Pure Sinewave Inverter - inexpensive!

fireball said:
I'm not going to say cheap because £130 isn't cheap - but it's not expensive for a pure sinewave inverter - especially a 1Kw one ...
Or you could go £99 for a 300w one ...

Maplin have had them for a while and I've just got one (my laptop doesn't like my tincan 100w step inverter)

http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/maplin-12v-pure-sinewave-1000w-inverter-a34jy
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whats wrong with a £20 cigar socket charger, one runs my tosh @ 19v.
why use an inverter to step up to 240v ac then drop to 19v dc via the mains charger
 
sailorman said:
whats wrong with a £20 cigar socket charger, one runs my tosh @ 19v.
why use an inverter to step up to 240v ac then drop to 19v dc via the mains charger
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nigelmercier said:
Quite.
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nothing wrong with that at all ... except that next time you replace your (loadofold) tosh and it has a different power connector you may have to get a new 12v->19v adapter.

Plus - most things these days are designed to run on mains or 5v usb - 5v usb from 12v is simple - mains requires the inverter or an individual power adapter. Why restrict yourself to specific devices if an inverter is inexpensive? Modern Inverters are also very efficient - if you were that worried about available power then you wouldn't be using devices that require mains!

Btw - our inverter was perfect this weekend - the slowcooker kept dinner going until we reached our destination and was ready for us to eat straight away :) It also powered the laptop for the short time I wanted it and is capable of running the small electric kettle (should we run out of gas).
It's not a fix all solution - but it helps.
 
fireball said:
nothing wrong with that at all ... except that next time you replace your (loadofold) tosh and it has a different power connector you may have to get a new 12v->19v adapter.

Plus - most things these days are designed to run on mains or 5v usb - 5v usb from 12v is simple - mains requires the inverter or an individual power adapter. Why restrict yourself to specific devices if an inverter is inexpensive? Modern Inverters are also very efficient - if you were that worried about available power then you wouldn't be using devices that require mains!

Btw - our inverter was perfect this weekend - the slowcooker kept dinner going until we reached our destination and was ready for us to eat straight away :) It also powered the laptop for the short time I wanted it and is capable of running the small electric kettle (should we run out of gas).
It's not a fix all solution - but it helps.
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our microwave does our home cooked meals o/b in a trice
 
sailorman said:
whats wrong with a £20 cigar socket charger, one runs my tosh @ 19v.
why use an inverter to step up to 240v ac then drop to 19v dc via the mains charger
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Indeed.
It's a lot safer than using a 230V inverter designed for indoor use on a potentially damp boat.
There are good reasons why marine inverters are a lot of cash.

I do use one, but I think some people could do with being a bit more aware of safety issues with 230V.
 
sailorman said:
whats wrong with a £20 cigar socket charger, one runs my tosh @ 19v.
why use an inverter to step up to 240v ac then drop to 19v dc via the mains charger
Click to expand...

I run 2 different computers on such units - they were only £16.00. I do have a little Sinewave 150 watt unit, I bought it together with an overlong Selden spinnaker pole for €150, after my original had been stolen in Malta.
 
lw395 said:
Indeed.
It's a lot safer than using a 230V inverter designed for indoor use on a potentially damp boat.
There are good reasons why marine inverters are a lot of cash.

I do use one, but I think some people could do with being a bit more aware of safety issues with 230V.
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Jeeze ... come on here and point out what I consider to be a good price for a usually expensive device from a reputable retailer and get all the negatives about it ...

anyway ... wtf would you need an inverter at home - other than a powercut most people have a mains electricity supply.
any power in a damp environment should be carefully considered - it's not difficult to mitigate the risk of an inverter with 230v and this is the Practical Boat Owners forum - I would hope that anyone buying one of these has the intelligence to think about the safety concerns first.
A lot of cash doesn't make a product safer - safety items make a product safer - any reason why you think this product isn't safe?
 
fireball said:
Jeeze ... come on here and point out what I consider to be a good price for a usually expensive device from a reputable retailer and get all the negatives about it ...

anyway ... wtf would you need an inverter at home - other than a powercut most people have a mains electricity supply.
any power in a damp environment should be carefully considered - it's not difficult to mitigate the risk of an inverter with 230v and this is the Practical Boat Owners forum - I would hope that anyone buying one of these has the intelligence to think about the safety concerns first.
A lot of cash doesn't make a product safer - safety items make a product safer - any reason why you think this product isn't safe?
Click to expand...

It's probably as safe as the way it's used.
But then I come from a background where yachts could be very wet, whereas a lot of boats clearly are intended for a dripping wet race crew to fall around.

I looked at one supposed ocean-crossing yacht the other day, the mains installation was mostly under the navigator's seat, you know, the place you sit while using those chart thingies when you duck below to check your position in rough weather?

You'd think people on here were intelligent enough to work out the obvious safety issues, but a study of some of the gas and carbon mon candle heating threads can be scary.

TBH, I don't know that it's that cheap either, I'd expect them to be getting cheaper.
 
fireball said:
Jeeze ... come on here and point out what I consider to be a good price for a usually expensive device from a reputable retailer and get all the negatives about it ...
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Not from me. I was grateful for the posting, and regret they'd sold out before I got there.

Sometimes I think you could post a ham sandwich on here and sooner or later someone would come along and give you twenty good reasons why it's a threat to your safety at sea.
 
This is pretty cheap for a pure sine wave inverter of that size, but be aware of two things. Firstly its maximum short term output is 1200 watts. The best inverters have a maximum short term output of about 1.5 times rated output, which is important if you use it to start inductive loads like motors and fridge compressors some of which need a start up current of more than three times their running consumption. Secondly pure sine wave inverters are inherently less efficient than the modified sine wave or square wave types. The best are over 90% efficient, that one is 85%. Not terrible, but it means that at 1000 watt output it will be pulling almost 100 amps out of your battery bank.
 
Are there many things where it is crucial to have pure sinewave ? The little one we have (presume modified) is just used for charging drills and occasional laptop use and have not had any problems.

Also think they are safe if used with care, as someone said, once apon a time boats were wet things but the only time water gets down below on Storyline is when wet oilies are carried through to the heads.
 
oldvarnish said:
Sometimes I think you could post a ham sandwich on here and sooner or later someone would come along and give you twenty good reasons why it's a threat to your safety at sea.
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Not twenty but I can certainly think of a good reason why a ham sandwich is a threat to sea safety. Probably for another thread though: I've got no problem with inverters and after the recent thread on icemakers am considering making better use of mine...
 
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