another inverter question

[beamerstrumpet]

Sorry to bring up an old topic, I did look through the search and read a bunch, but cant find a specific answer.

Will an inverter run a PC or HF DA ? I dont plan on doing whole cars,, just for Being able to clean headlights.

and will this have enough balls to do it? Bravo View INV-400 400 Watt Peak Power Inverter - Walmart.com (http://www.walmart.com/ip/Bravo-View-INV-400-400-Watt-Peak-Power-Inverter/13398248)

[allenk4]

You can....but, not with that one

A Porter Cable 7424xp pulls 500 watts

I am unsure if "peak power" is want the inverter can actually out out continuously

I would jump on an RV forum, for the best answer

From what I remember, general consensus is that a small generator is a more practical option for running a mobile detail business

[Bunky]

The primary advantage of the generator is that you are not using your vehicle battery.

A 500W watt load just ignoring efficiency issues is 42A so a huge load on a car battery for any period of time. If I recall, reserve capacity on most auto batteries is at most 2 hrs at 25A load.

You would not get significant time without having to leave the motor running and more expensive than using a generator.

[swanicyouth]

I've done this before and it worked fine. I can't recall the specs of the inverter - now it's packed away someplace.

Machine was original 7424. All the watts/amps theories in the world won't tell you if this will work because you won't know exactly what the machine will draw until you try.

I rant the PC an hour plus before deciding to idle the car. I repeated this several times over several occasions - with only using my gut to tell me when to run the car. Never did the battery go dead or did it crank slow.

My inverter was from Pep Boys I believe. It was a $50-$60 jobber. Not a huge one, but a medium one. The kind I had connected right to the battery - I wouldn't do this with one that connects to the cigarette lighter.

Really, the worse part about it was having to keep the wires that ran from the battery out of the trunk (BMW) off the paint.

[beamerstrumpet]

Thanks again Swanicyouth!

[allenk4]

Let us know how it turns out

[octane]

that inverter is a bit small to run a PC, running watts is only 200watts

I don't remember how many amps the PC takes, but normally you would need 3 times the amps rating (electric motor pull a lot of power on startup) but that would be if you start it on the fastest speed...

I think a 600watt peak might be enough, 800 to be safe

[beamerstrumpet]

yea, i figured that out, found a 750 at HF. around 50 bucks


http://www.harborfreight.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/i/m/image_22620.jpg

That aught to do it:xyxthumbs: