# Why does the tv make my inverter trip?



## the-teuchters (Oct 5, 2010)

Morning all.....tv is 60watts, sky box is 30 watts, leisure battery brand new 105 amp hours, inverter is 600 watts yet still trips out....any ideas? Currently wild camping in France and desperate housewives is on tonight !


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## Ian_n_Suzy (Feb 15, 2009)

Hi,

Is the Invertor connected directly to the battery or to a cigarette lighter socket? 

If the latter, the wiring to the socket may be to small to handle the surge to the equipment.


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## peribro (Sep 6, 2009)

How long is the cable run to the battery and what size are the cables? Is there adequate ventilation around the inverter? Have you tried alternative appliances drawing a similar load to the TV and Skybox in order to try to identify whether the problem is an inverter / cabling one or something that is wrong with the tv or skybox?

ps you've posted this in the skiing forum. Hopefully a mod will move it to the electrical one


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## JockandRita (Jun 1, 2005)

Deleted due to wrong advice given on the subject.    

Cheers,

Jock.


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## erneboy (Feb 8, 2007)

What makes an inverter cut out? Overload, overheating or low battery voltage is all I can think of. From what you say in your case it's unlikely to be overload. If it happens right from the beginning then the inverter is unlikely to have had time to overheat. If your batteries are well charged and in good order then it's not likely to be low voltage. That leaves the wiring. Voltage drop due to the wiring somewhere being of inadequate size would be my bet, Alan.


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## geraldandannie (Jun 4, 2006)

My little inverter has a buzzer and an LED for 'Under Voltage". Although we have 2 X 110 AHr batteries, with little sun and too much telly, we had it complain recently when running the TV and charging the laptop at the same time. Mind you, it kept going - just with beeping and flashing its little light.

I know our problem is the little extension lead we have from the cigarette lighter socket in the TV cupboard to the 3-way socket adapter we have in the base of the cupboard. Rewire coming soon.

So, as others (especially Alan) say, probably cable size.

Gerald


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## clive1821 (Mar 27, 2010)

As a very rough guide, your 100 watts of equipment is taking about 10amps out of the battery, which if the battery was fully charged would last about 8.5 hours, and the recharging of your battery would have to be very good, i have 2 x 120 watt solar panels and they only give out a max of 2.5 amps this time of year in the uk so very quickley the battery would discharge, which could be an issue you have. Make sure the inverter is conected directley to the battery, and make very sure you are charging the battery full, which at 10amps an hour charge will take about 12 hours... if a battery is rated say 80 amp hour you will in practace only get about 65 amps as a rough guide..... thats my view..


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## CliveMott (Mar 10, 2008)

For the same reason some Laptops make the inverter trip. I am guessing that your inverter is a "Modified sine wave" type which produces square waves with gaps in it. Some switch modes power supplies don,t like these waveforms and will take instantaneous large currents from the inverter. So it switches off. Keep trying and the inverter will emit smoke. (Like one of mine did!)

If you have a "pure sine wave" inverter it should work OK.

C.


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## the-teuchters (Oct 5, 2010)

Thanks all, we think it was maybe charging the laptop to blame as some of you suggested. TV is working ok now.


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## clive1821 (Mar 27, 2010)

Yes I did forget to mention as the other Clive has mentioned only use pure sine wave inverters as switch mode power supplies don't like the modified inverters, and as most electrical equipment has switch mode power units in them its the best way to go.... mind you i have a 1.5KW inverter in my HM and never used it yet,  as all my equipment is 12 volt DC!!


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## peribro (Sep 6, 2009)

It's just that there is an enormous price difference between the two - my 1000W modified inverter cost about £220 whereas a pure sine wave model costs over £800. I guess I've been lucky but we have no problems with using our laptops, hairdryer, skybox, phone chargers and other small bits and pieces with it. The TV's are both 12v.


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## cater_racer (May 1, 2005)

I found one of these helps:

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=225405

Reduces the possibility of it tripping.

HTH


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## dikyenfo (Feb 16, 2008)

It is not a resistive load you are subjecting your inverter to it is a mixture of inductive and capacitive loading with resistive which can look for an instant or so as a hugely different load to that shown as a running consumption. However the wiring size increase [double thickness to presently in situ.] may help the situation. 
Please report back as these topics are of interest to many.


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## SpeedyDux (Jul 13, 2007)

You didn't say where your leisure battery sits. If it is in an unheated locker then very low temperatures may reduce its effective capacity as well. 

Charging a Laptop may take more amps than you realise. Inverters are inefficient. All these factors can have a cumulative effect and your DC supply voltage will soon drop. 


SD


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## jud (Aug 15, 2009)

the-teuchters said:


> Morning all.....tv is 60watts, sky box is 30 watts, leisure battery brand new 105 amp hours, inverter is 600 watts yet still trips out....any ideas? Currently wild camping in France and desperate housewives is on tonight !


 hi teuchters. we had the same thing and it was a duff second hand sky x box now in the bin. worked on hookup o.k but on inverter would swich off after 10 min. be lucky


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## the-teuchters (Oct 5, 2010)

Hi all, so far so good but will take on board cable size as well as lap top charging if it should crop up again.

Leisure battery onboard under drivers seat with a cable run of around 5m. Cable gauge unknown.


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