Looking for a good low current draw inverter for my aux. battery setup.

Any suggestions? Also, what's best to look for?

Thanks.

 

First:

Do you need a real sine wave or is a saw tooth wave ok?
Do you need inductive motor capability (aka fridge) (I think I got this right).

IMHO - TrippLite makes the nicest ones... $$$ tho... you get what you pay for

 

Well, I can't imagine I'll be buying that fridge, but I want to be able to run something like a fan all night off it, maybe some small lights, stuff like that. I'm not sure the difference between sine wave and sawtooth wave, but my biggest concern is that it be fairly low draw.

 

Some devices will not run right (or can be damaged) if the AC is not a clean sine wave.

The "cheap" way to make an AC inverter is to step up the voltage and "flip" it... thus producing a square wave or a saw tooth wave form.

The expensive way (and probably power hungry way) is to make a celan sine wave...

Pure resistive loads (lights) should be OK.
Not sure about the fan... I'd research the issues...

http://www.tripplite.com/products/in...zing_guide.cfm

 

If you have the option, it is easier to get 12 volt accessories. You can get 12v fluorescent lights or even more efficient 1 and 3 watt LEDs and loads of 12 volt fans available. I do everything 12 volt in my '85, lights, battery chargers, fridge, etc. I do have a 300 watt inverter that I use for one charger that only is available in 120volt/AC. If you do get an inverter, best to get as small as possible to drive your load. The bigger the inverter, the more current it pulls at low loads. So the best efficiency is when the inverter is running at or near it's peak power output.

 

I'm running inverters from Xantrex. It's made in China but its one of the better brands. I would stay away from the ebay specials. My 1000 watt model handled a bar fridge fine.