Thread: 240 Volt Converter

First off, they are better known as Inverters. They are available just about everywhere. 99% are made in China and cost accordingly.

You will have to ask yourself:

What you want to run off it.

How long you want to run it.

Is your battery going to handle the load.

What's your budget.

What's your panic level if it stops working.

You can pay between $50 and $5000 for an inverter, the cheapest will run an electronics toy plug pack charger, or a single light bulb, the most expensive one will run a small house.

Originally Posted by bee utey

First off, they are better known as Inverters. They are available just about everywhere. 99% are made in China and cost accordingly.

You will have to ask yourself:

What you want to run off it.

How long you want to run it.

Is your battery going to handle the load.

What's your budget.

What's your panic level if it stops working.

You can pay between $50 and $5000 for an inverter, the cheapest will run an electronics toy plug pack charger, or a single light bulb, the most expensive one will run a small house.

I would like to be able to use 240V kitchen appliances/ Phone chargers/ phillips beard shaver charger/ camera charger, Bread maker etc etc.
How do i know what size im looking for? Just one appliance at a time is fine!
I buy the best I can afford, so quuality is parramount. Don't want the $50 nor the $5000! The bread maker will be on for the longest at 3hrs max! How much do they drain the batts? Any other info or recomendations would be great.

We have a 300watt pure sine wave, runs the computer fine, Telly on the very odd occasion we use it, I think twice in the last five years, I don't think it will handle a bread maker though If you need a bread maker suggest you get the top of the range, or a generator will fit the bill, or just buy bread at the local bakery

Mrs hh

Have a look on the compliance plate on the breadmaker at the watts number. Thats what size inverter you need. Guess a bread maker would be about 600 watts from a quick google search.
600 watts will power a lot of individual appliances, except a kettle or a heating appliance, they wont be able to do that.
Best bet is to rationalise between a need and a want and buy one sized accordingly.
The other difference is a square wave inverter and a sine waver inverter, a sine wave puts out very good quality AC electricity, same as from the mains power.
Square wave is lumpy so can damage sensitive devices, from what ive looked into a voltage sensitive device is one that detects either 110V or 240V and runs accordingly. Can anyone else elaborate?

Hi,
our bread maker draws 600W (according to the label), but this would only be on the baking cycle, and I'm not sure how long that is (never timed it).

You would need not only to size your inverter for maximum current draw, but have your battery capable of providing the hours demanded for the current.

cheers

edit:



I have one of these, and I'm very happy with it.

Originally Posted by blue_mini

Have a look on the compliance plate on the breadmaker at the watts number. Thats what size inverter you need. Guess a bread maker would be about 600 watts from a quick google search.
600 watts will power a lot of individual appliances, except a kettle or a heating appliance, they wont be able to do that.
Best bet is to rationalise between a need and a want and buy one sized accordingly.
The other difference is a square wave inverter and a sine waver inverter, a sine wave puts out very good quality AC electricity, same as from the mains power.
Square wave is lumpy so can damage sensitive devices, from what ive looked into a voltage sensitive device is one that detects either 110V or 240V and runs accordingly. Can anyone else elaborate?

You are right, pure sine wave will not damage yet the cheeper ones will

Mrs hh

A bread maker, huh ? You might be over doing it a bit there, I think. Save that for a powered camping site methinks.

Before you go camping with an inverter, you will need a dual battery system to cope with the load, and allow the car to still start afterwards. See "drivesafe" on this forum. Then you need a realistic appreciation of how much you can draw out of the dual battery and how long it takes to recharge. That will depend on the size of battery in your dual battery system. Practically, running any appliance over about 150 watts shouldn't be done for more than say half an hour, or you'll drain the battery. Otherwise you'll have to keep the engine running!

An inverter of reasonable quality can be bought from any 4wd, camping or electronics store, eg Jaycar. Have it professionally installed at the same time as the dual battery system. High quality (Australian made) inverters are made by a company called "Selectronic" Selectronic Australia Pty Ltd contact them for a dealer in your area. I have one of their 400W inverters and it is excellent quality, although quite heavy compared to the Chinese made ones.

What about a cheap "900Watts" 2-stroke petrol generator ?
- Or an expensive 'Inverter' type 4-stroke HONDA

Seeing as you're camping, damper would be the authentic approach.

Whichever way you go, it will be a very expensive loaf of bread... It may even work out cheaper to take along a small freezer, store your gourmet breads from each foray into civilisation !

Or sell everything and go to France, where the bread is perfect and the price drops by the hour...