Thread: 12V - 240V power inverter

Originally Posted by Discovery-94

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Because I did actually plan on mounting it under the glovebox, was going to make a little shelf where I can store the laptop and have the inverter plus socket secured to it, but obviously don't want to get my passenger into trouble, should I re consider and rather have in the back somewhere?

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You have to be VERY careful where you mount things. Under the glovebox is a no-no, it is in an "impact zone". Think of car coming to a sudden stop... Where will your passengers knees / shins hit?

You could very well make your car un-roadworthy simply by where you mount things.

Always plan for worst case. If you roll your car several times, and I hope it never happens but..., what loose stuff will be flying around?

Make sure anything like inverters, batterys, even fire extinguishers are well secured, and wont do more damage so soft things, like people, if they come loose.


BTW - I just got a new travel adaptor for my work laptop. Was about $100 and will operate from 240v, 12v or aircraft, whatever that may be. Has a stack of different connections, and you just plug the appropriate adaptor in to the socket, and then into the transformer, and away you go. This was for a Dell, but you should be able to find them for most brands.

If an inverter was secured behind a trim or similar, how hard/safe would it be to make a outlet on the face of the trim (eg like a Prado has/caravans etc), maybe even with a switch?
would you need to be a qualified sparky?

I would suggest that if you are wiring up 240v, that you will need a qualified electrician to do the work.

Think worst case - if there was a fault in the wiring, and your rig was lost to fire, or worse, someone was injured, then not only are your insurance company going to have a field day on someone, and deny the claim. Then, there is the possibility of charges being filed by the relevant authority for faulty workmanship.

At least if you have a qualified sparky make the connections, you are covered in that regards should something go wrong.

IIRC, caravans that operate of 240v have to be wired by a licenced electrician, so there wouldnt be any difference here.

Don't worry too much about the 240V side of things, you don't have an electrical connection to earth (like the earth stake at home) so you won't get a shock to earth.
You can stick your finger in the Active pin of the socket and not get a shock.

As for fire, you will have more chance of the 12V side causing fire drawing 50+++ Amps, also, as above its electrically isolated so it won't short to the metal structure of the car anyway

you should never use a square wave to charge something with lithium or nickel batteries.. eg phones and laptops etc etc as they tend to screw the control electronics built in to the units.

been heaps of warnings put out about it over time.

modified sine wave if your tight, pure sine wave if you have the dosh.

the average laptop uses 95w at most generally speaking.. there are exceptions but not many.

a caravan is covered by "As3000 - Wiring Rules" as a 'home', but a car not directly. I'm fully capable of doing the wiring (stage lighting tech in a past life), but yeah, I'd probably get a sparky mate to sign off on it so to speak.

But you don't see any reason it couldn't/shouldn't be done like that??



(Justdrinkbeer - thankfully my fat little fingers won't fit in the socket anymore, but even so, I'd probably rather not try )

you could use a short (maybe VERY short) extension wire to do the same job...

or mount the inverter with the sockets showing through a cutout in the trim panel...