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| leeds Member Since: 28 Dec 2009 Location: West Yorkshire Posts: 8578  
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Like a lot of kit there is a wide range of inverters out in the Market place from cheap modified sine wave to high power, pure sine waves which could cost a grand.
OK what are YOUR needs for an inverter? Will you be camping all the time or staying in a mixture of hotels and huts? If al you need is to charge iPads/laptops during the day then consider a hyper juice battery. A hyper juice battery will kee an iPad going all weekend using memory map which is a power hungry requrements. Just charge hyper juice up overnight in Hut/hotel If you want to use mains voltage kettle/hair straighteners etc whilst out camping get a big 3kw big un! Some lap tops used to not like being recharged by modified sine wave inverters. For charging batteries ec you do not need more then say 500 watts. Also inverters need cooling so ensure it is mounted where it can not be covered by a coat etc. So what do you need inverter for? Can you get away with spare batteries or a hyper juice battery? Consider car chargers for your electronic devices. Brendan |
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24th Dec 2011 9:19am |
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| BigMike Member Since: 13 Jul 2010 Location: Lancashire Posts: 2253
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There are inverters and inverters. Look at the devices you want to power and note how many watts they are. You need an inverter to cover the total max output of your devices plus some more. For charging camera batteries and a laptop for example, you're not going to need an inverter bigger than 400 watts. Avoid £30 inverters like the plague.
Also, consider that link I posted the other day to adverc. run your inverter from your second battery - which batt you choose is all about what power you need for how long with the engine off. Since your trip is presumably driving, and agan assume you'll be using a fridge, I wouldn't have a second battery with less than 85Ah output. You can easily work all this out though - if your fridge runs at say, 5 amps (a decent fridge doesnt run continuously, it just tops up), then if you have an 85Ah battery it run it worst case for 85 / 5 = 17 hours. In reality, my fridge will run for 3 days in a very hot country without draining the battery because the draw isn't constant. There is really no need to buy huge Ah batteries with their associated cost - but it does depend on what you're doing. I would look at Numax, Varta, Yuasa and Unipart for the second batt, they're all good. I swear by Numax, I've used them to power very large inverters to run photographic lights and they've always been fine. Controversially, I would absolutely avoid things like national luna split charge systems and the charge indicator. the indicator uses power in itself, and ultimately does it actually matter that you cant see what charge is in the battery? Do you even need to know? You'll be driving anyway so that will re-charge it. If you absolutely must have a charge indicator, consdier one from http://www.aoservices.co.uk/data/bsm.htm they're about 17 quid, MUCH cheaper than the other so called fancy indicators which are a whole lot more. This one does the same job and is easy to fit. Split charge from Adverc, mine has been faultless and robust, and again, is a whole heap cheaper than so called "overlanding" split char systems which are generally pretty simple VSRs and not ideal. |
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24th Dec 2011 10:47am |
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| bpman Member Since: 21 May 2008 Location: Oslo Posts: 8069 
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thanks Brendan, so really good points there ... going to hae a think about that over the holiday
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24th Dec 2011 10:50am |
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| bpman Member Since: 21 May 2008 Location: Oslo Posts: 8069
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thanks also BigMike .. noted the links.
I am considering a twin 1700 battery setup with a VSR, to run chargers and lights and I am also going to install a thermotop c and I am thinking I might be able to power the heater fan on a seperate switched circuit to keep the cab warm when the engine is off (and the webasto is running) - if this is feasable might save me from buying an air heater I may also run other things but not kettles, hairdryers ... |
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24th Dec 2011 11:13am |
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| BigMike Member Since: 13 Jul 2010 Location: Lancashire Posts: 2253
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With the proposed setup inc inverter etc, really, don't use a VSR, use a blocking diode. The more load you have with different items the more chance there is of your vsr chattering (arcing basically). I know I keep banging on about it, but the adverc product is less than a hundred quid, and so much safer and more efficient than any kind of VSR
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24th Dec 2011 11:38am |
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| bpman Member Since: 21 May 2008 Location: Oslo Posts: 8069
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thanks again Mike ... I'll read up on the links
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24th Dec 2011 11:46am |
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| BigMike Member Since: 13 Jul 2010 Location: Lancashire Posts: 2253
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Your webasto installation can take care of the heater - thats what theyre for anyway (plus the eingine heating of course). the fan should come on anyway to heat the cab.
I would be cautious though overall. the more simple the system the less chance of it going wrong. you dont want a disabled vehicle in the middle of nowhere due to a fancy electrical set up. for siberia and mongolia at the tail end of winter, so still minus 10 down to minus 40 etc, my modifications are only: heated fuel lines (epersbacher) small inverter (on auxilliary battery) to charge camera batteries and laptop i ll take a set of spare batteries and probably a spare alternator as well as usual other spares. |
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24th Dec 2011 11:46am |
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| BigRuss Member Since: 15 May 2010 Location: Norfolk Posts: 2785 
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That heated fuel lines are a good idea. Is there such thing as a tank heater (it would have to be left in all the time to save fart arseing about)? Russell 2011MY 110 XS USW Black |
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24th Dec 2011 12:05pm |
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| BigRuss Member Since: 15 May 2010 Location: Norfolk Posts: 2785
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BPwoman will just have to go with out the hair dryer  Russell
2011MY 110 XS USW Black |
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24th Dec 2011 12:06pm |
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| bpman Member Since: 21 May 2008 Location: Oslo Posts: 8069
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"just got out of bed" look  |
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24th Dec 2011 12:08pm |
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| BigRuss Member Since: 15 May 2010 Location: Norfolk Posts: 2785
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Russell 2011MY 110 XS USW Black |
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24th Dec 2011 12:20pm |
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| BigMike Member Since: 13 Jul 2010 Location: Lancashire Posts: 2253
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I had a long look for something like that and found a couple of things that might be suitable. They were hideously expensive though, and when I research how crystals form in diesel in very cold climates, I reasoned that the problem is most likely to be with the lines and filter rather than the tank. Also, what cheered me up no end in terms of cost was that I found out that in Siberia in Winter, the Russians just light a small fire on the ground under the tank in the morning and it seems that's been their way for many years and works like a charm so if it gets really cold that'll be what we'll do. |
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24th Dec 2011 1:11pm |
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| leeds Member Since: 28 Dec 2009 Location: West Yorkshire Posts: 8578
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Fire under fuel tanks was also standard method for HGV's in 60's/70's in UK
Operative word was SMALL, otherwise some people landed up with rather large expensive fires! Brendan |
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24th Dec 2011 1:28pm |
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| John_T Member Since: 15 Dec 2011 Location: Zummerzet Posts: 3
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And tanks were steel/ally then, not modern plastic tanks  John
2007 Freelander 2 HSE Land Rover Series One Triumph Rocket 111 |
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24th Dec 2011 1:57pm |
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