Power Inverter

[tom4bren]

I just bought a 3500 Watt power inverter. It's model number PW3500-12 from PowerBright.

My question:

Can I tie the 4 outputs together to get the full 3KW on a single line?

I'm gonna contact the mfr but thought someone here might know.

[tom4bren]

Never mind. The manufacturer indicates that it can't be done. Even tho the unit is rated for 3500 Watts, I can only draw up to 15 Amps from any of the 4 outlets (not to exceed 29.2 total). I think it'll still work for my application. I prolly coulda saved some ching tho & got an 1800 with a single output.

Working the math: If I'm drawing 15A from the output of the inverter, it's drawing 168 Amps from the battery - that's sobering.

[newthings]

I hope you are feeding the monster with BIG wire.
Roy

[tom4bren]

Came wit ... but too short. I'll get the biggest mo fo wire available.

[mdwyer]

Never mind. The manufacturer indicates that it can't be done. Even tho the unit is rated for 3500 Watts, I can only draw up to 15 Amps from any of the 4 outlets (not to exceed 29.2 total). I think it'll still work for my application. I prolly coulda saved some ching tho & got an 1800 with a single output.

Working the math: If I'm drawing 15A from the output of the inverter, it's drawing 168 Amps from the battery - that's sobering.

I wonder if it swings the phase between the two lines. If it does, you might be able to wire them together and get 220 out of it. Can I ask what you're doing? Guerilla drive-in movies? You might also consider a beefier alternator and/or a second battery...

[chaz255]

I know you guys don't know me that well yet, but let me send a word of caution, I would follow the word of the manufacturer for good reason.
one of many things may or could happened, first could toast the electrical system, or toast the battery, or the inverter(big bucks wasted), if memory serves me right it only takes 0.8amps to kill a person..
for whatever your doing I would look into a welder power unit for cars, they use a special alt,and inverter for high power output there was a unit out there at one time that had outlets on the control box with 30 amp fuses-can't remember the brand right off..
had the setup about 15yrs ago on one of my rigs I could plug pretty much anything in to it---and it welded too...

[tom4bren]

We bought an RV. I just want to have access to 110 whilst driving (without firing up the generator).

Why is that important to me you ask?

Simple - we rented an RV a while back & the ciggy lighter jacks were both busted. I had to run the gen the whole time we were driving just to keep the GPS powered (internal battery is old & tired). Thank goodness that they didn't charge by the hour on usage (most rental places do).

Why such a large Power Inverter? I may want to run the Central Air Conditioner while driving. I have it hooked up to a 15A circuit at the house now & can run the AC without tripping the breaker as long as I don't turn on the water heater too.

If I had done my research before purchase, I'd prolly just have gotten a 2K unit with 2 outputs instead of the 3.5K with 4.

Anybody know what type of devices don't like MSW power. The only caution in the book was for high voltage DC power supplies. 'lectric motors are supposed to be fine.

BTW, all 4 outputs are the same phase so no option for a center tap 220V setup. You have to get an inverter intentionally designed for that.

Thanks for the help guys. I'll let you know how it turns out (not this weekend but the next - wanna get it done before I head to Tennessee in it on 14 Aug).

[tom4bren]

I didn't get the power inverter installed before the trip to TN. I did test it out this weekend tho.

The inverter will power the AC but it doesn't like to at idle. I'll go ahead and finish the install & just wait till I'm on the road to turn on the Central AC unit. As a safety measure, I think I'll put in a dash mounted volt meter on both the DC and AC sides of the inverter. It has a power/volt display on the inverter but that's not much help while driving.