Inverters..?

SailMonkey · #1 (**permalink**) 02-19-2008

Electricity has always confused me in general. When I was in high school my father handed me his electric drill, showed me the wires he needed replaced and said "have at it". When I was finished he plugged it in, pulled the trigger and it started on fire. I'm a little better now, but not much.

I just want to plug in my 130W laptop, cell phone charger, and maybe some other little things occasionally.
What type of SINE WAVE...
The size (W) I should consider and why...
Also info on installation needs, like fuses, cables, etc...

Awaiting sage advice...

SailMonkey · #2 (**permalink**) 02-19-2008

Nevermind. Plenty of info already out there on SailNet. My Bad!

billyruffn · #3 (**permalink**) 02-19-2008

My solution to the issue you raised was to get a 12V charge source for the laptop -- I think you can get them for most models. I plug that into a cig. lighter type outlet near the nav station. For the other things you mention I use a small portable (4" x 5" x 1") (I think its a 100 watts??) inverter that I got at the local electronics store. I plug that into the same outlet and then charge the cell phone, electric razor, etc from that. I never worried about the wave form, because like you, I never really understood electrons. Ignorance is bliss..

xort · #4 (**permalink**) 02-19-2008

All inverters have some parasitic losses. Meaning they use power just in the conversion. so using 12 volt is more efficient if you have 12 volt appliances.