What size inverter

volts times amps equals watts.

Larger inverter than that may be needed. Keep the 12 volt cables as fat, and as short as possible. Run more 110 volt AC power cord if you need to.

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

Somewhere between 1600-2000 watts should do it(that includes a 30% safety margin). Frankly though, for what that rig would cost and at the risk of destroying the electric motor or both, you might be better served spending the money for a used gas power at a pawn shop. Just my opinion because I get a sense this is not a one time deal.

That 1200 watts is running wattage. You'll need a higher capacity inverter to handle the start up.

But, starting up under no-load should be so short a time that the inverter should be able to handle a 1-second surge. They are always rated for both peak and steady-state load, and a 1200 watt unit should have at least a 10% overload factor that will get the chain saw running easily as long as it is under a no-load start-up. Now, if the saw binds, you could easily go over the 10 amps / 1200 watts for several seconds. Most likely, the invertor will not blow up, but will either shut down or blow a fuse.

It may turn out, that the gas saw is cheaper than the inverter.

Do you have a friend, who has a gas saw, or gas generator?

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

Somewhere between 1600-2000 watts should do it(that includes a 30% safety margin). Frankly though, for what that rig would cost and at the risk of destroying the electric motor or both, you might be better served spending the money for a used gas power at a pawn shop. Just my opinion because I get a sense this is not a one time deal.

Most inverters have a dual rating, run watts and startup surge.

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

That 1200 watts is running wattage. You'll need a higher capacity inverter to handle the start up.

I have a Redi-Line that has 1600 continuous output watts and 2400 surge output watts. I bought it back in the late '90's and it was around $2,000. I would suggest that the OP buy a gas powered chainsaw.

Yeah, an el-chepo. NOT a Redi-Line 1600 watt electric generator.

When people use the term inverter today for this kind of application I think few people would equate that with a motor-generator set that was common 50 years ago. Solidstate inverter technology has been around a long time and clearly is what is suited to the application in question. Call it cheap if you like, but it works, is proven and reliable. I sure wouldn't buy a heavy, bulky genset to run a chainsaw when I could buy a small light solidstate inverter. When I pulled up a pic of one of these Redi-Line things I had a good laugh.

I had a solid-state inverter made for "professional use" before I bought the Redi-Line and it was far from reliable. This was for WORK and I needed something that wasn't going to crap out every 2-3 months. So I went to my supplier and ask what was the best inverter made. That is how I ended up with the Redi-Line. Used it almost everyday for 5 years and never had ONE problem. It's a beast! It's sitting in my garage and still works fine. I just used it a few months ago when my power went out.

I wasn't suggesting that the OP go out and buy a Redi-Line, I was mainly replying to the surge comment(s). Those are the only 2 inverters that I've ever used. If those inverters that look like car amps work like you say they do, then good. I'd still put my Redi-Line up against any of them AFA, performance, reliability, and longevity.

The Redi-line is a high quality, expensive beast, and for your purposes was probably the best choice. That type of quality and expense isn't always necessary. I've had an "el cheapo", 1200/2400 inverter in my work van since 2006. I use it every day to charge cordless batteries, and to power all the small power tools I use albeit for short periods of time. These include angle grinder, sawzall, circular saw, 1/2" angle drill and pistol drill. For $100 the Op certainly could get something adequate to power his small chain saw.

Good to know. What brand is it?

Greg

Interesting point...

Why is the OP looking for an inverter rather than a small gas powered generator or even a gas powered chainsaw...

I feel that the "application" here is needlessly complicated by user error and over engineering...

~~ Evan

Darn Evan, where's your imagination? It's obvious the guy wants a QUIET way to carve up corpses of his victims. ^_^

TDD

You don't want to have the tractor stuck in the woods with a dead battery. When I was looking into them to power my furnace and some lights from an inverter in case of a power outage, the biggest issue was my car alternator. It's the stock 100 amps, but I still don't know what engine rpm that's based on. A tractor probably has a lower amp alternator. That's the weak spot. You're not going to run a tool long on a single battery without the alternator going.

--Vic

Here is a link to it, as it resides behind the passenger seat of my van:

He's such a thoughtful neighbor.