We're working on turning this $2000 van into a do-it-all machine that can tow a car to the track, then serve as a mobile workshop and hotel room for the weekend. Up next: adding electricity.
Electricity is pretty useful–that's why most houses have it, after all–but it's not particularly easy to find at the track or at the camping site. …
Is it a square wave inverter, or a sine wave?
You want a sine wave, some electronics, especially things like battery chargers for tools don't like square wave.
https://www.rpc.com.au/pdf/sine_&_square_wave_electricity.pdf
Being able to step out of bed and stroll through the paddock/camping area first thing in the morning on a two-day event with a hot cup of coffee in your hand is one of the most sublime pleasures of motorsport.
I see a "power level" gauge on the inverter. Does that have some way to shut itself down to preserve starting power in the battery just in case?
In reply to a_florida_man :
It's a square wave. Yes, a pure sine wave would be better, but we've used these cheap inverters for years without issue. It charges tool batteries just fine. At the end of the day, it was a great deal, which is why we chose it.
In reply to wae :
Agreed! It doesn't have an automatic shut-down, but we usually have the engine running while we're using it for big stuff, anyway.
I had thought about adding a 2nd battery under the passenger seat with an switch so it would not pull down the vans main battery ,
Does the inverter make any buzzing sounds ?
In reply to californiamilleghia :
Nope, the only noise is from the cooling fan, which runs under heavy loads.
Tom Suddard said:In reply to a_florida_man :
It's a square wave. Yes, a pure sine wave would be better, but we've used these cheap inverters for years without issue. It charges tool batteries just fine. At the end of the day, it was a great deal, which is why we chose it.
Cool. Glad to hear you were aware. Many folks aren’t. Love the van project.
May want to mount that lil guy right-side-up. For extended run time it a warm environment you may run into cooling issues having the heat sink upside down and buried in the floor. I know most car amps are unhappy mounted that way if run for a long time in a hot environment.
I do love a nice cup of coffee in the morning outdoors, definitely one of life's simple pleasures. I make mine on an old Coleman stove, so I can also make some eggs and bacon!
The heat sink is about 1/2" from the floor, and over the past two years it's been fine. I've even run my house off of it through a transfer switch!
Do you have 167 amp. input ? At least that is what you need for 2000 watts. How many watts does the coffee maker draw ? My Mr. Coffee doesn't say.
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