# inverters



## iandsm (May 18, 2007)

Thinking of fitting an inverter, I have 2 x 110 batteries which are easily kept topped up by my solar panel but I need to charge my mobile and run my laptop when parked up without EHU. I think 500/600 should be fine but wondered if anyone had any recommendation on makes or suppliers.


----------



## Wizzo (Dec 3, 2007)

I just wonder why you are considering buying an inverter when both items could be run off your 12v. You will probably need to seek out a converter for the laptop to the same spec as your 230v supply module but I would have thought one should be readily available.

JohnW


----------



## ched999uk (Jan 31, 2011)

Inverters aren't very efficient, about 80%. If its just for the laptop and mobile as Wizzo said just get 12v chargers for laptop and phone.

You can get universal phone chargers that plug into the cigarette lighter sockets on ebay for about £5.

Some laptops are funny about not using 'true sine wave' inverters. The true sine wave inverters are more expensive.


----------



## iandsm (May 18, 2007)

Thanks for the replies, I am not familiar with 12 volt converters, is that another name for an inverter or is it a different device. I don't have a 12 volt socket which is live without the engine running whic is why I thought about an inverter might be the answer.


----------



## clive1821 (Mar 27, 2010)

Yes the pure sine wave inverters are the way to go as switch mode power supplies are not happy with quasi sine wave inverters.... this is the quasi you could look at 
http://www.outdoorbits.com/sterling-350w-pro-power-quasi-sine-wave-inverter-p-136.html

But I just prefer to go for the pure sine wave units with all the switch mode power units i have .... hope that helps....


----------



## Spacerunner (Mar 18, 2006)

Maplins do good universal laptop chargers,

Also available are cigarette lighter plugs with USB sockets in them for charging mobiles and other gadgets. Juist plug in when driving. A 12 volt multi socket will give you more outlets.

Also cheap as chips 150 watt inverter from stores such as Aldi or Lidl will charge mains appliances including mobiles, elec razors and toothbrushes.

But......you will still need a live 12 volt outlet when on site!


----------



## marke (Oct 17, 2007)

Hi ian, i have a brand new boxed never used 600 wat inverter with battery terminals on the end 1500 watt surge. will do exactly what you want. £ 40 delivered. 

pm me your email address and ill sent you some photos. mark


----------



## ched999uk (Jan 31, 2011)

iandsm said:


> Thanks for the replies, I am not familiar with 12 volt converters, is that another name for an inverter or is it a different device. I don't have a 12 volt socket which is live without the engine running whic is why I thought about an inverter might be the answer.


I am very surprised that you don't have any 12v sockets within your motorhome. They may not be cigarette lighter type. They may be din (about 10mm diameter) or 2 flat pins. 
The 12v converters are to convert the 12vdc from your leisure battery to the voltage required to charge your mobile or laptop.

See here for examples ( I dont know what mobile or laptop you have) 
ebay - Maplin universal mobile phone charger
Cigarette Lighter laptop charger

Hope the above gives you an idea.


----------



## iandsm (May 18, 2007)

*Inverter*

Thanks Chedd.. I have a French (Rapido) it does have a 12 volt socket at the kitchen end end but it's' French so the standard UK plug is too large so that's why I dismiss using it.

If I go the inverter route I can run a cable from it to a double 3 pin socket under the table which will be convenient for plugging in the laptop and phone charger at the same time.


----------



## Phil-E (Jan 16, 2011)

I have been looking at all the inverter threads and I am confused. People seem to mention using the inverter for charging the laptop but not for actually running it, ie plugged into the inverter whilst in use. Is there a reason for this?

Thanks,

Phil.


----------



## iandsm (May 18, 2007)

*inverter*

Hi Phil, for me it's the same thing, running it it charging it, it's plugged into the mains or inverter power all the same.


----------



## OwnedbyCollies (Dec 7, 2009)

We have a 150 watt inverter from Lidl/Aldi (I think it was 14.99) and it runs the Sky box, phone chargers, laptop chargers and camera chargers - although not all at the same time!!! 8O 

We have a Burstner and have smaller euro 12v sockets but have a selection of adapters - single and twin, available from all camping accessory shops.


----------



## Phil-E (Jan 16, 2011)

*Re: inverter*



iandsm said:


> Hi Phil, for me it's the same thing, running it it charging it, it's plugged into the mains or inverter power all the same.


Thanks. I wondered if it was only safe to charge the laptop when it is switched off and not running in case there was a surge or some other safety issue. Next purchase I think, it is never ending, always something else to add to the 'Need' list.


----------



## clive1821 (Mar 27, 2010)

Yes most vans do have the DIN plug/socket ie not UK makes, mine for example has 3 DIN sockets and the plugs can easly be got from ebay etc....

Now why people try not to use inverters to power one's PC and mentioned is realy because the the current the inverter would use....

just as a rule of thumb.... you have 2 x 110AH batteries with a usible capacity of say around 160Amps.... and you are using the inverter powering a divice say taking 100Watts at 240volts at 12 volts you would be useing around 10Amps giving you 18hours max use out of the batteries, yes the solar pannel will eventualy recharge the battery over say 2 days.... so its a quick charge and thus saveing the vital battery life... for say the lighting, powering the water pump, the tv the receiver, the heating etc soon your batteries will die... so its battery management... in my case I have about 300 amps usible and it lasts me around a day and a half.... well all my equipment hanging on the end of the poor old batteries...


----------



## sparky20006 (Apr 18, 2011)

Hi
I bought a plain old £50 no frills 500 watt inverter that clips onto one of the leisure batteries. When I want it to it runs the tv and my laptop and charges the phones as well.
I had a narrowboat for years and everyone in the marina all used to go on for ever and a day about sine waves / 2 kw or 3 kw/ wired in or clipped/control panels etc etc BUT
.....the 50 quid bit of kit I've currently got in the mh does exactly what I want it to do and if it ever goes wrong for £50 I'll just replace it. 

Ironically the £2000 inverter set up I had in my boat was always being a pain in the *rse and came with a 300 page manual in 3 languages! 

Sometimes simple is best. :wink: 

All the best.

Paul

_______________________________________________

God sleeps in the minerals, awakens in plants, walks in animals, and thinks in man.


----------



## HeatherChloe (Oct 18, 2009)

*Re: Inverter*



iandsm said:


> I have a French (Rapido) it does have a 12 volt socket at the kitchen end end but it's' French so the standard UK plug is too large so that's why I dismiss using it.


My Adria is the same - I have two 12 volt sockets but European size. One of them I use for the TV, as it has a European socket, but the other is just not usable.


----------



## Techno100 (May 8, 2010)

I'm using one of these but the 12 volt version. I thought it was 350 watts but no this is the one
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Skytronic-300...Accessories&hash=item4cf6f99084#ht_1110wt_901
I feed my sat receiver and 22" LED tv through it.
I paid less than £30 last year and they still come up for this amount
I've not encountered anything that has a problem including my netbook charger. 
Pure sinewave is a waste of money IMHO


----------



## SilverFox13 (Nov 20, 2007)

I recently replaced my 'cheap & cheerful' quasi sine wave inverter with a pure sine wave one after the quasi trashed my toothbrush charger (which is a common issue). 

The other problem was that one of our laptop power supplies (Dell) became very, very hot and buzzed while charging and would be an expensive item to replace.


----------



## JeanLuc (Jan 13, 2007)

*Re: Inverter*



HeatherChloe said:


> My Adria is the same - I have two 12 volt sockets but European size. One of them I use for the TV, as it has a European socket, but the other is just not usable.


What you need is either a Cigarette lighter plug to Din converter, or a Din plug that you can wire onto the device you want to use. Procar make them (as do other manufacturers). Have a look at the web pages below and you will see both the adapter plug, and the re-wirable plugs. The latter come with a removable red sleeve that fits over the end so they can be used for either size of socket. If you need advice about fuse ratings, or anything else electrical for that matter, the guys at Roadpro are very helpful. Otherwise you can buy these plugs from places like Maplins or Ebay sellers.

<< RoadPro Plugs >>

<< RoadPro Adapters >>


----------



## Addie (Aug 5, 2008)

*Re: Inverter*



iandsm said:


> If I go the inverter route I can run a cable from it to a double 3 pin socket under the table which will be convenient for plugging in the laptop and phone charger at the same time.


There is little point getting an inverter to power a laptop charger 12v > 240v> 19v is a very inefficient use of power.

We have 12v laptop charges and recently bought this type which is an all in one with no fiddly tips or voltage selection to worry about:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/170577772329

It's been on (powering our dashboard mounted GPS/Laptop) about 60 days for 12 hours a day.


----------



## iandsm (May 18, 2007)

*Re: Inverter*



Addie said:


> iandsm said:
> 
> 
> > If I go the inverter route I can run a cable from it to a double 3 pin socket under the table which will be convenient for plugging in the laptop and phone charger at the same time.
> ...


Thanks for that. It looks a decent piece of kit presumably you use it with your engine running?


----------



## Addie (Aug 5, 2008)

*Re: Inverter*



iandsm said:


> Thanks for that. It looks a decent piece of kit presumably you use it with your engine running?


With and without.

We have one hard wired to the battery, it is actually on 24/7 however we only have the laptop on the dock for about 12 hours a day.

We have another to power the Dell laptop in the back and another to charge/run Sophie's laptop.

We have 2x 86AH batteries (narrow locker) and we've not yet managed to run them down either using my Dell for 12 hours powered off the adapter (the built in battery is poor) or charging the Asus laptop 2x (has a 7 hour battery).

However, when I used the 300w inverter to power my laptop before we left I could only manage 5 hours before the battery low warning light came on.


----------



## iandsm (May 18, 2007)

*Inverter*



marke said:


> Hi ian, i have a brand new boxed never used 600 wat inverter with battery terminals on the end 1500 watt surge. will do exactly what you want. £ 40 delivered.
> 
> pm me your email address and ill sent you some photos. mark


Hello Mark, i did send a pm but nothing heard, do you still have your inverter?? ian


----------



## geraldandannie (Jun 4, 2006)

I think the inverter / converter issue is going to become "one of those", with two differing sides to the discussion. I know 12V -> 240V -> 19V is inefficient, but it makes very little difference to us. We have a big solar panel on the roof which recharges our two leisure batteries, so the inefficiencies don't matter to us.

We charge laptops, cameras, iPods, shavers, Kindles, all using the standard provided chargers, using a cheap 300W inverter bought from a show for £40. Before that, we used a cheap 150W inverter bought off Ebay, and we only moved up to the 300W unit because the smaller one wouldn't charge my new Macbook.

We've used these two cheap inverters for 5 years now, without any problems.

Gerald


----------



## Glandwr (Jun 12, 2006)

Not suitable for a laptop but most other small devices MP3 players, phones, cameras, tablets etc. come with an USB cable these days that will charge them. You can get a cigar lighter for less than a couple of quid with an USB output <see here>. Serves the lot for us except for laptop. Bought a car charger for that at about I think £15.

Do have a 350w Inverter but try not to use it as it's tucked away and I had a habit of leaving it on 

Just thought that Steve Job's "I" products probably don't supply USB cables. You might have to buy an adapters from Apple 

Dick


----------



## HeatherChloe (Oct 18, 2009)

Glandwr said:


> Just thought that Steve Job's "I" products probably don't supply USB cables. You might have to buy an adapters from Apple
> 
> Dick


I bought a cigarette lighter charger for my ipod in the Apple store.

I also bought a cigarette lighter charger for my mobile phone at Maplins.

But I don't have a cigarette lighter charge for my laptop yet - will look in Maplins to see if they have one.


----------



## mikebeaches (Oct 18, 2008)

Tried to charge the Asus netbook with our cheap-and-cheerful 300-watt inverter (modified sine wave) for the first time last week. It didn't work  

Like the idea of a direct 12 volt converter, so will get one of those now.


----------



## CasaMia (Feb 19, 2011)

ched999uk said:


> iandsm said:
> 
> 
> > Thanks for the replies, I am not familiar with 12 volt converters, is that another name for an inverter or is it a different device. I don't have a 12 volt socket which is live without the engine running whic is why I thought about an inverter might be the answer.
> ...


Hi started reading this thread about inverters, panicking thinking i need one but after reading your helpful post I have just bought a 12v car charge power supply for my macbook from Ebay for just £11.86 awesome! I am new to the Motor home way of life, will be moving into our newly purchased 2001 Hymer on Wednesday night for the first time & i was a bit worried about how I was going to keep my laptop charged up as I use it for everything, reading books, watching movies, playing music etc. So thanks for the info


----------



## iandsm (May 18, 2007)

*Inverter*

Well I have dome it. I fitted a 1000 watt Sealey inverter with a connection to the batteries via a fuse and a battery isolation switch so that when not in use there is no battery connection.

I have read that the inverter needs an earth connection to the chasis but I have my doubts on the merits of this since the neg battery terminal is, in effect, the earth and the majority of inverters do not have a facility for an earth connection (Mine does)

Does anyone have and views please?


----------



## tony50 (Oct 16, 2007)

*Re: Inverter*



iandsm said:


> Thanks Chedd.. I have a French (Rapido) it does have a 12 volt socket at the kitchen end end but it's' French so the standard UK plug is too large so that's why I dismiss using it.
> 
> If I go the inverter route I can run a cable from it to a double 3 pin socket under the table which will be convenient for plugging in the laptop and phone charger at the same time.


I had a 2 Rapido's and there was a little 12 volt end that fitted on the French plug that converted it to UK size , otherwise have a word with Wokingham Motor Homes in Wokingham you will find them helpful .

Tony50


----------



## val33 (Jun 29, 2008)

For those with no 12v sockets, or only the continental sockets.

Replacement UK style sockets for the standard van fitment are made by CBE and available on eBay (12v Socket)

I have also fitted several 12v outlets around our van. By the table, next to each seat, side of the bed etc. Something like this. All wired to the leisure battery via a fuse.

We also have an inverter, but try to use 12v where ever possible.

Sorry, no idea about earthing an inverter, my thoughts are the same as yours, ie why?

Val


----------



## Pudsey_Bear (Sep 25, 2008)

iandsm said:


> Thinking of fitting an inverter, I have 2 x 110 batteries which are easily kept topped up by my solar panel but I need to charge my mobile and run my laptop when parked up without EHU. I think 500/600 should be fine but wondered if anyone had any recommendation on makes or suppliers.


Save your money, just get a little ciggy lighter one, more than enough, we ran our TV off one for over a year, silverline do a few good ones, see pic, by online.


----------



## Pudsey_Bear (Sep 25, 2008)

val33 said:


> For those with no 12v sockets, or only the continental sockets.
> 
> Replacement UK style sockets for the standard van fitment are made by CBE and available on eBay (12v Socket)
> 
> ...


The why is, it won't work unless it's connected to the earth terminal of the battery. :roll: :roll:


----------



## val33 (Jun 29, 2008)

Kev_n_Liz said:


> The why is, it won't work unless it's connected to the earth terminal of the battery. :roll: :roll:


I think you did not read the question?

His inverter has + and - connections to the leisure battery but also has an EARTH POST that the instructions say should be linked to the chassis of the vehicle.

The terms EARTH and NEGATIVE (or NEUTRAL) are quite different in electrickery 

Val


----------



## spatz1 (May 19, 2011)

Amazing value these...16 euro from LYDL in greece the other week and i wipped one in the trolly .

http://screencast.com/t/S8swC38ImmeL

Runs a 16 inch tv/dvd (with no interferance) , charges 2 phones, and a heavy duty laptop battery while in use all at the same time and it doesnt get warm enough to initiate the fan..... well made and looks nice too .


----------



## Pudsey_Bear (Sep 25, 2008)

val33 said:


> Kev_n_Liz said:
> 
> 
> > The why is, it won't work unless it's connected to the earth terminal of the battery. :roll: :roll:
> ...


Ah but I did Val, I responded to the original question with a suggestion, the next response was to why an earth, at the top of this page, I didn't even see the intervening pages, so Although I'm right, I'm also wrong :wink: :wink: but you are of course 100% correct, and I'll add my Why too, although I assume it's to with earthing whatever is plugged into the mains side to the chassis of the vehicle.


----------

