UI and voice commands if you want them.

[Pete C.]

There are a number of industrial PC104 type PCs, as well as a couple mobile/auto specific PCs available if you look around. The circuitcellar.com advertiser index will provide some starting points.

[Jon Danniken]

[Jon Danniken]

Awesome, I had thought of doing that at one time, but never got around to it. Kudos to you for being ahead of the curve.

Jon

[Caesar Romano]

On Fri, 26 Nov 2010 05:16:53 -0800 (PST), Hank wrote Re Inverter in new cars:

[gfretwell]

My wife has sync in a Lincoln, I am not impressed

[Pete C.]

Well, I have no issues with the Sync/Nav in my '09 F350. I put MP3s on a

16GB thumb drive, stick it in the USB port and it works just fine. It has some 10GB internal HD jukebox capability, but I've never bothered to use it since the thumb drive works so well.

[Joe]

[LSMFT]

[gfretwell]