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back to inverters again - I always wild camp or use Aires. I have 80w of Solar panel and nearly 400 amp of "leisure" batteries. I have a proper compressor fridge, not a 3 way. I can power an angle grinder should I wish to as the inverter will handle up to 2kw continuously

Now comes the problem: Big inverters do cost money. They are not cheap so what I suggest that you do is to add up the power of all the 230 volt items that you might want to run & make a list of them. If you are only asking to run battery chargers and laptops then your requirements are pretty low; the most power-hungry item may well be a hair dryer.

The only item that I can think of that would need a Pure Sine Wave inverter is a washing machine - something to do with the start-up power requirement, I believe. I'm sure that "beyondhelp" would be able to tell us the whys and wherefors - btw, that is one of the best explanations that I have seen about inverters.

btw - Ether is a potentially explosive gas - Over administration will result in death - the amount required to render a child unconscious is between 2 to 5 drops! All robbers being trained anaesthetists is the reason that no one has died yet... The other red herring that is sometimes mentioned is that gas undetecable afterwards - I'm sure that various unpleasant organisations would love to get their hands on something like that. Having had dealings with foriegn police forces over the years I've come to the conclusion that they will do anything to get you on your way especially if you are  a tourist.

So, for peace of mind, get a gas alarm and stay on Campsites.

We have 220amp of leisure battery, a 1800W inverter and also 200w of solar power, basically can run most things includng hair dryer, and electric cooker. One thing to make sure is that if you do fit an iverter you wire it in so that when you are producing 240VAC you internal battery charger does not think that it can use this power to charge the batteries, otherwise you get a drain of power for no gain. Simple relay circuit to cut power to the charger on activation of the inverter sorts that out, also make sure that your fridge is not set to automatically change over to 240V as more efficient on gas anyway

One good form of protection for aires is a bog dog, barks at movement outside

Hi on aires again

Returned yesterday from 2 month trip to France / portugal / spain . I would not stay on a motorway service aire unless absolutely desparate . We used the aires guide and i  found them ok but my wife did not feel comfortable especially if we were the only van . I came to the conclusion that my time was precious and i did not want to spend my time in a car park worrying that my electric might fail /  robbed / visited by police as you are not allowed chairs or awnings on some aires / latest problem in aires in northern france is grafiti sprayed overnight on your van .

I would rather pay my 10-12-14 euros thru ACSI and get a decent nights sleep hooked up to electric and a warm shower in the morning but good luck to any trippers who enjoy the aires

palaceboy