inverters

[danny berg]

As I stated in a previous post I am no genius when it comes to electronic toys...

How big of a DC power inverter would I need to run a 13" AC tv, that draws 54 watts, for about 8 to 12 hours, using a Diehard Marine deep cycle 12 volt battery. Right now I have a 250 watt power pack that runs the TV for 2 hours, missed half of the game while fishing Sat. luckily I had a radio along...

[Surface Tension]

You can find 400 watt converters for cheap and that would be plenty.

[Try Too Fish]

Danny
I may get corrected cuz i have forgot a lot of my electrical theory but here goes if the only thing you will ever run and i mean ever is the tv, accounting for losses and such a 75 watt should be ok, the thing that will decide how long it will run is the battery amp hours and the quality of the battery.
Have you thought about just getting a tv that runs on 12v?
I use 2 marine batteries in my house and they run a furnace,lights,tv and 2 radios all weekend with no trouble!

good luck

------------------
Try Too Fish
Forced Too Work!!:)

[danny berg]

Try too Fish
I have been looking for a DC operated TV, but with X-Mas around the corner, I didn't have the funds, so I picked up a cheapy 13" at Sam's for 40 bucks, and bought a big UHF/VHF/FM Stereo Ant, off E-Bay for 8 bucks.
I too have 2 brand new 12V Diehard marine starting and deep cycle batteries to use in the fishhouse. What I have seen on the internet concerning inverters, the bigger the wattage on the inverter, the longer the usage time is. I wanted something to last throughout the night when the fish weren't biting, so I wouldn't get bored stiff and frustrated.

Thanks for the input.

DAnny

[Ishmel]

Here's a link with a worksheet for calculating power draw and amp hours.
http://www.voltageconverters.com/faq.htm#22

One thing to be careful of though. With a regular AC tv, it takes a lot of juice to power up the picture tube, so even if you have a 400w inverter and a 55w tv, you might not be able to use it. If you can swing it, by a ac/dc tv, they power up more slowly and won't trip out your inverter.

[wounded minnow]

I think it would be worth your while to buy an ac/dc T.V. Small ones sell for about $20.00. Black and white of course. Also try local pawn shops. The usually have T.V./VCR combos at fairly reasonable prices.

[tfreezin]

A 400 watt inverter should work fine,Most deep cycle batteries are 80 to 110 amp hours that means you could draw 80 amps for an hour,the tv hooked to the inverter will draw 5.4 amps if what you are saying is true that it is a 54 watt tv,that should give you 14.8 hours out of an 80 amp hour battery,thats in a perfect enviroment with ambiant temps and all that stuff,you wont get the that life if the bat. is cold.,I use an iverter for lighting in my shack with those high efficient fluorescents thay only draw 2.3 amps out of a 23watt light.But you get 100 watts equivalent of light, works Great plus I plug all kinds of low power 120 volt stuff into it(Laptop charger,camcorder charger,digital cam charger,Nintendo for kids stuff like that,Plus the inverters are cheep now

[mnrstrider]

Beware appliances like TV's have a large draw when you first start them, where as you inverter might have enough power to run them, make sure it will handle the inital amp draw.

[tip-up king]

Vector inverters have MOSFET soft start technology. Appliances with a high wattage start up such as tv's, seem to have no effect on this brand. As far as how many watt inverter you purchase has no relationship to how long it will run your connected load before the automatic low votage supply sensor shuts it down. It is totally dependent upon the amp hour rating of your deep cycle, the condition of it, and the temperature your battery is at when a load is put on it. A Vector 400W. continous and 800W. momentary should satisfy your needs. Hope this helps. tuk

[Ishmel]

I have a Vector inverter and I love it, I use it to power my TV/vcr for the kids, rope light lighting and a fan to keep the air moving. I have a 400w inverter with 800w surge, but it will NOT power my 13 inch ac TV. The TV draws way to much juice when powering up. Maybe a newer tv wouldn't need as much and would trip the inverter. - Just my experience.

d

[danny berg]

Thanks for all the info.
I think I know what I need to do.

[danny berg]

Just an update!

Picked up the Vector 400W/800W inverter w/digital readout,and tried it out over the weeekend. The TV ran for 16 hours, and I still had 25% charge left on the battery. I had no problem with start-up.

[JIGLFIN]

danny berg;

Sounds like a success story!

You got 16hr. of tv operation on 1 batt.?

Mind sharing where you found that inverter, which M/N and what it cost?

Also what is the amp/hr. rating of the battery, you used?

Sounds like a system, I'd be interested in!

Thank's in advance

JIGLFIN:

[danny berg]

Got the inverter from Sportsmans Guide (on-line) approx 45.00
The TV was from Sam's club Haier 13" color.42.00
The battery is a new Sears Diehard Marine starting and deep cycle. can't give you anymore info on the battery, I also have a Parts Plus deep cycle battery that I will try this weekend