Taking the time to become knowledgeable about how to tell the difference between a poorly constructed inverter and a high quality model will save you a lot of hassle and frustration in the long run.

If you’re looking for a great deal, let me begin by saying that you’ll have to spend money to save money. Allow me to explain what I mean by this statement. When I first started buying power inverters, I convinced myself that I would buy the cheapest unit I could find and then eventually, I would buy a more expensive model.

What actually happened was that I went through three or four of these “cheap inverters” before I finally decided to lay down the money for a quality unit. You see, I didn’t really save any money at all. As a matter of fact, I probably spent more by going this route.

There are some important features that the higher end power inverters have over the entry level models. Let’s take a look at some of the features I look for when I’m purchasing an inverter.

1. A good 12v inverter will have a reverse polarity fail safe.  I once bought a cheap inverter, hooked it up backwards and poof, I let the smoke out.  There’s a saying when it comes to electronic devices that says, “once you let the smoke out, it’s done”.  When electronic components fail, there’s often a brief putrid smelling puff of smoke.
2. Good 12 volt inverters will be fused.  Should something go wrong with the power supply to the inverter, you want the fuse to blow so the sensitive circuitry doesn’t get fried.  The fuse should be replaceable by the user as well.
3. A good 12v inverter will be efficient.  The high end units will have an efficiency ranting of 90% or better.
4. Good 12 volt inverters will have a very low no load current drain.  I’ve seen cheap inverters that had a 1.5 amp no load draw.  This is very bad.  Higher end inverters will draw less than .3 amps when not under a load.  Some very nice inverters have zero no load draw.  They have sophisticated electronics that sense when something is trying to draw power from then and automatically turn themselves on.
5. A good 12v inverter will have large ventilation holes and high quality fans to keep the circuitry cool.  The cooling fan is often a week point on cheap inverters.  I’ve had two that failed because the cooling fan ceased to function.
6. Good power inverters will have a high voltage overload fail safe.  Usually if the voltage jumps above 15 volts, the fail safe will trigger protecting the unit.
7. A good 12v inverter will have a low voltage alarm to let you know to charge your battery because the voltage is getting dangerously low.
8. Good 12 volt inverters will have a low voltage shutdown to keep the inverter from draining the battery so low that it is permanently damaged.
9. A good power inverter will have a high surge capacity.  When many electronic devices first turn on, they require a surge of power that is greater than the amount of power need to keep the device running.  If your inverter doesn’t have a good surge capacity, it may not operate certain electrical devices.  My inverter is rated at 2000 watts continuous and it has a surge capacity of 3000 watts.
10. Good 12 volt inverters will have a decent warranty.  The inverter that I’m currently using is made by Go Socket and it has a 2 year warranty.  This is the best warranty that I’m aware of.

Look for the features listed above when purchasing your car power inverter if you want to get a good one.  If you don’t care about quality, buy one from your local department store but when it fails at the most inopportune time, don’t say I didn’t tell you so.

A power inverter is a device that takes 12, 24, 36, or 48 volt direct current or DC power and changes it into 120 or 240 volt alternating current or AC power. Most of the time when people are asking for a 12 volt to 110 volt converter, they actually mean that they want a 12 volt to 110 volt inverter.

A device does actually exist that is a 110 volt to 12 volt converter that sort of works in the opposite way as a power inverter works. These devices are also known as transformers or power supplies.

A common reason that someone may want to buy this kind of a device so they can power their 12v electronic devices in their camper or motor home while their RV is plugged into a 110 VAC power source at a campground. A power converter takes the standard 110 volt AC power, steps it down to 12 volts and converts it to DC power.

You might be interested to know that many standard household devices use power converters. Many electronic devices like computers actually need low voltage DC power to operate properly. You probably have dozens of electronic devices around your home that have a large square box as the plug instead if a small 110 VAC electrical plug. These boxes are often referred to as “wall warts” because they are a bit unsightly. These wall warts are actually small AC to DC power converters that change your standard household electricity into something that these devices can actually use.

You see, these devices are similar in the sense that they change electricity from one from to another form but what each device actually does is quite different. Hopefully this article has cleared up any confusion that you might have been having. If you are still confused, please send me an email and I’ll try to answer any specific question that you might have.

Automotive batteries are primarily designed for starting your vehicle. After the engine has started, your vehicle gets all of its needed electrical power from your vehicle’s alternator. Automotive alternators are sized so that they can recharge the energy that was used to start your car as well as power your electrical accessories like lights, radio’s, windshield wipers, and heater blower motor.

When you need to replace the battery in your car, it’s not hard to find out what kind you’ll need. You can simply walk into your local automotive store and tell them the make, model, and year of your car and they will hand you a perfectly sized battery. All cars require what are called 12v “starting batteries”. Batteries uses for renewable energy applications require “deep cycle” batteries. These batteries are specially designed to be able to be deeply discharged multiple times without sustaining damage.

If you drain your car’s battery too low even a few times, your battery will sustain damage. They are really only designed for short bursts while starting your vehicle and for short intervals of using the lights or radio while your vehicle isn’t running.

When it comes to picking a battery for your car, the main thing to keep in mind is that each car will have a slightly different sized battery box and battery hold down system. It’s possible to start your vehicle with virtually any 12v automotive battery so what you really need to keep in mind when replacing an automotive battery is whether the battery will fit into your vehicles battery box and whether the battery hold down system that your vehicle is equipped with will work with the battery that you purchase.

There is another thing to consider when purchasing an automotive battery that I almost forgot to mention. Some batteries have posts that are used to connect the battery cables to. Others have tapped holes and you bolt your vehicle’s battery wire connectors to the side or top of the battery.

Many people who have power inverters installed in their vehicles destroy their car’s battery in a very short period of time because they allow the battery to drain too far before recharging it. They usually wait until the inverter’s low battery alarm goes off and then they start their car and run the engine for a few minutes and think that this is sufficient to charge the battery.

This is not only hard on the battery, it’s also hard on your car’s alternator. Alternators aren’t really designed to charge a deeply discharged battery. A deeply discharged battery places a very large amperage draw on the alternator. Do this too many times and you’ll find that you’ll not only need to replace your battery but your alternator as well.

So if you find yourself asking what kind of battery does my car need, now you know how to find the exact size your car should use and if you find yourself wondering if you can use your old car battery to power your power inverter, you know that that’s not a good idea as well.

Just to make sure that were all starting off on the same page, let me take a minute and discuss what a power inverter actually is for those people who may not be familiar with them. A power inverter is simply a device that can take 12 volt, 24 volt, or 48 volt direct current electricity and convert it into 120 volt alternating current electricity like the power that is normally used in a home.

It’s not important to understand exactly how they do this.  The only thing that is important to understand is that they can do it and they do a very well.  Why would you need to be able to to convert low voltage DC electricity into 120 volt AC electricity? The answer is really quite simple.  There are many things that we use on a day to day basis that use low voltage direct current electricity.  Some of these are our vehicles such as our cars, trucks, RVS, and boats.  All of these vehicles use 12 volt direct current electricity.  There are many occasions when it would be nice to be able to plug standard household devices into outlets in these types of vehicles.  An example might be someone who travels a lot or someone who spends a lot of time in their car for their job, a power inverter installed in the car would make it possible for them to plug things in like their laptops and their cell phones so that the batteries can charge.  A car power inverter makes this possible. 

Now, let me make a list of possible uses for power inverters.

• People who travel in their cars a lot for business would find power inverters very useful because they will always have a handy place to plug in their standard household devices like cell phones, laptop computers, and PDA’s
•  An AC power inverter would be very handy to have in a work track or a service truck.  If you install a large power inverter in these types of vehicles, it would be possible to run power tools directly from your work truck.  There would be many occasions when this would be useful when you didn’t have access to standard electrical outlets such as on remote job sites.
• Power inverters are useful for camping as well.  Whether you are camping in a tent or your camping in an RV, a power inverter could be useful to you.  If you’re camping in a tent, there is a good chance that your cell phone battery would die before the end of your camping trip.  With a car power inverter installed in your vehicle, you’ll be able to recharge your cell phone or any other portable electronic devices that need to be recharged.  For those of you who camp in RV’s in locations where it is not possible to plug your RV into a power outlet, having a power inverter will make it possible for you to use standard devices like televisions and DVD players without needing the RV to be plugged into a power source. 
• For those of you who have  remote cabins that don’t have access to electricity, a power inverter is perfect for this application.  If you have a couple of solar panels, a charge controller, some batteries, and a power inverter, your cabin can function just as if it was tied to the electric grid. 
• For those of you who are interested in converting your home over to be powered by alternative energy, power inverters will play an integral role in this process.  A solar power inverter for an entire home will be a much larger inverter and much higher quality than the power inverter that you would have installed in your automobile. 
• If you have a job or occasion to spend time at a long-term remote campsite, power inverters can make it possible for you to be able to have many of the important necessities that we come to rely on on a day to day basis. A good example would be the coffee maker.  If you are spending several months at a remote camp site such as a fire lookout tower, you will likely want your morning coffee.  Having some solar panels and a power inverter will mean that you won’t have to go without many of the luxuries that you have come to rely on.
• If you have a boat that you spend long amounts of time on, having a power inverter will mean that you can have the use of many of these luxuries as well.  Whether  it is a houseboat that you are spending the week on with your family members or a sailboat that you are sailing around the world on, a power inverter will give you access to be able to use many of the standard electronic devices that are important to you on a day to day basis.

These are just a few of the uses for an AC power inverter.  There are likely to be many more.  Hopefully after reading this article, you can see the value of a power inverter and purchase one for yourself.  You can purchase small, low wattage power inverters for only a few dollars or large very powerful power inverters for several thousand dollars.  Our website has a very large supply of power inverters for you to purchase.  If you have any questions or comments about power inverters, feel free to contact me by clicking on the contact button at the top of the screen.

These small car power inverter units are cheap in both cost and construction.  I’ve owned a few of them in the past and they simply don’t hold up to continuous or long term use.  You are much better off spending a little more money to buy something like the Xantrex XPower Digital Micro.

The XPower line is Xantrex’s smallest line of 12v inverter.  There is 400 watt or 800 watt models to choose from.  They output 120 Volt AC power at 60 Hertz which means they are for use in the US or other countries that use 60 Hertz power.  In Europe the power is supplied at 50 Hertz.

One of the things that I really like about buying Xantrex inverters is that they are one of the most trusted and respected brand names when it comes to this kind of technology. They have a great customer service department and a knowledgeable technical support department.

On one occasion when I needed help with my inverter, the technical support representative at Xantrex walked me though some complex troubleshooting procedures and I was able to find out that the problem was with the way I installed the unit.

400 watt 12v inverter specifications:
Costs around $64.00

320 watts continuous and 700 watts for brief surges

2 AC outlets

Small size

Digital LED meter that show the amount of power being used, the amount of voltage in the battery, and fault codes

Overload and over temperature automatic shutdown

Protection for over voltage

Low voltage automatic alarm

Low voltage automatic shutdown

90% efficiency

No load draw of

DC input voltage 10.5 – 15.5 Volts DC

Dimensions – 3.64″ x 6.68″ x 9.25″

Weight – 2.2 pounds

6 month warranty

800 watt 12v inverter specifications:

Costs around $100

640 watts continuous and 1200 watts for brief surges

2 AC outlets

Small size

Digital LED meter that show the amount of power being used, the amount of voltage in the battery, and fault codes

Overload and over temperature automatic shutdown

Protection for over voltage

Low voltage automatic alarm

Low voltage automatic shutdown

90% efficiency

No load draw of 40 amps

DC input voltage 10.5 – 15.5 Volts DC

Dimensions – 3.64″ x 6.68″ x 9.25″

Weight – 2.2 pounds

6 month warranty

This power inverter is supplied with a cord to plug the inverter into a cigarette outlet.  This makes them very portable and handy.  You can easily move them from one vehicle to another if you so choose. If you you are in the market for a small power 12 v inverter you should consider the Xantrex XPower Digital Micro 12v inverter.

The first and foremost thing that you should concern yourself with this type of installation is wire gauge.  The farther your inverter is from the battery, the heavier the wire should be.  With low voltage 12volt power that will be supplied to the inverter from the battery, long wires mean voltage loss.  If you have 12.7 volts coming out of a freshly charged battery, you might only have 10 volts that actually reach the inverter if your wires are too thin and there is a long distance from the battery to the car power inverter.  Not to mention, using too thin of wires may cause them to get hot and cause a fire.

If you are going to install the power inverter in the front of a 35′ RV and the batteries are in the rear, you’ll need to use really heavy gauge wiring.  Most power inverters will have a chart in the instruction manual that tells you what gauge of wire to use depending on the distance.  If you have to use 30 feet of wire to supply power to your inverter, you might have to use 6 gauge wire.  Wire gauge is backwards from how you think it should be.   12 gauge wires are thinner and 8 gauge.  Lower the number, thicker the wire.  Be sure and consult your instruction manual for the gauge of wire you should use for your particular installation.

Next you need to make sure that the wires are secure and out of the way.  You don’t want to run the wires on the inside from the battery, in front of the couch, down the hallway,  taped to the wall in the bedroom and then finally get to the inverter.  They’re likely to get stepped on and it will look awful.  Either run the wires secured along the frame rail under the RV or trace the wires that are going from the battery to the power converter and fuse panel and run the wires in the same space.

Lastly, be sure and install the inverter someplace where it will be out of the way.  You don’t want to install it someplace like on the counter next to the sink.  It’s likely to be in the way there and it could possible get wet and destroyed.  A better solution might be to fasten it to the bottom of the cupboards with the provided mounting screws.  This way it’s out of the way but still easily accessible.  A better solution still would be away from water all together.  Water and electricity don’t play well together and can create a dangerous situation.

Oh, one last thing. Be sure and screw the inverter down securely.  Many people get lazy and skip this step.  Inverters come with mounting tabs and hardware for a reason.  They last longer if you can minimize the vibration the are exposed to.  Screwing them down will limit the amount of vibrations that your inverter will see as it’s traveling down the road in your RV.

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First, you need to decide why you are buying an car power inverter.  If all you want is a small  power inverter to charge your laptop or digital camera batteries, your needs will be much different than if you want to run power tools from a power inverter in your work truck.

Power inverters should be sized according to the type of use that you anticipate putting them too.  Most electrical devices have a sticker or metal plate on them somewhere that lists the wattage requirements to run them.  For example, I just looked at the back of my small television an it says 25w.   If I was buying an inverter solely for the purpose of powering my small TV I would just need to buy one that was at least 25 watts.

Power tools are usually rated in terms of amps instead of watts.  You can calculate the wattage if you know the amps and voltage.  The formula is Amps = Watts/Volts.  The best thing to do when trying to decide how large of an auto power invert to buy is to make a list of all the items that you will be running at once and add up their individual wattage requirements.  It’s also a good idea to try and anticipate the electrical device you plan on using that has the highest energy requirement.  Then buy and inverter that is larger than you anticipate needing.

It’s not a good idea to run and car power inverter at or near full capacity.  If your device requires 190 watts and you have a 200 watt inverter, you would be working the inverter pretty hard.  It would be better to buy a 300 watt unit and it won’t have to work as hard.

You can buy auto power inverters at auto part stores, and big box stores like Walmart, Costco, or Lowes.  Keep in mind that the units you find in these stores are almost always low end economy models.  They are okay for light or occasional use but if you plan on using your power inverter daily or if you require a large inverter to run power tools, you should really consider purchasing a higher quality unit.

For this quality of auto power inverter, you are probably best off purchasing online.  High end power inverters are specialty items and it’s rare to find a store that will carry them.  Sometimes you can find larger inverters in shops that cater to semi trucks.  You’ll find a much better selection and be much more likely to find just what you’re looking for if you shop online.

I’ve purchased a few of these low end car power inverters in the past and none of them lasted very long.  I used them quite frequently though.  They might have lasted longer if I was only using them on the rare occasion here and there.

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The first think you need to consider when planning a 12v inverter installation is location.  The location of the inverter is very important.  You should make sure that you install the inverter in a location where it isn’t going to get stepped on.  You also want to make sure that the location that you choose for the 12v inverter isn’t one in which people are likely to stack things on top of it.  Putting things on top of the inverter can block the cooling vents and cause the inverter to overheat.  That brings up another point.  Ventilation.  Make sure that you don’t install the inverter in a location that’s not well ventilated or in an area that gets really hot like under the hood of your car or in direct sunlight

You also don’t want the inverter to be installed near water.  If you’re installing a 12v power inverter in a motor home, you wouldn’t want to install it under the sink for example.  If there was a plumbing leak, the inverter would probably get wet and that could damage the electronic circuits in the inverter.

When you finally settle on a good location for the inverter, drill some holes and bolt the inverter down securely.  Almost all power inverters will have pre-drilled tabs for bolting the unit down.  Don’t skip this step.  Excessive vibration can damage the inverter and bolting it down will keep vibrations to a minimum.

The next thing to keep in mind when installing any 12 volt inverter is to use adequate wire.  Some inverters come supplied with wires but it’s usually not very heavy gauge.  It’s a good idea to buy heavily insulated 8 gauge wire.  The longer the distance between the battery and the inverter, the heavier the wire gauge needs to be.

It’s a good idea to solder the terminals on the wires.  This makes for a much stronger connection that isn’t likely to come loose from vibration.  Be sure and secure the wire out of the way.  Usually you can hide the wiring under the carpet.

It’s also a good idea to install an inline fuse between the positive terminal of the battery and the positive terminal of the 12v power inverter.  This way if there’s an electrical problem, the fuse will blow instead of the inverter.

They are square sign, modified sign, and pure sign.  Some sensitive electronic equipment requires pure sine power.

Unfortunately pure sine wave inverters are usually quite expensive.  Most mid range 12 volt inverters, output modified sine wave power and this is okay for most applications. 

If you are in need of pure sine power from your inverter, perhaps you might consider the Samlex 300 – 500 Watt Pure Sine Inverter.

The best thing about this inverter is it’s price tag. I found it online for only $139!  That’s a great price for a pure sine 12v inverter. You’re going have to search pretty hard to find a pure sine wave unit at better prices than this.

Not every application requires a this kind of super clean power but if you can afford an inverter that does in fact output really clean power, it’s just a little bit of extra insurance.

Here’s the lowdown on this model:

• 300 watts continuous and 500 watts peak
• Efficiency -  >85%
• No load current draw – < 700 mA
• Output voltage – 12o VAC
• Input voltage range – 10.5 VDC -16.5 VDC
• Over voltage shut off – 16.6 VDC
• Under voltage shut off – 10 VDC
• Low voltage audible alarm – 10.7 VDC
• Overload shutdown – Yes
• Overheat shutdown – Yes
• Short circuit shutdown – Yes
• AC Outlets – One
• Weight – 3.3 pounds
• Dimensions – 8.5″x 4.6″x 2.5″
• Warranty – 2 years

The unit boasts total harmonic distortion of less than three percent which means it’s putting out some pretty clean power.  This 12v power inverter ships with a power adapter so that you can plug it into your cigarette lighter.  I also comes with clamp on wires for connecting directly to a battery.  The cables are only 3 feet long which is fine for the cigarette lighter adapter but in my opinion the clamp on cables are way to short to be of much use.  I wouldn’t recommend using the clamp on wires.

The man we bought the house from had a crappy bank of unmatched 12 volt deep cycle batteries.  He didn’t even have an power inverter installed at all. 

He had a few 12 volt lights in the house and a small 12 volt television.  That was the extent of his electronic devices.  That was fine for him but we weren’t prepared to give up all of the little electronic luxuries that modern day life affords.

The first thing we did was rush to the local Walmart to buy a power inverter.  For the life of me, I can’t remember the brand name of the inverter that they carried.  We made the 45 minute round trip back to the house and started right away on the installation.

The inverter was a 700 watt unit.  We knew that we would need a bigger one eventually but the Walmart inverter was cheap and we could put it to work right away as opposed to ordering one and having to wait  a week or more for it to arrive.

When we got home, I wired the 12 volt inverter up and plugged it into the house.  The house isn’t hooked up to power from the power company so we didn’t have to worry about back feeding into the grid power.  The installation was quite easy.  We simply wired a 120 VAC electric plug to the end of the wire that fed power into the house.  Then we could simply plug the house in like you would plug in old RV.  Simple enough right?  Well that’s what we thought too.

When we plugged the inverter in for the first time we made sure that nothing was turned on in the house.  The plan was to turn things on one at a time so as to not overload the inverter.  The first thing we turned on was a simple 120 volt lamp.  To our surprise, when we hit the switch, the light just flickered.  Actually it gave very faint pulses of light every half second or so.  I couldn’t figure out what was wrong.  The batteries weren’t very good but they were fully charged and all we had turned on was one 60 watt light bulb.  A 700 watt power inverter should have no problem running that.

We waited a few minutes and gradually the pulses became longer and brighter then suddenly they came on fully.  We then turned on a radio and it came on fine.  Next we added a TV to the load and it came on fine.  Our devices were running fine but we had no idea what was up with the flickering problem.

The next day we went through the same thing.  I called the customer support line that was listed in the instruction manual but they were now help.  The lady I spoke with didn’t even know that her company sold power inverters.  Heck, she didn’t even know what a power inverter was.  I decided that something must have been wrong with this particular 12v inverter so we returned it to the store and exchanged it for another.

To our dismay, when we got it home, it did the same thing.  I rechecked the wiring and couldn’t find any problems.  It was annoying that it took about five or more minutes before the inverter would power the house but we didn’t know what else to do so we just lived with the annoyance. One other annoyance was that when we were watching TV, we would see several squiggly horizontal lines on the screen when the TV  was being powered by the inverter.  We didn’t see these lines when it was being powered by the generator.

This went on for about 4 months before the inverter prematurely gave up the ghost and died.  It was still under warranty so we returned it to the store and got a replacement.  Of course, this inverter did the same thing.  This one lived for six months before it kicked the bucket.

This time around, I decided that we would buy a better inverter.  I did some research on the Internet and we settled on a 1000 watt inverter made by Xantrex.  I ordered it new from someone on ebay and I think we paid around $110. At the time, this was their bottom of the line inverter but it’s all we could afford so it would have to do.

When it arrived, I eagerly opened the box to see what it looked like.  My first impression was that the build quality was much better.  It just looked more substantial.  I don’t know what I thought I could tell by just looking at it but I was somehow convinced that because it looked better it would function better.

I followed the installation instructions for the new 12 volt inverter to the letter so as to not make a mistake and damage it.  This time when we turned on the light, it instantly came on.  We turned on several other devices and they all worked fine too.  Next we unplugged the inverter, turned several devices on in the house, and plugged it back in.  The instructions say to only add one load a time to the inverter but I wanted to put this new unit to the test.  When we plugged the inverter in for the test, everything came on instantly and ran great.

I have no idea what caused the flickering with the first inverter.  I know for a fact that we weren’t overloading it.  For some reason it just had a hard time waking up each day.  The fist inverter was a 700 watt unit and the Xantrex inverter was a 1000 watt unit but that shouldn’t have made any difference when trying to power such light loads.  All I can chock this up to is quality.  The Xantrex unit must have been a higher quality unit.

So there you have it.  You can take it for what it’s worth.  The cheap store brand inverter worked fine after taking a few minutes to start up but it sure didn’t last very long.  We bought a power meter to find out how many watts we were asking it to power and it was never more than 400 .  We weren’t overloading it but it still to took a while to start up and it died after a few short months.

Incidentally, the Xantrex inverter functioned flawlessly but eventually killed over after one year.  We replaced it with a brand called Go Socket because that was what they carried at our local auto parts store.  It was more expensive than the Xantrex but it came with a two year warranty and the Xantrex only came with a six month warranty.  I think we paid around $200 for it.  This unit worked perfectly until one month before the warranty ran out.  Fortunately we saved the receipt and the store that we bought it from replaced it with no questions asked. We’re currently on our third year with the GS-1500 inverter.

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