It’s important to note that not all 12v inverter are the same.  There are a some factors to consider when purchasing an 12v power inverter.  The first is the size of the inverter.

All electrical devices require different amounts of power to operate.  Let’s not confuse this with the voltage.   For our purposes we will be discussing 120VAC (volts alternating current) devices.  After all, that is why we are using an inverter.  We want to be able to power these devices.  A microwave oven will require more power than a light bulb to operate.  They both run on 120VAC but one need more “juice” to make it operate.  The “juice” is called “wattage” or more commonly spoken as “watts”.

I’m sure you’re all familiar with the terms.  After all, when you need to buy light bulbs, you look for the proper watt bulb.  The most common in use today is the 60 watt bulb.

In order to be able to power our 120VAC devices with our 12v inverter, we need to make sure that the power inverter is rated to output enough watts for the device that we wish to operate.  Power inverters range in size from as small as 25W units to several thousand watt  units.

If you want an inverter simply for the purpose of being able to charge your laptop computer or other small electrical devices, you can get by with a relatively small inverter.  Many of these simply plug right into your cigarette lighter outlet. If you intend to operate power tools from your work truck, you’ll need a much larger 12v inverter.  These are always hard wired into the vehicle.  More on that later.

The way you determine how large the inverter needs to be is relatively simple.  All electrical devices have an electrical rating label.  If you look on the back of your TV for example, you’ll see a sticker that tells you the device requirements.  My small 19 inch TV says that it requires 25 watts.  That’s actually a really efficient TV.  A circular saw on a work truck might require a 3000 watt 12v inverter.

The rule of thumb is to make a list of all the devices you will be powering at once, determine their  wattage requirements and add the numbers up.  If you find that you’ll be operating 4 devices and the sum of their required wattage needs is 750 watts, you know how large your inverter needs to be.  It’s always a good idea to buy a larger inverter than you will expect to need so you don’t overload it.

Some electrical devices need a bit more power to start up.  This is called the “start up load”.  Some examples of this would be anything with an electric motor such as a power drill, a refrigerator (these have a small compressor in them), an air conditioner, a vacuum cleaner, and a few others.  Most power inverters come with two rating numbers.  They will list a continuous rating and a surge rating.  For example, my inverter for my small off the grid home is a 1500w – 2000w power inverter.  This means there is a bit of a safety margin for items that need little  boost when you turn them on.

We’ll discuss more about the various types of 12v inverters in the next article.

Like I always say, thank you very much for visiting my 12v inverter blog.

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