Power Inverter Recommendation

[tecciball]

Hello everyone.

 

The family is going on a trip, and I would like to set the kiddies up to use our small kitchen tv in the Pathy. Below is a link to the TV I want to use. The specs say power consumption is 50 watts. I will hook the TV to a portable DVD player, but I dont know the model. I am looking for a recommendation for a power inverter. Ideally, I would plug both devices in. If I need to, I can run the DVD player off its batteries.

 

In case it matters, I have the original alternator and a two-year-old Die Hard SUV battery.

 

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?...#Specifications

[88pathoffroad]

From experience with cheap small power inverters, I'd suggest going with a somewhat midrange price and power rating. 300 watts might sound like a lot, but running a TV and laptop at the same time will heat that puppy up something awful, which shortens the life of the inverter bit by bit. 500 watts is a nice round number. I couldn't recommend any brands in particular but I wasted a Coleman 400W inverter, a cheap off-brand (??) 300W inverter from Big Lots, and a buddy of mine cooked a 1200W Coleman inverter (but he was running big 1/2" chuck drills with it at work).

 

Now I have a PureSine 1000 with a data display face that gives you battery voltage, amp draw and whatnot. It's mainly used when camping to charge the laptop, run a light or various hand tools, angle grinders, blender, etc.

[LandShark]

Now I have a PureSine 1000 with a data display face that gives you battery voltage, amp draw and whatnot. It's mainly used when camping to charge the laptop, run a light or various hand tools, angle grinders, blender, etc.

 

 

Blender while camping, thats what I'm talking about.

[tecciball]

just to be sure i understand your response - if i buy a 300 - 500 watt unit, it will have enough power to run both a portable dvd player and a tv. i need one that uses the cigarette power source, as i wont have time to run a separate line to the battery. would this suffice? it appears to have two outlets for my two devices. i know walmart is probably not the best place to buy something like this, but the price is good... http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=4891079.

 

do i need to worry about draining my battery? the set up will be used primarily while driving, not parked.

[Simon]

You have to remember, that that 400w models are rated at MAX output, similar to stereo equipment. Therefore, they will run at peaks of 400w. This is similar for all inverters. I have a 1200w inverter, that I couldn't run a 900w coffee maker (yeah, they take that much, shocked me too) because it would trip out. I'd buy one with at least double the power consumption you're going to plug into it.