Inverter for camper van.

[derrick]

Does anyone use one? Are they any good. Looking at one of these, Anybody know about them?
Have asked on camper van sites but not found anybody who have used one. It's a pretty new product.

 

[Salad Dodger]

We had a cheap (Aldi) inverter in the van, and used it for things like my shaver. I never used it for anything serious like cooking or powering a fan heater. I think it was about 1000 watt output.

 

[Jameshow]

Does anyone use one? Are they any good. Looking at one of these, Anybody know about them?
Have asked on camper van sites but not found anybody who have used one. It's a pretty new product.
View attachment 718350

Not cheap Renology or Victoron would be a better option for that sort of money.

 

[richardfm]

At 3kw if you use it to it's potential I would expect it to drain your battery very quickly

 

[Sallar55]

At 3kw if you use it to it's potential I would expect it to drain your battery very quickly

Campervans usually have 2 12v systems .

 

[Jameshow]

Campervans usually have 2 12v systems .

But still need a heavy duty battery tbh 300ah+ if possible. And what would you use at 3kw better to cook / heat on gas tbh.

 

[Regular.Cyclist]

Decide what you would want to power from one and work out the wattage requirements for that. Then add at least 20% to that value to give you some overhead should you ever need it. You may end up carrying a lot of unnecessary extra weight if you overspec too much.

Some electrical equipment doesn’t like a noisy mains like you get with some of the cheaper modified square wave inverters so better to go for a pure sine wave inverter as pictured in the OP. Downside is that they cost more.

We stick 3000VA inverters on the more complex critical care patient transfer trolleys. They do require a substantial current to run them at full power, around 250 amps on a 12v battery, so you would need appropriately rated cables on the input.

 

[richardfm]

Campervans usually have 2 12v systems .

One for normal motor vehicle stuff and one for leisure stuff. That doesn't alter what I said about draining the battery quickly, which ever battery the inverter is connected to.

 

[Ridgeway]

We use a Victron 3000w inverter in our van and overall with regards to inverters you get what you pay for. That doesn’t mean to say that it’s not any good only that it will be less efficient and perhaps not last as long (depending on your use) vs a higher end unit.

As someone has mentioned you first need to define what you intend to use it for and where you’ll store your 12v energy ie how many and what type of battery installation.

Other things to consider is how you’ll install it ? Many ”mobile” inverters like these come with crocodile connectors and often undersized cables, just worth checking and thinking about that. Overall it’s worth hard wiring an inverter in and doing a decent job of it.

 

[Ridgeway]

Decent review here and it seems to come out pretty well:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5rBVGSszBY

 

[albion]

Assuming it is a sustained 3kw it seems too big for a camper van.
To protect batteries you need to aim your usage limit low,even 1000w being large. So buy a cheap/er 1000 or 1500w sustained one.

 

[Gwylan]

We have one on our van
We have rarely used it for the 4 years we've had the van.
Charging my wife's toothbrush is the only event I can recall.

As said elsewhere you need to decide what you will use it for. Also have you got enough battery capacity to support it? It's pretty inefficient.

Unless you are wild camping you will find a mains source reasonably often anyway.

 

[presta]

Inverters are at their best efficiency when they're running near to maximum output, so unless you actually need 3kW, and will be using it at that level most of the time, you'll get better battery life from one better suited to the load.

 

[Gwylan]

I just put the victron phoenix 500 in my van. The whole series is pure sine wave has high efficiency, so you waste less energy...

Clearly a person of means and discernment. Assume they come as standard on Bentley and similar gentlemen's motors