Which power inverter will I need?????

[Christopher Quast]

How big of one do I need to be able to power a TV and dvd player or say a microwave? Have no clue where to start on this subject.

[eyebjim]

A microwave will use a lot of power. If you get a small microwave like 750-800 watt it may not be too bad. Tv's and other devices that incorporate a transformer or other inductive loads will use a fair amount more power than they state on them when using a inverter. Look on the back of the devices you intend to use and look for the watt rating. Add up all the watts for all the devices you intend to use at the same time and pad it a bit and that is what size inverter to get. If you will use the dvd/tv and the two of them together are 85 watts I would get a minimum of a 150 watt inverter. Since you said you want to run a microwave you may want to get a 1000 watt inverter or more. I would not recommend using a microwave with a inverter. It will use up your batteries quick. I have found that a lot of the smaller inverters do not provide as clean of power. I had a 100watt inverter and a 400 watt from the same company and the 100 watt unit left lines on the TV but the 400 is perfect.

[theoilman]

For the TV and DVD a 400 watt will definitely do, a 250 watt maybe depending on the size and type TV.

The Microwave - forget it off a power inverter! Most microwaves pull around 15 amps of 110VAC, you would need at least a 1500 watt unit, a very big power wire to the inverter - 4 gage I would guess, and a couple of group 31 batteries - just way too much to be practical.

[Pat K]

The 750 to 800 watt rating of a microwave is the output not the wattage it pulls. Looked at a few earlier this year, 1300 watts was the lowest wattage needed for a 750 watt microwave..