Quote: Originally posted by john cardiff on 26/5/2009
Hi newbies here with mh..want to converter electric instead of paying on site.
Is maplins the best place to buy cheap converter.
Hi,
What was you intending to use an inverter for? They are ok for low drain stuff or occasional use but if you wanted to run lights, tv, fridges etc. then EHU would be better. The reason being that even "small" loads at 240v can end up being big drains on a 12v battery, for example a 15" LCD TV uses about 40w at 240v, that works out to be about 3.5A at 12v.. Add in a fridge, lights etc and that lot will flatten a 110Ah battery in a day or so at best.
Then you have to consider keeping it charged, could be done using the vans engine but then its the cost of burning fuel, wear & tear etc. Probably cheaper and certainly less hassle to just pay the few quid a night and use EHU.
On the flip side we camp in a tent and have small 300w inverter in the car, use it to charge phones etc whilst driving but thats it. Ours came from Argos a few years ago, most places that do electrical stuff seem to sell them now - dare say lots on ebay, online stores and so on too.
TV not so bad for a few hours but the kettle, hair dryer etc are going to be huge drains on a battery, even a "small" 750w kettle will pull about 75A (inc. conversion losses) from a battery - going to need some serious wiring and a chunky inverter to cope with that sort of load. A hair dryer will be similar but the straighteners you may get away with, from other posts they draw a few hundred watts when warming up and then drop back down again.
Cost wise, expect to pay upwards of £100 for a 1000W inverter, maplin's for example do this one but its limited to 20mins use at a time when used with high drain appliances...
Quote: Originally posted by john cardiff on 26/5/2009
tv for evenings fridge is gas,and boil of kettle.
You would need a huge inverter to run a kettle, it would be extremely expensive and would flatten the battery in no time. If it is imperative to use an electric kettle then it will be cheaper to buy a 12 volt kettle.
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Topic: converter for electric
