Thread: 2000W Pure SW Inverter choices?

That's a shed load of inverter!

What you going to feed it with?

That's 166Amps at 12volts plus losses say 180 or so amps.
You had better use BIG cables and have a shedload of batteries.

Regards Philip A.

Gavin. What are you seriously wanting to use it on? Specifics

Originally Posted by Tombie

Gavin. What are you seriously wanting to use it on? Specifics

Hi folks and thanks for responses so far.

Uses include charging 18V hand tools in the car, and providing for SWAMBOS humongous coffee machine when off grid. Idea is for inverter to be portable between cars and caravan and usable for whatever comes up. (Not intended to be used for van A/C).
Car has welding cables (70?) for battery leads and between 2 and 4 batteries at any one time depending on circumstances, so I have and can move the power. Caravan also has multiple batteries.

So I don't need one quite so big?

18v tools - look at charger requirements and that should help - or most brands make an 18v vehicle charger..

Coffee machines are the challenge... an inverter providing enough will be very expensive - and you'd almost want a Lithium set up to keep it happy - otherwise you'll have no power left

There is an LPG coffee maker avail and likely 1/2 the price

For what it is worth, about seven weeks ago I purchased a 2kW inverter from Jaycar for emergency use after my power system at home was struck by lightning. It is a 24v one, but I suspect they make an equivalent 12v one. It cost over $1500, but has no issues.

Once you get over about 500w, the cost of inverters starts to get fairly high. And if you are on 12v, as mentioned, the primary current gets pretty high as well.

One factor often overlooked when considering inverters is efficiency. Most suppliers only quote a single number, but in fact the efficiency varies with the power being used, and you can bet the figure quoted is the highest. Since this will usually be at close to maximum power, it is usually not a good idea to get an inverter that is bigger than needed. Look for short term ratings - and these vary widely. For example, my inverters that got killed by lightning are rated at 2kW, but will operate at 6kW for five minutes and 4kW for 30 minutes. The Jaycar one, rated identically at 2kW, will operate at 4kW for five seconds - but it is a quarter the size and a quarter the weight.

From your posts, I would be thinking very carefully about the need for the coffee machine!

Or one of these.
The Little Guy Home Barista Kit Espresso System

Originally Posted by gavinwibrow

Hi folks and thanks for responses so far.

Uses include charging 18V hand tools in the car, and providing for SWAMBOS humongous coffee machine when off grid. Idea is for inverter to be portable between cars and caravan and usable for whatever comes up. (Not intended to be used for van A/C).
Car has welding cables (70?) for battery leads and between 2 and 4 batteries at any one time depending on circumstances, so I have and can move the power. Caravan also has multiple batteries.

So I don't need one quite so big?

Many thanks for replies to date.
Well, I've checked the single bay 240V charger for my Makita 18V batteries, and all it says is Primary 220-240V 65W and secondary 7.2- 18V = 2.6A.
So putting aside the coffee machine, what size inverter would I need for charging those batteries either with car running, or drawing from multiple car batteries as a starter please?