Are powerful inverters running off running car batt ok

[Andrew1972]

I saw this entertaining article https://jalopnik.com/watch-a-north-carolina-family-drive-a-vw-jetta-onto-a-p-1829058556

Got me curious if inexpensive invertor worth it.

And got me thinking of my father in law similar setup(no porch!) using his old running truck powering his 2000-3000 watt invertor he bought used to power his TV, Lamp, coffee pot and gas boiler.

Is it bad for vehicle to idle away for hours? Does it consume a lot of fuel? Do start stop vehicles deal well with things like this?

 

[eljefino]

I'm preparing this setup with my prius right now. This car carries the added advantage that you can leave it in "ready" and it supplies 500+ watts to the 12-14 volt system, starting and stopping the gas engine as required.

If I hide my key transponder near the car but not in it, the car will still run but if someone steals it they'll stall out a block away. And the operation is more subtle than a typical generator.

The worst thing IMO is how the modified sine wave is hard on stuff like fridge compressors. If you listen they sound a bit different... this causes wear and heat buildup.

 

[JimPghPA]

A 2000 Watt inverter at full load would draw 148 Amps assuming that the vehicle is running and putting out 13.5 Volts, and a 3000 Watt inverter at full load wound draw 222 Amps assuming that the vehicle is running and putting out 13.5 Volts. Most cars and trucks have a 100 Amp alternator and the ignition, engine computer, and fuel system usually draw a lot of current leaving significantly less than 100 Amps for other loads such as a stereo, or in your case an inverter.

A 2000 Watt or 3000 Watt inverter might be a good thing to have if you have big start-up loads like a motor on a furnace and the vehicles battery could supply the high current requirements to the inverter during a motor start-up. But if you are constantly drawing anywhere close to 2000 Watts the vehicles alternator will not be able to supply enough current and you will quickly kill the battery.

 

[Rand]

They can be ok but I wouldnt run more than 1000w off it continuously.. maybe 700w.
At that size the 89$ HF 2 stroke generator looks pretty attractive.. and is real sine wave.

I did pickup a battery inverter setup at lowes on clearance for it includes a car battery, charger, and pure sine wave inverter 700w continuous 1400w surge.
will run the fridge but they say "6 hours" I think they assume its going to run 1 hour out of the 6 hours.. otherwise the math makes no sense.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Schumacher-Electric-700-Watt-Power-Backup-System/1000092907

I really got it for weekends at the cabin.. can charge phones, run a lightbulbs or small fan etc.
It does not replace any generator.. but if we do have an outage keeping the fridge cold would be nice too.

Can also use it to run power tools or yard tools such as 5amp hedge trimmers..

I actually have a 1000w inverter (2000w surge) and I've used it maybe twice in 10 years.

 

[Rand]

so bitog cut off some of my previous post:

also start stop vehicles the start/stop is disabled in park.
and modified sine wave can be hard on some motors/devices.

Part of driving your car onto the porch is also for raising it out of flood waters.. not just making it available for inverter.

Idling for hours can be worse on some vehicles than others... but really even a few days idling is not terrible.
I'd expect around a gallon per hour use.

the alternator is rated at a higher rpm(maybe 1500-2000rpm) so it wont have the full amps available at idle.

 

[Cujet]

I've used a 1500W inverter extensively on my F150, to power tools and home stuff. Works very well.

Alternator is 120A, with about 60A available at idle (or about 700W continuous)

 

[eljefino]

Originally Posted by Rand

At that size the 89$ HF 2 stroke generator looks pretty attractive.. and is real sine wave.


I'll add that my one-of-those will start and run my modern fridge. Kill-a-Watt reports 400-500 watts for a couple minutes after starting then it settles down to 180-200. In an outage though I'd let it "coast" for an hour or three before starting things up, so it may demand more amperage, longer.

One wants to buy more inverter than they need, as they suck at startup surges, and might be optimistically rated.

Goes without saying, but anything over 200-300 watts needs a physical connection to the battery, not a cigarette lighter, not alligator clips. Something that bolts up.

 

[Andrew1972]

The idea of invertor is something I don't have to deal with getting any gas or maintaining the device. I use 150W one a lot in car with two USB ports. It powers my cable router in home during outages for quite a while not running vehicle.