On Sat, 24 May 2014 15:42:21 -0500, Vic Smith
wrote:

On Sat, 24 May 2014 15:51:57 -0400, wrote:

On Sat, 24 May 2014 12:57:42 -0500, Vic Smith


I looked into using an inverter to power my house a while ago.
Instructions are all over the net,
The first thing you learn is you need heavy copper from the battery to
the inverter. I forgot the sizes, but it's thick copper, especially
is you're coming from a car/truck battery, and have the inverter out
of the engine bay.
Like jumper cables, you don't go cheap.
Lots of people do it right, and have no issues.

But they are NOT running a house on a 12 volt inverter!!!!!! Running
even 1000 watts on a 12 volt battery pack is not a terribly wize
decision. 24, 26, or 48 volts makes a WHOLE LOT more sense.

Some do, during outages. No big deal if done right. You're not going
to run your central air, and you'd probably buy a bigger inverter.
But for powering the fridge, some lights, etc., they work fine.
Fridge doesn't kick on often.
Typical car alt is 100 amps. Figure it out.
I didn't do it because the outages are rare here.
Not worth it.
Some contractors have permanent installs on their trucks for 120v
tools.
You just have to know what you're doing.

The typical 100 amp alternator will burn out in as little as 20
minutes at full load. Just look at the guage of the wiring in the
alternator stators if you want to know why!!!!
My dad, an electrician, ran his 1/2" drill and when necessary his
skill saw off a belltronics converter installed on his old Dodge Van.
Note it was NOT an inverter - it produced 120vdc directly from the
alternator so there was never more than about 15 imps involved.

He got more "power" ot of the 38 amp Mopar alternator than you would
get out of a 1000 watt inverter on a 100 amp alternator

I was also involved in the setup of an "off grid" system in Burkina
Faso, west africa about 14 years ago. We converted from 12 to 24 volts
with Xantrex tue-sine inverters and were able to run 2 inverters (1000
watts each) instead of just one, on lighter cable with less voltage
drop and a whole lot less problems with primary connections due to the
reduced current draw. This was a solar system, with emergency
charging capability using the Toyota Diesel. - which was never
required.

So I think I know what I'm doing.