On Wed, 13 Oct 2010 14:15:12 -0700, Stephen Trapani
wrote:

On 10/12/2010 3:30 PM, Rick Morel wrote:
On Tue, 12 Oct 2010 13:19:12 -0700, Stephen Trapani
wrote:

Keep the 1500 W inverter for your microwave and coffepot. The standby
current will probably exceed the TV's current.

What does that mean?

Standby, or idle current is the Amperage the inverter draws while not
powering anything but is turned on. Of course we all turn the inverter
off when not being used, but it pretty much is also added to whatever
it's powering.

I've seen 1500 W inverters that have a 2.5 Amp idle, and some as low
as 0.5 Amp. Another factor is the inverter is more efficient at about
half power or so.

This is not all that much of an issue for folks with larger house
banks and/or easy means to recharge.

So the questions are, what size and type boat? What Amp Hour house
batteries?

I have two 6v golf cart batteries as a house bank. 500 total amp hours?
I forget. H33. Primarily long weekends use. I just want to be able to
hang on the hook on weekends once in a while without shore power.

I think what you are saying is that if I get a second, smaller inverter
(which probably come pretty cheap nowadays) it will use far less amps to
power the TV and even have some to spare for a DVR. Have I got that right?

You can find a 12V TV, but they're a whole lot more $$$

Ah. So I probably can't just find a cheap one with a 12v power brick
(presumably I tear off the brick) as Wilbur suggests?

Stephen

It really depends on what you are powering. If only lights and TV then
certainly you should be able to get a couple of days use out of them.

The thing about inverters is that they aren't all equally as
efficient. Some require more power to create a specific amount of A.C.
than others, and usually the smaller, cheaper models are the less
efficient.

By the way, how big are these "6 v golf cart batteries" that give you
500 amp-hours? The usual 6 volt golf cart battery is the T-105 that is
rated at 225 amp-hours and wiring two in series to get 12 VDC results
in 225 amp-hours capacity. 4 wired series parallel gives 450
amp-hours.

Cheers,

Bruce
(bruceinbangkokatgmaildotcom)