On 3/6/2012 8:22 PM, Ron wrote:
On Mar 6, 7:35 pm,
wrote:
On Mar 6, 6:48 pm, wrote:









On Mar 6, 6:31 pm,
wrote:

On Mar 6, 6:15 pm, wrote:

On Mar 6, 5:45 pm, "Stormin Mormon"

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

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.

Say what? You can get a 1600 watt today for under $200. And even 15
years ago they were not that
expensive.

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.