Power inverter use

[stevenk2]

Does anyone have experience using a small/low-power AC inverter on their boat? I'm not looking to power anything large with it, just looking at options for providing myself and my passengers with AC power for small 120v electronic devices if needed in a pinch. I have one in my Jeep, and it's come in handy on more than one occasion. It's pretty limited (about 150W/1.3 amps), so I can't even run my AC-powered inflator off of it, but we've used it for laptops and tablets and things like that. I just didn't know if running something like that off of my AR195's 12v outlet would be recommended or not.

 

[Beachbummer]

Only the smallest ones run directly from the cigarette outlet. I've used a small one to power a PC before. It was to run diagnostics on the Yamaha YDS when I was test driving it. The pc I had was not holding a charge. It was a cheap one from oreilly that I had bought the night before. I've since lost track of it, but it worked in a pinch.

 

[Beachbummer]

If it's a one time thing it's ok. If you want to use it a lot, I'd hard wire it to the boat.

 

[stevenk2]

So no harm to the boat's circuit or anything? I know that the one in my Jeep is fused, so if you overload it, the fuse just blows and no harm done to the Jeep.

 

[Beachbummer]

Mine did not blow the fuse. 12v x8amps = 96 watts.. 2 amps loss for conversion, right at 10 amps. Check the breaker size on the plug.. If it's 10amps or more it should hold.

Better to know than trial by fuse failure

 

[stevenk2]

Thanks - that helps. I may print a sticker to put on the inverter to help remind me of those limits (on top of whatever limits the inverter already has printed on it from the factory). And of course, I need to right-size the inverter when I buy it as well so as not to exceed the boat's limits.

 

[Valmaik]

I too was recently looking for an inverter for my boat. I chose pure sine wave inverter 300w, thanks to the review https://reviewerst.com/inverters/pure-sine-wave-inverter/. Despite the small overpayment in my opinion it has a lot of advantages: size, noise, heating temperature.

 

[Ronnie]

I got a small one for Christmas two or three years ago. It clips directly to the battery. It’s been sitting in my boat unopened since I got it. This string has motivated me to test it, just so that I know it will work if I need it but I can’t think of a reason I would. I installed a few extra usb and 12v charging ports throughout boat, when I need power it’s usually to top off the charge on a phone or for the towables pump but I have other options like jump packs and cordless pumps. For now I will just treat it like the flare gun, that is, hopefully never need it but don’t object to having it onboard.

 

[2kwik4u]

Back in the late '90's early '00's I used to do a LOT of automotive tuning. I would spend HOURS sitting in the passenger seat with a laptop working on fueling and timing maps, burning chips, etc. I used a CHEAP Autozone power invertor to keep the laptops and equipment running. Laptops back then that were strong enough to do the tuning had abysmal battery life. It worked, but I kept a pack of of fuses in the backpack as I would regularly pop the fuse on either the invertor or vehicles cigarette lighter. It worked, but wasn't great.

My '15 Sierra had a power invertor built in somewhere and I could plug right into the dash. That was SUPER handy when working on site and keeping a laptop charged. Never had a single issue with that device, and my laptop has a 65W charger on it. I think the manual said I was good to 125W or something like that. Was always nice to have if we wanted to "quick charge" a device as well. Plug the wall charger in instead of using the USB ports, and you could fire more power at the device. Was helpful with the little one a few times when we needed to recharge a tablet before walking into a restaurant or something.

More of my stories......purchase the appropriate device, and hardwire it in with proper lines and circuit protection. If you are actually going to use the thing, it's worth the effort to do it right in this case.

 

[Babin Farms]

I have one like @Ronnie that clips to the battery posts. It works great and have had if for years. We bought it to use a 120V blower for inflating tubes & such and is all we were hearing is that the 12v inflators were too weak. Now there are so many other options out there with DeWalt, Milwaukee, Ryobi and all of the other manufacturers that have blowers/inflators that work as well if not better than what I have. Other than the inflator I really have no use for it on the boat but it's there if needed.

 

[HangOutdoors]

If you think it would get more than a once in a great while use, I would hard wire it to battery or additional fuse block and put a a resettable circuit breaker in and call it good. That way you could just disengage the circuit breaker for most of the time and just reset it when you need it on. That way it always off in your battery/switch area. Also I would put caps in the outlets if it doesn't have them to help keep moisture out.

At least that is how I think I would do it.

 

[JOAN ROJAS]

I too was recently looking for an inverter for my boat. I chose pure sine wave inverter 300w, thanks to the review https://reviewerst.com/inverters/pure-sine-wave-inverter/. Despite the small overpayment in my opinion it has a lot of advantages: size, noise, heating temperature.

would this run a small blender?

 

[biffdotorg]

would this run a small blender?

Ahh, the blender question comes up. I like your style.

Blender is a loaded question. As some will pull many more watts on start up, than they do once they are spinning up to speed. That initial spike will many times pop an inverter, or not allow it to operate until rebooted.

Special 12v blenders are the answer. Gas operated blenders are usually a gag, but they are out there. (smile)