Power Inverters

[Bill]

I am doing a little research on power inverters for the Jeep. I am trying to make some decisions on which direction to go with them. I am not looking to be able to run my entire house off of the thing, but it would nice to have access to a few of the luxury items when camping / wheeling.

Basically, I want to be able to charge my laptop on the trail and at the campground when on the long weekends. Yes, I know that weekends on the trail are meant to be a nice break away from the rest of the world. Howver, I am in the process of building a business and I think my customer-base is going to grow a lot faster with quick email responses and price quotes, not the auto-response messages saying be back monday - on the trail, or worse...be back next week out on the trail.

The new Verizon data card is great, internet access all the time all over. However if I have no juice it is doing me no good. So, inverter time is now.

I have narrowed it down to a couple of different choices...

Option#1


Cobra CPI850

DC to Dual-Outlet AC Power InverterProvides 800 watts peak, and 1600 watts peak power handling
Modified sine wave output waveforms
Converts 12v DC to 115v AC power
Dual AC outlets for operating multiple devices
Low voltage, overload and thermal shutdown protection
Includes direct-to-battery cables and carrying case


Option # 2


Cobra CPI1550

DC to Dual-Outlet AC Power InverterProvides 1500 watts peak, and 3000 watts peak power handling
Modified sine waveform outputs
Converts 12v DC to 115v AC power
3-prong AC outlets
Low voltage, overload and thermal shutdown protection

Do you really see the need for the larger inverter? Pros? Cons? Thoughts?
Anyone have any first-hand experience with them, or anyone have one in a vehicle and have some recommendations? Any help on this is appreciated.

-Bill

[notmYJ]

Not sure what else your planning on running but my lap top, when charging and being used, uses 220 watts continuous. Just food for thought.

Having more power than you will need is always nice. It is way better than not having enough, I'm sure you already knew that. I would figure out how many watts you need to run everything you want at once, then multiply that by 1.25. That should give you plenty of power... Unless of course you are planning on bringing a mini fridge, blender, micro wave, tv and satelite receiver, and home theater. Then you might just look into a tow behind generator.

Honestly, from what you said you will be using it for, the ones you picked should be fine. I used a small 300watt one for my laptop when we drove to south carolina two years ago and it worked fine.

[OverkillZJ]

I'd go for 1500 watt continuous, it's enough to run "high kick start" tools like angle grinders and sawzalls. Marks saved my ass in Paragon more than once when we had to cut my exhaust off (wrapped it around the axle) - but out the sawzall... done

[BonHolla]

I've got a 225w inverter and it charges my laptop just fine. I ran from Pgh to Harrisburg with it on the whole time. Overkill has a good idea about using it for power tools... never thought of that.

[LordAthens]

Other things to consider, newer laptops = power whores. Most newer laptops won't run off of 250w or less inverters. Also consider, when the Jeep isn't running, your 500w rated inverter is now somewhere around 420w because of the voltage loss.

What it comes down to is, you'll never find someone complain that they bought to large of an inverter...

[Bill]

Cobra does make one bigger... I think it is 2500w

[BonHolla]

Other things to consider, newer laptops = power whores. Most newer laptops won't run off of 250w or less inverters. Also consider, when the Jeep isn't running, your 500w rated inverter is now somewhere around 420w because of the voltage loss.

What it comes down to is, you'll never find someone complain that they bought to large of an inverter...

FYI... My Laptop's 6 months old and it takes a max input power of 1.5A. That's 180W. You can check the rating of your power supply by looking at the bottom. It should have a max input power somewhere on it. But you're right, no one ever complained about having too much power.

[joshs1ofakindxj]

i have a Xantrex XPower Inverter 400 Plus that i got from crutchfield with my $40 in credit i had with them. i dindt need anything else from them so i said what the heck and payed the $15 more and got it. i havent used it yet but it sure looks nice sitting in my glove box.

[avenged7foldhc]

i saw only the one says that it has the 3prong, that could be crucial.. especially that most laptop chargers are 3prong..

[OverkillZJ]

I've never seen a 2 prong inverter, butim sure they exist

[JeepGeneral]

I recently went through the same thing before we took a trip to Vermont. We ended up getting a 750 watt from Best Buy for $75, and ran a 27 inch TV, Playstation, and laptop (rated ~600 watts collectively) all at once without any problems. Whatever you decide, I would suggest hard wiring it to the battery with a good 60amp or higher fuse to protect it.

Tom

[LordAthens]

FYI... My Laptop's 6 months old and it takes a max input power of 1.5A. That's 180W. You can check the rating of your power supply by looking at the bottom. It should have a max input power somewhere on it. But you're right, no one ever complained about having too much power.

Yup, some lappys certainly draw less.

Tiff's ~1.5 year old laptop takes 2.8amps @ 120v = 336W and I've seen some "desktop replacement" lappy's that suck down almost 4.5amps = 540W.

As for the 2 prong vs 3 prong deal, that's really not critical at all, considering the 3rd prong is a ground and I don't see many people driving ground rods to use their inverter Infact in most inverters, the ground is typically tied into the inverter chassis, as is the neutral. 2 prong adapters will work just fine, should you actually be able to find a 2 prong inverter.

[OverkillZJ]

Yup, some lappys certainly draw less.

Tiff's ~1.5 year old laptop takes 2.8amps @ 120v = 336W and I've seen some "desktop replacement" lappy's that suck down almost 4.5amps = 540W.

As for the 2 prong vs 3 prong deal, that's really not critical at all, considering the 3rd prong is a ground and I don't see many people driving ground rods to use their inverter Infact in most inverters, the ground is typically tied into the inverter chassis, as is the neutral. 2 prong adapters will work just fine, should you actually be able to find a 2 prong inverter.

Ground should always be tied to neutral and chassis, but the point is for the convenience of being able to plug in equipment which uses the ground plug, even if it isn't really "grounded." Why carry around adapters, when i've yet to see the mythical 2 prong inverter