On Thu, 14 Sep 2017 13:39:46 -0000 (UTC), Jethro_uk
wrote:

On Thu, 14 Sep 2017 11:44:52 +0100, damduck-egg wrote:

On Thu, 14 Sep 2017 06:07:21 -0000 (UTC), Jethro_uk
wrote:

[quoted text muted]

Quite a few tradesmen by the very nature of their skills and work will
have been aware of inverters that could be fitted to vehicles many years
before the general public became aware of them and they reached the
shelves of Halfords etc.

Sledgehammer, nut though ? Stepping up to 230V just to step down to
9/12/18 ?????

No horses for courses,
Although step up step down is not the most efficient way of using
electricity unlike a battery charged with a solar panel or windmill in
a van you can easily keep enough power available by running the engine
though normally charging between jobs was enough, and the firm was
paying the fuel cost so that wasn't a consideration.
Besides as I said this was before such things were common and to
return to the theme of this thread cordless tools had even less power
and run time than they do now.
Having found the small Inverter was practical I soon replaced it with
a bigger one and sometimes used it to run a mains tool in the back of
a van rather than right on the site where some **** of a painter will
be painting everything you want to get by.
A couple of times I used it to power a submersible pump to lower
water in a cellar where the mains had tripped.

Now with cordless being more powerful and batteries lasting longer
coupled with some makers supplying chargers designed for a 12V DC
supply that may be the more practical way to go.

G.Harman