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Power Inverter

5K views 6 replies 5 participants last post by  KeviNH 
#1 ·
So i mounted a power inverter today between the seats below the back window. I used a 5000W Cobra Inverter. I run a water pump to fill tank to water stuff. My issue is that I put a full cab on myself so it doesn't have heat. I tried to run a 1500 W (on HIGH) space heater and the inverter does not like it at all. Its not the inverter though, It's warning me that its pulling to much from battery. I run it on the low setting (750W) and no problems. I "thought" the alternator could handle it, but it seems to be draining battery more than alternator is charging it. I don't know much about this stuff. Is my alternator to small? Is my battery to small? I saw there is a dual battery kit now available. I even thought about just fabbing it up so I can actually house a few car batteries. Anybody have any experience with this? Thanks.
 
#2 ·
Dual Batteries

Dual batteries should work. Just make certian they are the same size and age. If you have one new and one old battery you will end up with two junk batteries. I had similar problems in my F250 plow truck. I had a condo complex with 76 driveways which required constant plow movement (up, down, left, right). It would run the battery down to 11 volts after 2.5 hours of plowing. I used two brand new optima red top batteries (six pack design). They can be mounted on their side or flat. With cables, the project ran me just under $500. It was money well spent.
 
#3 · (Edited)
I'm surprised you can draw 750W without problems

The alternator is 90A. At 12VDC, that gives a total of 1080 watts, some of which is used to run the engine, lights, dashboard, etc.

Personally, if I were looking for heat, I would start with the official heated seat kit, and then look at the aftermarket heater cores sold for Jeeps and such, the kind that tap into the radiator hose. The best ones have a 12VDC fan that just draws a few watts to move air, so no risk of a dead battery like running a resistive heater.
 
#4 ·
The alternator is 90A. At 12VDC, that gives a total of 1080 watts, some of which is used to run the engine, lights, dashboard, etc.

Personally, if I were looking for heat, I would start with the official heated seat kit, and then look at the aftermarket heater cores sold for Jeeps and such, the kind that tap into the radiator hose. The best ones have a 12VDC fan that just draws a few watts to move air, so no risk of a dead battery like running a resistive heater.
Agreed. The machine has plenty of heat energy available that can be captured and used in the cab. An electric heater is a pure energy waster and the setup you described will likely cause you more headaches than it's worth.
 
#5 ·
Appreciate the responses. Gonna go with a heater core for the heat. KevinH, you were right about the 750W, I ran it on that for a longer period of time. I didn't notice it because it just drained it slower. I would still like the power inverter though, so I am going to run a marine battery setup (NOT linked to brutus battery) like on my boat for my trolling motor. I won't use it frequently enough to run down the batteries and of course they recharge well.
 
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