Date:         Wed, 13 Mar 2002 09:27:02 -0700
Reply-To:     jbrush@AROS.NET
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         John Brush <jbrush@AROS.NET>
Subject:      Re: 12v/110v converter info needed
In-Reply-To:  <000101c1caa3$69faab00$c00fb38e@bc.hsia.telus.net>

>I want to put a 12 v DC / 110 v AC converter in my Westy to run my laptop
>and a small TV, and need some advice.

>a. What type of converter do I need? Amps, etc.

A few hundred watts will probably be sufficient, but you can simply check
the power requirements by looking at the back of the TV, and the cube used
for recharging your laptop. Add them both together, and get something
about 50% more than that.

>b. Where do I mount it?

I put mine under the passenger seat, next to the battery. Then I attached
an extension cord to make it easy for the kids to plug in their CD
players, etc.

>c. Where's the best place to wire it in? The battery? The fusebox for the
>fridge, etc?

If you will not be using too much power, you can just plug it into the
cigarette lighter. Higher current draw, and neatness, would require direct
attachment to the battery. Most inverters are already fused, or have ckt
breakers.

A word of advice if you are going to use it to watch TV. You will probably
want a modified sine wave inverter or you will get noise and lines on your
picture that won't be pleasant. They are caused by the crappy waveform
that comes from the low end inverters. If I name a price, someone will
complain they can get one cheaper, so you may want to see if you can
return any inverter you buy, check it out for yourself, and see what
happens.

In my case, all we use it for is running the CD players, lightes, my
laptop, and charging batteries, so I am using a 400 watt job that only
cost $50. It would be a lousy device to run a TV tho.

HTH,

John