Selecting Inveters

[Undadar]

Originally Posted by mitiempo

The most efficient way to power a laptop is by using a laptop car adaptor, not an inverter.

Brian makes an excellent point. Each time we "convert" electrical energy from AC to DC or vice-versa we lose approximately 15% of the power. If you are on a tight power budget, this can make a huge difference.

It's also worth noting that many of the electrical devices (particularly electronics) that we use each day actually run on DC voltage even though we plug them into an AC socket. With the right adapter (sometimes not easy to find) many of these devices will run normally from our ships battery bank.

[celenoglu]

An inverter connected to output sockets here and there on a boat is not a good idea. Your wife or some other visitors would like to use them as the sockets in a house. This means hair dryers, vacuum cleaners, coffe machines,electric heaters etc. The demand will be much higher than anticipated. This means an immediate depletion of batteries or worst loss of the inverter. Try to keep your electrical needs to a minimum and use 12V whereever possible.