In daily life, have you ever been on a long trip and felt inconvenienced because some electronic devices that require AC power cannot be used? Then you searched online and found that you can install a power inverter on your car, truck or RV to use AC power. But this comes at a cost. According to the law of conservation of energy, energy can neither be created nor destroyed. It can only be converted from one form to another. Therefore, the inverter itself does not generate AC power, it can only convert the battery current into AC power.
Will a Power Inverter Drain My Battery?
After reading this, you may be thinking, isn't there a starting battery in the car, so can it be used to drive the inverter? The answer is, of course, it can. Then you may be worried about whether the inverter will drain the battery? The answer is: when the car is turned off, the power inverter will drain your battery after running for a long time. But when the car is running, the inverter will not drain the battery.
According to common sense in cars, when the starting battery is dead, you cannot start the car unless you recharge the battery. A simple way to prevent draining the battery is to turn off the inverter before the battery is exhausted and start the engine to charge the battery. Or you can carry a deep cycle battery or a solar-powered battery in your car for the inverter alone, so you don't have to worry about the car battery being drained.
Will the battery be drained when the engine is running?
We all know that when the car engine is running, the belt drives the generator to rotate, and then the regulator controls the power generation to ensure that the current output is stable and powers the electrical system and components such as the stereo, car headlights, and car air conditioning in the car, and charges the battery when the battery needs to be charged.
All this may change after you turn on the inverter. If you use the inverter to run high-power electronic devices, the alternator may not be able to power the entire system due to insufficient power. At this time, the battery will discharge to keep the electrical system running. If this situation continues for too long, the battery will eventually discharge to the point where it cannot power all the electronic devices in the car, which may cause the car to deteriorate in performance or stall.
Therefore, mwxne recommends that you do not use high-power electronic devices in the car. Of course, there is no problem powering small-power appliances such as laptops and car refrigerators.
How long can my car battery run the inverter?
mwxne has prepared a formula for you to calculate the battery life:
Run time = battery voltage * battery capacity / [load power / inverter conversion efficiency]
For example, you want to charge a laptop with a rated power of 50W in your car. The conversion efficiency of the inverter you purchased is 90%. The car battery is 12V 100AH, you just need to plug these values into the formula to get a result:
12V*100Ah/(50/0.9)=21.59 hours
Note:
The actual situation may be different: The above calculation is only a theoretical value. In actual use, the power supply time will be affected by many factors, such as battery aging, ambient temperature, laptop brightness setting, etc.
Don't discharge completely: In order to extend the battery life, it is recommended not to discharge the car battery completely.
How to use the inverter for a long time in the car?
mwxne recommends that you can use inverters, solar panels, solar charge controllers and batteries to create your own sustainable power generation system. The onboard battery can provide you with short-term power support in some emergency situations, while the homemade solar off-grid system allows you to obtain continuous power in the wild.
