Car Power Inverter

To understand the advantages of a car power inverter one should first know what it is and its uses. Cars have batteries something that all of us are aware about, and these batteries supply DC power, i.e. Direct Current. The electrical accessories in the car like the headlights etc run on this power. However if you want to use your laptop or say install a TV for your kids when you drive long distances, it could be done only when you have a car power inverter.

What this inverter does is, it converts the DC power given out by your car batteries to AC power, i.e. Alternating Current which is required to run appliances as laptops or DVD players. The simplest version could be a jack plugged into a cigarette lighter in the car the complex ones could involve saws, drills etc

To use laptops, TV sets and other small appliances, plugging a cord into the cigarette lighter serves the purpose, however for appliances which draw more power like floodlights, drills, invertors are placed under the hood of the car near the battery. This way a direct connection is given from car battery to the inverter. It is also called hard-wiring.

Inverters can be designed and installed on a need basis. It can be a simple jack to an elaborate ones with lots of ports, like the ones we see in movies where the police have such vehicles to aid them in the tracking and catching of offenders.

While choosing to add a Car power inverter to your car the factors to be taken into consideration are whether it is for small domestic appliances or for heavy draw equipments. This will decide on the positioning of the inverter. Also one could opt for more plugs than one, it’s a convenience that will come handy someday. Usage also plays a key role, incase you are going to be using a small gadget but for long time then an adapter will not be the right thing. If you are an occasional user then buying an adapter would be ideal as you can also move it to other cars. Don’t ever imagine that you can dry your hair on your way to your destination or iron that sweater for a neater look, inverters are not made to serve such power-hogging, heat emitting kits.

Watch out that the inverter and the appliances attached to it does not drain off your car battery, this would leave you incapable of starting your engines. Calculate the voltage that all your appliances will need when run simultaneously, add 10% extra and this will give you an indication on the size of the inverter you should be purchasing. Most inverters come with fuses and this would trip at a certain cutoff voltage. It is essential that power consumed is below the trip off voltage. Incase consumption is more, fuse trips will happen while your appliances are running and this could damage your DVD player or TV sets. There are certain appliances which need initial heavy surge such as TV sets, consider this factor too while deciding on the size of the inverter.