2011 Wrangler Power Inverter
#1
JK Enthusiast
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2011 Wrangler Power Inverter
Just bought a new Rubicon, comes in Monday. Was curious, it has a plug in for electronics, or whatever and I was curious as to what it could handle? I assume it will handle my motor for my air mattress but can it handle larger things like my 20 inch LCD TV? I know nothing about power and inverters ect so I was curious.
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JK Enthusiast
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Wattage isn't even your real issue with most inverters. Check it's amperage rating. Most cheapo inverters are anywhere from 5-10 amps max. Not enough to run a vacuum cleaner, but maybe a 20" lcd. Check the ratings of the inverter, then check your lcd. Remeber, most electronics draw more amperage on startup than when they are actually up and running.
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#9
You also have to check what it will run. Some inverters put out a waveform that will run a switching power supply but won't run motors and transformers. They are beginning to get better in quality though. Motors are really tough to start because of the inrush.
#10
JK Jedi Master
It's actually a bit more complicated than that, but an important consideration is that a power factor of around 0.7 is commonly used by engineers as a "WAG" for complex AC circuits (please don't go using that number--it can be anywhere from 0-1 in the real world). So, while the rudimentary calculation you propose would give a 120-watt value for a 10-amp draw on a 12-volt circuit (12-volts from the battery times 10-amps on the device label), that is not what's really needed. The actual power draw is 84-watts (the preceding times the 0.7 power factor).
Unfortunately power factor is not explicitly stated on devices. If you measure with a wattmeter and ammeter, you can calculate backwards into the power factor, but what's the point (since you already know the watts required from measuring it). Well, if you combine multiple devices with different power factors, it quickly becomes complex. But if you want to dive right into math with imaginary numbers (remember √-1=i, or j to electrical engineers?), you can calculate the expected, real power draw.
Bottom line: If you use the rudimentary calculation of power draw outlined by Dunemobbin, you'll have an inverter that's oversized for your needs. So, you should be fine, except you may have spent a little more money perhaps than was necessary.