Plug in inverter

[Crows Nest]

Can I use a 300w inverter with accessory plug in my trailer to run a desktop computer? I know it has to be a pure sine wave model. Does the plug provide enough power?

[SageRpod]

Originally Posted by Crows Nest

Can I use a 300w inverter with accessory plug in my trailer to run a desktop computer? I know it has to be a pure sine wave model. Does the plug provide enough power?

You should be okay depending on peripherals on the computer. We used a 300watt pure sine in our Rpod to run a couple laptops.

[C&G in FL]

Originally Posted by Crows Nest

Can I use a 300w inverter with accessory plug in my trailer to run a desktop computer? I know it has to be a pure sine wave model. Does the plug provide enough power?

Computers do not use that much power. I would restrict use of a plug in inverter to around 100 watts. And before anyone jumps all over me, that is what Reace told me during the build process of my 5.0 TA.

[John in Santa Cruz]

a desktop computer thats a 'gaming rig' or otherwise has a high power graphics card, can exceed 300W when its working hard. my desktop averages about 150W under load, it all depends on whats in it.

Cigar outlets are generally fused at 15A, 15A * 13V is just under 200W, allow for 10% efficiency loss, figure 180W safely as the max size inverter, and a small inverter like that, I try and keep to under about 65% of the inverters rating, or about 120W actual load.

[dkirk]

I previously had a 200 watt inverter plugged into the cigar lighter. It soon died.

For the replacement pure sign wave inverter, I wired the input to a spare dc fuse on the power center. The wires to the cigar lighter plug appear to be 18 gage and should not carry more than 5 amps (60 watts).

YMMV

Dave

[C&G in FL]

Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz

a desktop computer thats a 'gaming rig' or otherwise has a high power graphics card, can exceed 300W when its working hard. my desktop averages about 150W under load, it all depends on whats in it.

Cigar outlets are generally fused at 15A, 15A * 13V is just under 200W, allow for 10% efficiency loss, figure 180W safely as the max size inverter, and a small inverter like that, I try and keep to under about 65% of the inverters rating, or about 120W actual load.

John, all you say is correct. But I would seriously doubt anyone on the forum has a desktop gaming rig in their trailer. However, I could be wrong; I’ve been known to be wrong before. I would suspect that most of us that take computers have a laptop. I rarely use my plug in 200 watt pure sine wave inverter, and never with the laptop. It only gets used at overnight stops with no hookups so my spouse can watch TV for a while before bed time, and 99% of the time we have shore power. I doubt I have ever exceeded 150 watts, even using a DVD player with the television. OTOH, when I had the discussion with Reace, he installed a “super” 12v outlet by the dinette using (fused) 8 AWG wires connected directly to the batteries. I don’t remember what I was charged, maybe $75, but the wire and the outlet are good for 400+ watts. Strangely, I have never used it.

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by dkirk

I previously had a 200 watt inverter plugged into the cigar lighter. It soon died.

For the replacement pure sign wave inverter, I wired the input to a spare dc fuse on the power center. The wires to the cigar lighter plug appear to be 18 gage and should not carry more than 5 amps (60 watts).

YMMV

Dave

AWG18 is suitable for 16 amps in a chassis wiring scenario, which applies to these trailers. AWG 18 stranded copper is 6 ohms per 1000 feet, or 6 milliohms per foot, so the likely 6 or 10 foot run from the fuse panel to the cigar plug and back in our trailer is going to be 0.036 to 0.060 ohms, with a 15 amp load thats a voltage drop of only 0.5 t 0.9 volts, which is acceptable in a 12V system.

[SageRpod]

Originally Posted by C&G in FL

John, all you say is correct. But I would seriously doubt anyone on the forum has a desktop gaming rig in their trailer. However, I could be wrong; I’ve been known to be wrong before. I would suspect that most of us that take computers have a laptop. I rarely use my plug in 200 watt pure sine wave inverter, and never with the laptop. It only gets used at overnight stops with no hookups so my spouse can watch TV for a while before bed time, and 99% of the time we have shore power. I doubt I have ever exceeded 150 watts, even using a DVD player with the television. OTOH, when I had the discussion with Reace, he installed a “super” 12v outlet by the dinette using (fused) 8 AWG wires connected directly to the batteries. I don’t remember what I was charged, maybe $75, but the wire and the outlet are good for 400+ watts. Strangely, I have never used it.

Laptops run off their batteries. The charger charges the battery. Only the biggest of the big laptop chargers will pull 100watts, most other laptop chargers draw 30watt-50watts.

[John in Santa Cruz]

I agree re laptops, but I have seen some larger laptops that were in the 135 watt range... these were big 17" screen laptops sold as 'engineering workstations' with heavy duty CAD graphics processors and such. They were also current about 10+ years ago. My current laptop, a Dell XPS 13, uses a 35 watt USB C power supply.

none the less, Crows Nest asked about a desktop computer.