The Hot Seat - 240v power supply

[RB (Andrew)]

Originally Posted by cahullian

Really nice set up Andrew. I was there when you were using the hairdryer at 4 am lol. All the other (bludgers,skivers) people were long gone by then.
What time did you and H call it a night?
Gazz

Thanks Gazz, yah we called it a "night" at around 5.30am or so.

[Striker (Tony)]

Great project Andrew.

The best thing about this is it's so practical....well done mate

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

Nice unit Andrew.

So when do you go into production

[RB (Andrew)]

Thank you very much Tony and Paul.

Paul I wish I could go into production unfortunately it's a one off.
I started off with a simple plan for a box and I got carried away...........

[stringscope (Ian)]

Looks a really nice job Andrew. Really practical too. 100+AH, wow! that is some serious portable electrical capacity.

I can see it would be quite easy to add wheels and telescopic handle similar to a suitcase (but heavy duty).

Thanks for sharing it with us. Are you going to do a "How to" article for IIS?

Cheers,

[acropolite (Phil)]

On inverter stories and microwave ovens Pizza etc; a decent inverter with a 1200 watt rating will comfortably run a small microwave oven, and as the time in use is usually very short power consumption isn't bad. You can also run a bread making machine to bake bread, however from memory just mixing the dough for 1 loaf of bread bread uses around 30 amp hours. You can also pump water with a 6-700 watt Davey pump, around 7-10AH for 100 gallons (450Litres to the metric hoards). Don't expect an inverter to run a 240V fridge or any other compressor device as these loads have very high startup currents and although the current draw of a 240V fridge is fairly low over 24 hours they consume quite an amount of power (That's if you can get them running on the inverter in the first place).

[Muddy Diver]

Andrew

Great Inverter unit! As a regular camper this unit would impress the hell out of my regular camping buddies who always try to turn up with a new gadget each time. I'm not sure that with the inverter mounted right beneath the seat that you need to install any other form of heating eh? However, the low cost BigW Jump leads shown in your later photo have let the unit down I'm afraid. I tried to use mine during the last camping trip to start a friends car and ...NO GOOD! I thought it might have been something else with the car but swapping my chepo leads for someone elses real ones started it immediately. I am not the only person to have suffered this I have since learned.

I feel sure you will not be getting the charging rates you could get with a decent set due to losses and well, actually high resistance which is not desireable in 12V circuits eh?

Just a tip. NEVER rely on those Low cost leads in an emergency. Sometimes they just dont work.

[RB (Andrew)]

Originally Posted by Muddy Diver

Andrew

Great Inverter unit!.... However, the low cost BigW Jump leads shown in your later photo have let the unit down I'm afraid. I tried to use mine during the last camping trip to start a friends car and ...NO GOOD! I thought it might have been something else with the car but swapping my chepo leads for someone elses real ones started it immediately. I am not the only person to have suffered this I have since learned.

I feel sure you will not be getting the charging rates you could get with a decent set due to losses and well, actually high resistance which is not desireable in 12V circuits eh?

Just a tip. NEVER rely on those Low cost leads in an emergency. Sometimes they just dont work.

You raise a very valid point MD, although in this case it is not correct.
The clips you see in the other photo belong to a proper 12v charger which I highly recommend for charging car batteries. As you know the car batteries are charged up slowly and don't need such a high current cable as jumper leads do. In the photo below you can see the charger which I use.
The Battery Fighter is a 1.25 Amp battery charger designed to fully charge and maintain a lead acid battery at the correct storage voltage without the damaging effects caused by other trickle chargers.
An IC circuit applies the correct peak charge, then automatically maintains the battery at the perfect float voltage which eliminates battery destroying sulfation. Charger status can be seen via two LEDs showing Power On, Charging, Almost Charged and Fully Charged.
It's available at Jaycar for $79.95 but I was able to get one for $59 at another electronics store which I forget the name of at the moment (not D.Smith).

But MD is right about jumper cables, I DO NOT RECOMMEND the ones from cheap dept stores as you mentioned. Just to show you what I mean have a look at the second photo. I had an old jumper lead from a cheap auto outlet which I got on their extra special discount days in case I can use the clamps for something else. Well I stripped the lead and there's hardly enough copper wire to run your stereo system let alone start a car.
I stripped a speaker wire (on the left) just to show you what I mean.

I do not recommend these jumper cables at all.
Thanks for bringing that up MD.

[RB (Andrew)]

Originally Posted by stringscope

Looks a really nice job Andrew. Really practical too. 100+AH, wow! that is some serious portable electrical capacity.

I can see it would be quite easy to add wheels and telescopic handle similar to a suitcase (but heavy duty).

Thanks for sharing it with us. Are you going to do a "How to" article for IIS?

Cheers,

Thanks Ian,

In my case I need the higher capacity for work too so I went for the larger battery.
I am looking into adding wheels and a handle like you say.

As for a DIY article I think it's best not to since it involves 240v power.
And even though it's from a 12v car battery it's still leathal.
But it's not hard just to use an inverter with a four way plug pack with a safety switch (RCD) built in. Just make sure you use a "grounding/earth stake" to the inverter earth and build a suitable box to keep the dew off it.

Cheers.

[RB (Andrew)]

Also I should add that if you're charging the 12v battery, you should always do it in a well ventilated open space.
I designed the box to open up and allow it to be charged with plenty of air flow.
It also helps keep the inverter cool when operating at it's peak demand.

Cheers.

[asimov (John)]

Hey handy-andy....I missed this thread, sorry!

Nice work mate! If you serve up piping hot Hawaiian pizza's with HOT pepperoni on...I'm there! Need a new working man/farm hand on your farm!??