Hi all could any of you electrical magicians out there tell me if I could run a domestic tabletop fridge via a 150W power inverter from my cigar lighter? The fridge has a 90W rating but I have heard they use more when the compressor kicks in.If not what rating will I need.Just to add I will only be running it between home and campsite. Any help would be appreciated.
If you're right about the ratings, you should be OK. The 90W should be for when the compressor is running. When its not running it will only consume a small current to run an "on light" etc. But if you run it when your car engine is not running it will flatten your battery very quickly.
A compressor motor pulls about 5 times the running current for the first half second, so about 450W for half a second, then dropping to 90W, so I'd have said no for a 150W, and the motor may not start because of the square wave output of the inverter anyway, some motors do, some don't. Sorry! But worth trying if you can.
Find an inverter that will peak at 450 watt+ but will run at a lower ratting. You can buy expensive inverters that will give a true sine wave that will run anything.
If you've got the money
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Topic: power inverters
