Inverter? | GTAMotorcycle.com

Inverter?

N

nobbie48

Well-known member
Site Supporter
I assume it is a 1000 watt 12V DC to 120 VAC inverter.

CarGenerator

CarGenerator
www.cargenerator.com www.cargenerator.com

Problem 1, run it inside and die.

Problem 2 run it outside and have your car stolen.

I was under the impression that although an alternator could put out it's rating for a while it was hard on it.
 
In your dreams you're going to get that kind of power out of an idling car alternator, not in the real world.
 
nobbie48 said:
I assume it is a 1000 watt 12V DC to 120 VAC inverter.

CarGenerator

CarGenerator
www.cargenerator.com www.cargenerator.com

Problem 1, run it inside and die.

Problem 2 run it outside and have your car stolen.

I was under the impression that although an alternator could put out it's rating for a while it was hard on it.
Click to expand...
Most vehicles can't generate full power at idle. They are also horrendously inefficient if you look at gas consumed vs electricity produced (most fuel overcomes engine losses). I also doubt the vast majority can put out 1 kW at any engine speed. Just buy an EU1000 for the same money and have a small, light, quiet, fuel efficient 1KW generator instead of a stupid invertor and all the associated problems.

I recoded my car so I can lock it while running so security wouldn't be horrendous. If you smashed the window, you probably have full control and can steal the car. If you really planned on doing this, I would probably be putting exhaust ports in the garage and piping the exhaust out and ideally flipping on an intake fan. Definitely CO sensors in garage and house. Still a much worse solution all around than a generator.

EDIT:
As for the claimed 50 to 80 hours of runtime, that is highly unlikely. Most idling vehicles burn 1 to 2 litres per hour. If the alternator is heavily loaded they will burn more. I would be very surprised if you got more than 40 hours. At that point, you would be in a power outage with a vehicle with a dead battery and no gas (and it has been run out so it won't be happy starting again). Sounds like the ideal situation :/
 
Last edited:
Think you boys are missing the technology, its a 1000w inverter, its not your car alternator producing 1000W , your car is running to keep your battery charging and your taking the 12v , running it through this inverter to produce 1000w.
A lot of vehicles have 1000w inverters built in , some pickups have 3000w now. Its a very inefficient way to make electric power unless you need it at a remote job site.
 
crankcall said:
Think you boys are missing the technology, its a 1000w inverter, its not your car alternator producing 1000W , your car is running to keep your battery charging and your taking the 12v , running it through this inverter to produce 1000w.
A lot of vehicles have 1000w inverters built in , some pickups have 3000w now. Its a very inefficient way to make electric power unless you need it at a remote job site.
Click to expand...
Yes, but if you are relying on the inverter to give you 1000 watts continuously and your alternator is putting out 300 watts continuously, it isn't going to work for an extended period of time (probably <10 hours).
 
The website lost me here:

Less Gas​

Surprise! Running a compact sedan at idle uses less gasoline than running a generator. Honda 1000watt generator .19 gal/hr, compact sedan 2 litre engine .16 gal/hr Source: energy.gov
Click to expand...
I am 99% positive that figure is comparing the generator running @ 100% load, and the car literally just idling. Guess what! Once you apply a load to the alternator, your car is not idling any more! There is no frelling way this is more fuel efficient than using an EU1000i
 
This is your car that has the headlights automatically turn on any time you turn the key and uses an electric powered fuel pump plus likely an electrically powered cooling fan all running off the same alternator :unsure:

Video shows them powering up a natural gas furnace but implies you can power a house, that's total nonsense, do you realize how little power it takes to run a gas furnace! About half the power capacity of one 15 amp outlet. Draw much more power then that through your cars charging system and you will have fried car parts.

Mythical marketing at its finest.
 
Trials said:
This is your car that has the headlights automatically turn on any time you turn the key and uses an electric powered fuel pump plus likely an electrically powered cooling fan all running off the same alternator :unsure:

Video shows them powering up a natural gas furnace but implies you can power a house, that's total nonsense, do you realize how little power it takes to run a gas furnace! About half the power capacity of one 15 amp outlet. Draw much more power then that through your cars charging system and you will have fried car parts.

Mythical marketing at its finest.
Click to expand...
Thats a pretty big gas furnace. My old house was ~300 watts for the furnace. Honda 2000 had no issues at all running furnace, some lights and having the fridge start up at the same time. Old furnace at this house was way oversized (120K BTU w 1 hp fan) and even that would be ~500 watts on heat (>100 deg F temp rise though, absolutely crap design/installation).
 
So now I'm wondering....is it worth buying one of those portable generators for $1000 or so to power up things in the house during power outages?

Or are those big dedicated GENERAC units (buddy has one at the cottage) the proper way to go? We don't get enough power outages here in the 905 or even Wasaga to justify it...just curious.

When he loses power out near Algonquin it could be for days on end, so I can see the justification there.
 
mimico_polak said:
So now I'm wondering....is it worth buying one of those portable generators for $1000 or so to power up things in the house during power outages?

Or are those big dedicated GENERAC units (buddy has one at the cottage) the proper way to go? We don't get enough power outages here in the 905 or even Wasaga to justify it...just curious.

When he loses power out near Algonquin it could be for days on end, so I can see the justification there.
Click to expand...

That depends on your own situation. It depends how mission-critical electricity is in your particular situation.

Lengthy power outages (days at a time) in the GTA are rare, order-of-magnitude once a decade or so.

Let's say, you are taking care of someone whose life depends on continued operation of an oxygen machine or some other such apparatus. That's a very different situation from a normal household where you might lose a small amount of food in the freezer and not be able to cook on an electric stove, and have to wear a sweater while the heat is off. It would take a really lengthy power outage in the depths of winter for most houses to cool off enough to have to worry about pipes freezing.

For most people, a power outage is an inconvenience, not worth spending big money on backup. If life depends on it then that's when dedicated back-up becomes essential.

I have a Yamaha EF2000i inverter generator that I use at the racetrack in the summer. That's the extent of electricity back-up that I have. If push comes to shove, I run an extension cord from outside to the furnace and water heater.

The last big power outage in the ice storm a few years ago had me laughing at some people. "OMG my fridge doesn't work, I'm going to lose all the food in the freezer". Ummm, it's cold outside. That's why we had an ice storm. Take the food out of the freezer and put it in a box on the patio outside. Done.
 
mimico_polak said:
So now I'm wondering....is it worth buying one of those portable generators for $1000 or so to power up things in the house during power outages?

Or are those big dedicated GENERAC units (buddy has one at the cottage) the proper way to go? We don't get enough power outages here in the 905 or even Wasaga to justify it...just curious.

When he loses power out near Algonquin it could be for days on end, so I can see the justification there.
Click to expand...
A few things come to mind. If you are going to be away from the property for an extended period of time, if you are not mechanically adept or if you want to continue life without changing anything when the power is out, the clear winner is a permanently installed NG (or LPG) fueled generator. You don't need to worry about your house freezing, you can run almost anything you want (hell, probably anything as long you are careful what runs concurrently eg hot tub + A/C is probably not a good plan) and it theoretically starts itself and automatically gets you power. It is obviously a much more expensive option than portable and much much louder than small portable inverters.

I can see municipalities pushing back on noise as the number of installed units increases with no regulation on how loud they can be, a power outage can be the loudest time in a subdivision. I have no idea how they will deal with installed units that exceed their criteria. I guess grandfather for a while?

Check setbacks for permanent generators. Most of the ones near my house are installed ~12" from the wall, but someone put one in recently that is set back ~4'. That looks terrible and is hazardous and I suspect was an incorrect interpretation but maybe that is the letter of the law and the rest are wrong.

An EU 2000 works for me. That can run the fridge, furnace, gas stove, hot water heater and some lights. I normally run it intermittently (when I wake up until the fridge turns off, same after lunch and maybe leave it on from sunset to bedtime to charge phones and make life simpler than flashlights and candles. On an extended winter power outage, I will have to figure out what to do with the hot tub. Obviously the main part of the tub won't freeze for a very long time, but I don't have 220 to spin the motors so the pipes/pumps may get colder than I would like. I have a solar blanket and huge shower cap I can put over to minimize heat loss, hopefully that keeps it warm long enough. If it got questionable, I could dump it, use the shop vac to dry it and dump in some antifreeze.

EDIT:
In the xmas ice storm a few years ago, I did not have a generator but did have a passive vent hot water heater. Every few hours while I was awake, filled all the sinks and tub with hot water and the house stayed above 10C. Left cupboard doors open where plumbing was on outside walls and had no issues (other than a grumbly wife). Got the generator after that as I didn't want a pregnant grumbly wife. I've never really needed to use it. I have used it a few times during power outages just because it was available, why not. At least once a year I make it work hard for a while. The downside to the EU2000 is spark cut and fuel cut are the same lever. I would very much prefer a separate fuel cut so the carb is mostly drained.
 
Do you have a lawn tractor?
resize.php

you have the makings of a mobile 10kw generator ;)
 
Brian P said:
That depends on your own situation. It depends how mission-critical electricity is in your particular situation.

Lengthy power outages (days at a time) in the GTA are rare, order-of-magnitude once a decade or so.

Let's say, you are taking care of someone whose life depends on continued operation of an oxygen machine or some other such apparatus. That's a very different situation from a normal household where you might lose a small amount of food in the freezer and not be able to cook on an electric stove, and have to wear a sweater while the heat is off. It would take a really lengthy power outage in the depths of winter for most houses to cool off enough to have to worry about pipes freezing.

For most people, a power outage is an inconvenience, not worth spending big money on backup. If life depends on it then that's when dedicated back-up becomes essential.

I have a Yamaha EF2000i inverter generator that I use at the racetrack in the summer. That's the extent of electricity back-up that I have. If push comes to shove, I run an extension cord from outside to the furnace and water heater.

The last big power outage in the ice storm a few years ago had me laughing at some people. "OMG my fridge doesn't work, I'm going to lose all the food in the freezer". Ummm, it's cold outside. That's why we had an ice storm. Take the food out of the freezer and put it in a box on the patio outside. Done.
Click to expand...

Life support requires an emergency generator. Inconvenience requires only a standby generator.

Etobicoke did have a summer outage a decade or so back but it was very zoned. A friend was without power for days but his mother-in-law a few blocks away never missed a watt. We were out for a few hours IIRC and about five miles away. EU2000 kept us going.

A freezer is usually OK for a day or two if you keep it closed.

A customer complained of a product failure on a heated cottage waterline but instructions said to never shut it off. He insisted he never did but a call to the regions hydro service said they have numerous outages every winter.

When they occur the first priority is emergency services and hospitals. Then industry in town, followed by homes in town and then farms. Last on the list are cottages and that can be four or five days.

BTW a cordless phone needs 120 volts but a Bell land line is self powered. Cell is OK but don't spend lot of time complaining to all your friends on it unless you have an alternate charging system. You will likely lose Wifi so bye bye Google.

Some of the B&S powered generators are noisy and a long outage will grate on the nerves.

If you let a tap run a little it's unlikely for the pipe to freeze.

I'm waiting for someone to ask if the inverter can be used to power a charger for the car battery.
 
I must have given a dozen people very reasonable quotes to install backup generators after the 2013 ice storm. Not one of those people ended getting a generator. Not everyone needs a permanently installed backup generator but everyone should at least have a portable 1500-2000w generator and know how to run their furnace off it. Keep fresh gas in it and try to run it for a few minutes every month or two.We’ve had two major blackouts in the last 15 years,we’re due for another one.
 
We have a 8kw champion stand by permanently installed runs all important things like the heat pump and water pump. Installed about 5 years ago cost 5500 including install. I also have a 800 gallon propane tank to feed it. Not needed but no heat or water annoys me so I did it.

Sent from my moto g(8) plus using Tapatalk
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom