I have never used a 12V to 110V converter before. We camp out now and my wife stays up later than I do. We have a small TV/DVD player. If she ran it for like 2 hours for a movie a night, would she kill the battery? Does the engine have to be running on the vehicle for best results? I am sure if you ran a compressor or something big the engine would have to be running, but small things?

 

Inverters are not very efficient when it comes to converting 12V to 110V. There are ways to figure out how much power you will use from knowing the wattage of everything you are running, the efficiency rate of the inverter, and the amp hours of your battery, but that is a lot of math to get a good estimate. You would probably be best off running a dual battery setup with an isolator and a low volt cutoff. This will make sure that you have enough power to get it started in the morning.

Another option is to buy a rechargeable power source and use that for running your 110V items, and leave your battery to starting the Jeep. You can get a power source that charges from the Jeep while you are driving.

 

Amp/Hour ratings are tough to figure. There are a lot of different variables to consider. Even air temp has an effect on battery discharge. Finding the load is easy. All the information is stamped on the equipment. Each battery manufacturer has a basic chart for A/H ratings on their specific battery.

 

I run an inverter in our RV for TV, among other things, and have worked some of it out. As already said, there are several variables so this is ballpark info only.

If your TV/DVD is a small travel device, then 100 watts is a reasonable assumption for power consumption. You can get the exact number off the TV.

An inverter runs at about 85% percent efficiency, so the power needed is more like 100/85, or around 118 watts. Watts = volts X amps, so amps = watts/volts. Or, amps = 118/12. The result rounds to 10 amp hours. If the TV runs for 2 hours, then it will pull about 20 amps from the battery. Use the nameplate rating on the TV to figure your power.

In this example the Jeep battery can probably provide around 100 amps. (Forget CCA, that rating is good for about 2 seconds.) If you run the TV for two hours and use 20 amps, you should have 80% of the battery left for starting. If you camp for more than one day without driving the Jeep, it should start and run for about 15 minutes during the day. Set the idle up if you have a programmer.

Test this in the driveway at home before trying it in the bush.

You could also carry a sealed AMG battery (Optima is one of many AGM brands). This battery type won't spill in your Jeep, and would probably run the TV for a week or more at 2 hours a day. Ask the battery store for a deep-cycle RV type AGM 12 volt battery.

If you use an AGM, be sure to get a home charger that works on AGM batteries. There is a difference. The battery store will help you with this.

 

Tnx for info, will start looking into it more.

 

The Black and Decker Electromate is awesome for this.

http://www.amazon.com/Black-Decker-V.../dp/B000EJS9IM

12v/110v AND jump starting. I had one stolen and bought a replacement because it was so useful

 

Chances are if its a newer LCD DVD/TV, it has a power brick that is already taking 120volts AC and converting it to 12volts DC to supply the TV. so what you can do is find a universal 12volt cigarette adapter that changes the plug end to match your TV input.

You'll want to check out the input voltage and amperage on the TV adapter and the TV/DVD player itself to make sure the adapter will be sufficient.


This will be MUCH more efficient since it wont be flipping between DC to AC then back to DC again.

If its a Tube style tv then all bets are off since it will require 120volts AC and alot more current than a LCD TV

You could also just bring a laptop instead of a TV and DVD player since they have batteries already

 

Merlin75 empty your inbox

 

done... blah I wish there was a warning about that lol