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 Posted - 04/23/2009 : 2:26:21 PM
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Perhaps you are trying to run a few halogen lights for gigging, or you may want to take a small TV on board to watch a game while fishing, or maybe you keep your boat in a storage lot and you need to run some small power tools while doing some maintenance, regardless a power inverter can come in handy. Weather you are fishing, camping, or tailgating a power inverter enables you to put many of your favorite home electrical devices to use as long as you have a 12 or 24 volt dc power supply available.
Many years back inverters were a high dollar item and most of us just opted to leave those favorite home electrical devices at home. These days you can purchase a 600 watt inverter for less than $150. You can mount one permanently in the boat or you can rig up some alligator clips on the supply side you can keep it mobile and use it in the boat, car, camper, wherever you need it. Regardless, make sure it is placed in a cool dry place that has plenty of air circulation.
Inverters are utilized to covert DC or direct current to AC or alternating current and they are rated in wattage. To size an inverter for an application you will need to determine your electrical devices power consumption or wattage required to run. Many electrical devices, such as lights, are rated in wattage and this rating may be stamped on the equipment or provided in an owner’s manual. Sizing an inverter where wattage is known requires nothing more than adding up the wattages of the devices you want to run simultaneously and that will give you the size of the inverter required.
Not all devices are rated according to wattage; many are rated according to amperage. Just like wattage most devices are stamped or the amperage requirements are given in the owner’s manual. If this is the case you will need to covert the amperage to wattage. The following basic electrical formula will provide the conversion:
Volts (V) x Amps (A) = Watts (W)
Remember most all of your small electrical devices will require 120 V. For example if you wanted to run a blender at the Rockville Regatta for some reason and the blender pulled 3-amps then:
120V X 3A = 360 Watts
Therefore you would need at least a 360 Watt inverter.
Here are a couple of times to keep in mind, if you are going to use something like a skill saw or a compressor, the start up load rating can be three times the running load, so if this is the case you would need a inverter four times the running load to handle the surge that is would take to start that piece of equipment.
Next you must make sure you have enough battery and charging amperage to keep up with your load. If your boat or vehicles alternator is unable to keep up with the load then it will just kill your battery. Check your onboard voltage meter regularly to ensure you are getting proper system charging. Your dealer should be able to assist you with the output voltage rating of your engine and ensuring it will handle the load of the inverter.
Tight lines…
Captain Tim Pickett
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