| Do you use your inverter often? |
| yes |
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46% |
[ 29 ] |
| no |
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24% |
[ 15 ] |
| sometimes |
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29% |
[ 18 ] |
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| Total Votes : 62 |
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| Author |
Message |
Timwhy
Samba Member
Joined: January 01, 2009
Posts: 4002
Location: Maine
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 Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2011 4:36 am Post subject: Inverter? Do you use it and for what? |
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When I bought my Westy one of the first things that I wanted to get for it was an inverter.
Thinking of all the stuff that I could power up would almost be endless. Turns out that
I hardly ever use it. I am glad that I have it though, just in case. What I have used it for
is to charge up my cell, laptop and that's about it. How many other have bought an inverter
to not use it often enough to justify it being in the van? As a side note, I thought about
how big an inverter to get? I see alot of folks here post they want an 1100 watt inverter.
That is really large compared to the smallish 300 watt that I put in.
Here's my little Cobra
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vanagonjr
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Joined: October 07, 2010
Posts: 3431
Location: Dartmouth, Mass.
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| Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2011 4:52 am Post subject: |
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Interesting point Tim.  I have an inverter and I hardly ever use it - more when I family tent camp to blow up an air bed. We do use it on trips to power up iPods and a lap top occasionally. For cell phones and lap-tops, my friend uses a small cigarette lighter inverter. (search Amazon)
It's small and adequate for that use. They now have them with USB as well. - and they don't have some fan running like my unit does
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rubbachicken
Samba Member
Joined: October 05, 2004
Posts: 3058
Location: socal
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| Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2011 6:16 am Post subject: |
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i have not used it yet, but i will
lap top
tooth brush charger
camera battery chargers
flash light battery charger
soldering iron 
dewalt drill charger
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GrindGarage
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Joined: October 14, 2008
Posts: 710
Location: Ocean City, NJ
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| Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2011 6:25 am Post subject: |
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I use mine to charge my laptop power small hand tools. I have a cheap monified sine wave 300w and my craftsman drill chrager disd not function correcy.
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91 Vanagon AUTO
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Honuak
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Joined: April 21, 2009
Posts: 521
Location: AK
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| Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2011 6:27 am Post subject: |
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| Coffee Grinder...gotta have whole beans. Blender. Girlfriend uses it for a curling iron. Once in awile I have used it in the plast for things like solder iron and battery charger for cordless tools. I dont use it all the time but I do use it. |
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DAIZEE
Samba Member
Joined: January 26, 2010
Posts: 7552
Location: Greater Toronto Area Ontario West Side
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| Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2011 6:31 am Post subject: |
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I too use a small cigarette plug in type for recharging. I have one for each battery set up. Better to have it than not. I thought about a higher wattage but decided against it.
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teej
Samba Member
Joined: November 26, 2010
Posts: 897
Location: Seattle
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| Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2011 6:33 am Post subject: |
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Little 300w inverter, pure sine wave. Charge cordless tool batteries, and other stuff while underway or the solar is producing. Big enough to power a laptop although we have not used it for that yet. Nice to have aboard.
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JeffRobenolt
Samba Member
Joined: February 25, 2007
Posts: 1513
Location: Wisconsin
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| Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2011 6:50 am Post subject: |
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Same here, so excited to put it in and barely ever use it.
I do use my on board battery maintainer/6 amp charger though.
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dobryan
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Joined: March 24, 2006
Posts: 16505
Location: Brookeville, MD
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danfromsyr
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Joined: March 01, 2004
Posts: 15144
Location: Syracuse, NY
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| Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2011 7:11 am Post subject: |
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My area light of course.. and charging batteries and laptops
though I have a couple 100-150watt units & 1 700watt unit
http://www.toolsnob.com/archives/2007/10/husky_84watt_portable_tripod_f_1.php
| Quote: |
Husky 84-Watt Portable Tripod Fluorescent Work Light - Review
Husky has just released a new tripod work light and they were nice enough to let us try out. It's an interesting design, and one we've never seen before.
The light comes folded up, looking sort of like a camera tripod with a very large central shaft. At the end of the shaft is a small light. Once the legs of the tripod are set up, the shaft stands upright with the light on top. When you plug in the light (which is made easy by a nice 12' cord), the light on the top lights up (it's blue). Now, here's where it gets interesting. At this point, you find a little locking tab that you press and once that's done, you can now grab the little blue light and pull the main light out of the central shaft, where it's been nicely protected. Once the light slides up to as high as it will go, it locks into place and automatically turns on. This, we weren't ready for.
To say that this light is bright is an understatement. To say that it is approximately three times brighter than the sun is probably more like it. We've stared at welding arcs that weren't as bright as this light. In fact as soon as we turned it on, every moth in a three town radius was immediately drawn to it and died of sheer pleasure upon seeing it. There is no doubt that this light will indeed light up a room.
With this light, there will be no more fussing with multiple work lights; looking for a place to clamp them, moving them each time your work takes you to a different part of the room. Now, you can just plant this puppy dead center in the room and the entire space will be brighter than if the noon sun was coming through the skylights.
The light does need a lot of room to operate. Sitting on the tripod, with the bulb extended, it stands 5' 4" high, making it difficult to use in cramped spots like crawl spaces. Although you could fold up the tripod and go in with what essentially looks like a shoulder mounted light cannon, that's pretty impractical. But that's sort of the point; small work lights are designed for crawl spaces, but not large rooms. Finally, here is one that is designed for illuminating an entire room (think something the size of St. Peter's Cathedral).
We set it up in the yard and if you check out the photo (click to enlarge), you'll see a tree with a chain hanging off of it. That tree is about 30' away from the light. Even though the pictures do little justice to how bright this light is in person, you should be able to get a sense of what this light is capable of (i.e. extending our horseshoe playing well into the evenings)
The Husky Fluorescent Work Light comes with a shoulder strap for easy portability and one set of bulbs. The whole deal costs about $60 and is available exclusively at Home Depot. Sure, it's a lot more than your standard work light, but this is no standard work light. If you're in a situation where you think you might need it, you probably do and it will be worth it.
One more thing worth noting: operating this light, you feel like someone out of a science fiction movie disarming some sort of pulse beam of mass destruction; sliding cylinders, things locking into place, strange blue lights emanating from the top of the device. It's all very satisfying to your inner nerd.
At Home Depot
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joetiger 
Samba Member
Joined: January 27, 2005
Posts: 5078
Location: denver
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| Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2011 7:18 am Post subject: |
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I don't use it nearly as much as I thought I would, but it does fine charging our 2-way radios.
I did plug a 32-inch flatscreen into it a few weeks ago to test it out for a football game tailgate and it worked fine. I've also used it for Christmas lights.
ETA: It also looks cool 
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indytriple
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Joined: April 27, 2009
Posts: 710
Location: Brownsburg, Indiana
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| Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2011 7:25 am Post subject: |
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I have a small cigarette lighter inverter like this:
I use it to charge my cell phone, iPod, laptop and occasionally my high-power mountain biking lights. I just keep it in the glove box when I'm not using it. I've never had the need to install a full-blown, hard-wired inverter. This one does the trick.
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Perales
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Joined: May 07, 2007
Posts: 2046
Location: Nova Scotia
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| Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2011 7:56 am Post subject: |
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I use one to power my telescope, but not from my Westy battery, I use a portable power supply. My telescope requires 110 VAC (1980s vintage) and my portable 12V power supply does not have a built in inverter. I could be much more efficient with newer equipment, but that's not going to happen any time soon.
A Westy is the perfect astronomy vehicle
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rubbachicken
Samba Member
Joined: October 05, 2004
Posts: 3058
Location: socal
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| Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2011 8:00 am Post subject: |
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i wouldn't go for a big number inverter
the bigger they are the more current they draw, even if you are using less than the inverter is rated for, i have a 400w inverter, and for what we need it's too big i think
but it was half the price of a 200w of the same model ? advanced auto parts were having a sale
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lucy our westy
lucy's BIG adventure
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markswagen {mobile mechanic} san diego area all early VW's cared for.
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silversync
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Joined: September 01, 2005
Posts: 185
Location: San Pasqual Valley, CA
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| Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2011 8:34 am Post subject: |
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Cell phone and laptop charging.
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SCM
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Joined: January 26, 2011
Posts: 3118
Location: Bozeman MT
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| Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2011 8:52 am Post subject: |
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I'm glad I saw this thread. Inverters seem like something everybody eventually installs. It was on my list for a while but I don't think I'd ever use it.
I don't take a laptop on camping trips and my phone and Ipod charge directly from the cig lighter socket. Wife doesn't curl or blowdry her hair on road trips and neither of us use electric toothbrushes.
If I tailgated I could probably make use of an inverter though. But alas, I don't.
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Ahwahnee
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Joined: June 05, 2010
Posts: 9810
Location: Mt Lemmon, AZ
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| Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2011 9:00 am Post subject: |
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Mostly just charging & to have an option if something somes up. The way we travel, no big screen TV, no hair dryers, no lights.
Just a small one...
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dhaavers
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Joined: March 19, 2010
Posts: 7757
Location: NE MN (tinyurl.com/dhaaverslocation)
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| Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2011 9:29 am Post subject: |
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Tiny li'l <edit: cause I forgot> 80/200 watt - just for phones, ipods & camera batteries.
Stores in glove box. Cigarette plug - only comes out as needed. Also has USB jack.
A'la Harbor Freight:
Close as we get to being Amish (which we're not) but our camping
style is a conscious, if half-hearted attempt at restraint...
"Simplify"
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<EDITED TO PROTECT INNOCENT PIXELS>
Last edited by dhaavers on Fri Nov 11, 2011 9:53 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Jedi
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Joined: October 23, 2007
Posts: 734
Location: Cool California
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| Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2011 9:34 am Post subject: |
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I use it to power my vaporizer and charging of electronic devices.
http://www.storz-bickel.com/volcano-vaporizer/
  
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climberjohn
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Joined: January 11, 2005
Posts: 1840
Location: Portland Orygun
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| Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2011 9:38 am Post subject: |
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| indytriple wrote: |
I have a small cigarette lighter inverter like this:
I use it to charge my cell phone, iPod, laptop and occasionally my high-power mountain biking lights. I just keep it in the glove box when I'm not using it. I've never had the need to install a full-blown, hard-wired inverter. This one does the trick. |
Indy,
That's a slick little unit, thanks for posting it.
-CJ
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). Laptop, occasional tools, etc. I wouldn't want to be without it. 
