DC Inverter?

[Shoal Creek]

Has anyone permanently mounted an inverter in their JK and mounted a recepticle inside yet? I am thinking of getting a Cobra CPI 1550 for this. I can see it being ery useful. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

[brattwurzt]

I have not, but I am interested in the same thing.

[brattwurzt]

It would be great if the inverter was mounted under the hood, and you ran a hardwired outlet to the dash, and one to the 2nd row.

[Patchules]

It would be great if the inverter was mounted under the hood, and you ran a hardwired outlet to the dash, and one to the 2nd row.

If under the hood, they can ba baked from the high temps even if the inverter is not running.

Remember that the power line that would be run from the engine compartment would be 120 volt AC. It might need to be shielded if you get AC hum in electronics. It should be well protected from chafing and sharp edges to avoid accidental shorts.

Inverters come in two flavors- sine wave and modified sine wave. A clean sine wave, like house AC, is more costly. Discount and low cost inverters are usually modified sine wave and some electrical / electronic devices may not like the wave shape. Some devices may have shorter lives because they will run hotter on MSV inverters. Some will just fry. Switching vs transformer type power supplies will be the issue.

So consider what you want to plug into the inverter and buy accordingly.
I use a cheapo 300 watt for the little cat's heated bed when travelling in the winter. Full sine wave for electronics. Inverter is in the cab and not in the engine compartment.

[Dr.McNinja]

You know what I think is awesome about these? That often, in the ads, they show things like laptops and video game systems being played on them. That's right, boys and girls, take the 12V DC current from the alternator, convert it to AC, then turn around and convert it back to DC (at whatever voltage) so you can run your portable electronics. Now, for other things it is helpful, but it just seems illogical to me. I would rather use iGo items, or find an alternative solution.

[brattwurzt]

Thanks for the tips. It seems that often when we try to improve things, we open up a whole can of worms.

[brattwurzt]

I found this 1500 W pure sine wave inverter.... $750.00 wow!
300W is $187.50.. better :)
http://www.powerstream.com/in3s.htm

[driley]

I would not mind having an inverter permanently mounted. Under a front seat might work. I think I would just use a short extension cord to plug things into it though.

The noise from the fan on some inverters is very loud. Just something to consider when shopping. You will want a method to turn the inverter on and off as well. So it should be easily reachable. And you will need to make sure that the wire to the battery is of sufficient gauge to handle the load.

Devin

[mslc10]

I h ave built about 15 of these units that contain a deep cycle battery in a marine box with a 750 watt inverter and a battery charger attached to the top of the box...we use them instead of generators in prewire houses in new costruction environment where there is no electricity yet. the whole deal costs about $200 to put together and will operate a 1/2 inch drill or hammer drill.
I have had one of these hard wired into about every vehicle i have had and it makes it convieniant to polish the boat if it is stored where there is no AC.:yup:

[rwitte42]

You know what I think is awesome about these? That often, in the ads, they show things like laptops and video game systems being played on them. That's right, boys and girls, take the 12V DC current from the alternator, convert it to AC, then turn around and convert it back to DC (at whatever voltage) so you can run your portable electronics. Now, for other things it is helpful, but it just seems illogical to me. I would rather use iGo items, or find an alternative solution.

I agree. I use the iGo as the travel power supply for my laptop. Works great on either AC or DC. They have tips for just about anything you could want to power ... $10/ea.

[deadspot]

I purchased a cheapo 400W inverter that I keep under the front seat and plugged into the 12V outlet. The fan is loud on this one. I use it to power my laptop at times (bad battery) and on the last outing I used it when my video camera batteries ran low. I also thought about a permanent mount but so far just putting it under the seat has worked and I like that I could pull it out and connect it to a spare battery for other uses if needed (with alligator clips).