"Art Todesco" wrote in message
. ..
Yes, in my opinion, the inverter is
probably more reliable. And, as
you stated, you can run the car to
charge .... but the average car
alternator probably can't keep up with
real heavy usage.

No, and I wouldn't recommend running an inverter off the alternator for any
significant length of time, unless a high output alternator is installed on
a diesel engine, and the vehicle is secured against joyriders.

I designed
and us a mobile TV studio. We
originally put in a 7KW Onan genset.
It was VERY unreliable, noisy and
smelly. We finally had to put a
large UPS on the video equipment to
cover for when the Onan decided
to go nuts. After about 5 years of very
poor service, we replaced the
Onan with an 5KW AuraGen, which is
belted off the truck engine and uses
an inverter. This thing is unbelievably
stable. You can run all the video
gear and lights simultaneously, and then
start the roof mounted AC .....
hardly any glitch in the power. Two
slight problems; it does use
more gas than the Onan and while the
truck engine is quieter,
and cleaner, it does vibrate a bit
"differently" to the point that a camera
on top the truck, does "see" the
vibration.

Sounds like a very good setup. New motor mounts might reduce some of the
vibration, and outriggers can reduce it even more.

What do news crews use to solve the vibration problem? My guess is very
expensive cameras that can compensate, although I think I've seen one or two
news vans with outriggers.

Pagan