Inverter

[Colin H F]

I have a 500 watt 240 volt Inverter from my motorhome days. it was used regulary to power the tv in the back hooked up to the liesure battery, but my liesure battery in the Bongo is in the front under the bonnet, which means a lengthy run of heavy cables if I am to use the inverter in the back . any views on this issue please? Colin newbie

[Bob]

I'm not a great lover of inverters due to the high power consumption from batteries, but you could just do the cable run, or look for sites with hook-up?

Or find a 12v telly?

Makes sense to use it since you have it though.

[Colin H F]

I have a 500 watt 240 volt Inverter from my motorhome days. it was used regulary to power the tv in the back hooked up to the liesure battery, but my liesure battery in the Bongo is in the front under the bonnet, which means a lengthy run of heavy cables if I am to use the inverter in the back . any views on this issue please? Colin newbie

forgot to mention my wife watches telly while i`m driving so its charging all the time

[dreamwarrioruk]

we have a 1000w inverter in ours, 25mm leads run from the lb through the grommet by the coolant tank, inverter sits on top of the metal rail under the glove box. then its using 2.5mm artic flex to a socket in the back wall of the wardrobe unit on the side conversion. we have a hook up point in the side step. one day ill get round to fitting a relay so that i can power both off the lb or mains hook up with a charger within the system.
we regulary use a george foreman grill for cooking brekkie when wild camping just need to run the engine on tick over to keep up the charge on the lb.
as said they arnt the most ecconomical things to run as far as power goes but its cleaner than using the greasy fring pan thing. as regards to the television, leave it at home, we go out in the bongo to get away from it, especially if its a bongo meeting when you dont get time to watch it. although we do have a dvd player system in but thats for the daughter to watch as werre driving round the country.
one point to note if the tv screen is in view for the driver to see while moving your breaking the law. and what kind of reception do you get when driving, there have been quite a few people that have tried to get a good signal in the bongo and failed even when parked up.

[bongobong]

we have a 1000w inverter in ours, 25mm leads run from the lb through the grommet by the coolant tank, inverter sits on top of the metal rail under the glove box. then its using 2.5mm artic flex to a socket in the back wall of the wardrobe unit on the side conversion. we have a hook up point in the side step. one day ill get round to fitting a relay so that i can power both off the lb or mains hook up with a charger within the system.
we regulary use a george foreman grill for cooking brekkie when wild camping just need to run the engine on tick over to keep up the charge on the lb.
as said they arnt the most ecconomical things to run as far as power goes but its cleaner than using the greasy fring pan thing. as regards to the television, leave it at home, we go out in the bongo to get away from it, especially if its a bongo meeting when you dont get time to watch it. although we do have a dvd player system in but thats for the daughter to watch as werre driving round the country.
one point to note if the tv screen is in view for the driver to see while moving your breaking the law. and what kind of reception do you get when driving, there have been quite a few people that have tried to get a good signal in the bongo and failed even when parked up.

Are there any electrical issues with using an inverter with the engine running? Seem to remember reading something about it not being a recommended.

[stilldesperate]

[/quote]
Are there any electrical issues with using an inverter with the engine running? Seem to remember reading something about it not being a recommended.[/quote]

I'm guessing that some inverters might not be too well regulated for varying input voltages. Put simply, if you take a battery at 12v, and multiply it by 20 in the inverter, you get 240v. If the alternator is taking your battery voltage to 14v, (x 20) = 280v which could be a problem.

Inverters are pretty energy inefficient, LCD tv's are pretty cheap these days

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=99271

.... or you could try not driving whilst Eastenders is on !

SD

[mikexgough]

I have one of those Maplin TV's.... great bit of kit

[Colin H F]

Thanks for all your coments, all taken onboard, these are some of my comments; voltage regulator for undulating voltage, TV faces rear (for the wife), cheers all Colin newbie.

[francophile1947]

Thanks for all your coments, all taken onboard, these are some of my comments; voltage regulator for undulating voltage, TV faces rear (for the wife), cheers all Colin newbie.

If the TV you're using is a flat screen LCD, it's probably 12v anyway. Have you checked the power lead? - it's probably got a transformer in it. I run my 15" TV straight from the cigar lighter socket.

[not so old]

Ours runs from a cigarette lighter, or 12v socket. I think we're talking about the same thing. We have a motorhome too.

[dreamwarrioruk]

interesting point with the electrics powered up but ive used it in the last 5 years and never had a problem as yet. ive run a 1000w drill on it before when i had it powering the tools in the transit and it ran fine constantly for around 3/4 hr while i was coredrilling. ill get round to checking the supply side to check that its near enough 240 constant out of the inverter when charging.