Inverter in a van?

gregmcclain911 · Jul 27, 2006

Ok, I am about to hit the road in a cargo van - not sure when I am going to leave but I know I will be driving a cargo van. I drove a few years ago and loved in but I hated eating truckstop food all the time, fast food etc. I also missed some little frills of life, tv, etc.

So a big rigger told me to put an inventer in the van where I could put in a small frig and microwave. GREAT- but me stupid when it comes to electronics and truck stuff in general - my question is can this be done, can me and someone who knows a little vehicle maintenance do it and what should I watch out for when it comes to getting the right size of inverter, etc.

highway star · Jul 27, 2006

It can be done, just make sure you use heavy enough wire going to the battery. If the wire is too small it will overheat under heavy load.

MDB1 · Jul 28, 2006

If you want to run a microwave, even a small one, you should get at least a 3000 watt inverter. Then you will need to install an auxiliary battery of the deep cycle type. You don't want to be sucking the kind of amps that an inverter draws when powering a microwave from your vehicle battery. And finally, make sure the microwave you get will run on inverter power. Not all inverters are created equal. The cheap ones don't put out "clean" AC power. You want to get one that produces "sine wave" or "modified sine wave" power. And if you get the "modified" type you should test the microwave on it before you finalize the deal.

I have a "Xantrex" 3000 watt inverter and a GE 800 watt microwave and it works great. The little meter on the front of the inverter says it is drawing about 80 amps when the microwave is running; that translates to about 960 watts but; the startup surge is much greater than that which is why you need a larger inverter.

cheri1122 · Jul 31, 2006

greg: there is a wonderful site for learning about all the equipment & terminology, including the simple formula for converting amps to watts & vice versa. It's Inverters R Us, and though the name is not impressive, lol, the site is- it explains everything you need to know. I bought an inverter from them, after price shopping, and would recommend them to everyone.