Power inverter

[THELMALOUIE]

I have a 2003 Forest River motor home with (2) 12 volt on board batteries. I want to purchase a power inverter to run a 26" LCD tv, Directv dvr at night for approx. 6 hrs. Then in the morning run the coffee pot and toaster until quite hr is over and I can start thje generator and recharge the batteries. My question is how big a inverter will I need.

[KyDan]

You had me going until you mentioned the coffee pot and toaster!

Items who's job it is to produce lots of heat such as coffee pot and
toaster use LOTs of power!
We use a stove top percolator when we're camping without shore power.
It takes a little longer to make coffee but it tastes the same and uses no battery.
We also have a tiny fold up stove top toaster if we have to have toasted bread.
I'm more for oven biscuits especially in the cooler weather. The oven helps take
the chill off the trailer in the morning too.

We use a little cigarette socket plug in inverter to run our TV. Look on the back
of your TV or in the manual and see what the rated Wattage is for the TV.
That will help you know how much power you really need to invert.
6 hours of TV is a lot.

If you really must run those household items (coffee pot, toaster) off batteries
you are out of my level of experience.

Others will answer that one!
Good luck and happy camping!

[Herk7769]

KyDan is right on.

Toaster and Coffee Maker requires so much battery power that upgraded battery systems are required in addition to a very large (over 2500 watt) inverter.

For a TV and DVD player (charging phones and laptop), a 1000 watt inverter is the MAXIMUM size for a 150 AH stack of batteries. (2 - 75 AH OEM 12 volt or 2 - 150 AH 6 volt).

That way your batteries won't be dead and you have a prayer the heater will last till morning after 3 hours of TV.

[Witch Doctor]

Originally Posted by THELMALOUIE

I have a 2003 Forest River motor home with (2) 12 volt on board batteries. I want to purchase a power inverter to run a 26" LCD tv, Directv dvr at night for approx. 6 hrs. Then in the morning run the coffee pot and toaster until quite hr is over and I can start thje generator and recharge the batteries. My question is how big a inverter will I need.

If you have a generator as stated I would get one that would handle the loads you want somewhere on this forum their is am amp/watt chart that shows what everything pulls. Add it all up and buy the one that will handle your loads. May I suggest to you, to pay the extra and buy a pure sine wave, not modified sine. It is a cleaner a/c output.......

[KyDan]

Just google "stove top percolator". There are lots to choose from.
You can get fancy stainless steel or blue speckle porcelain or you can get
a cheap aluminum no frills one.
We used a little 10 cup aluminum percolator for 15 years! You can usually
find them in the camping isle of your favorite big box store or sporting goods store.

Check your owners manual for the TV and video player for wattage needs.
Then you can choose. The little cigarette socket plug in I use won't work
for a bigger TV. I'm a cheap skate and try to get by as cheaply as possible.
It works for me.
You probably need a larger inverter but you need to check wattages of the
items you want to power and start there.

[Great Horned Owl]

Coleman makes an automatic drip coffee maker that is heated by one of the stove burners. it needs no electricity. It works well, but is a little slower than a typical electric coffee maker.\ http://http://www.amazon.com/Coleman-5008C700-Camping-Coffee-Maker/dp/B001K7IDVU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1379338870&sr=8-1&keywords=coleman+coffee.

They also have one with an integral burner, but I have no experience with it http://http://www.amazon.com/Coleman...coleman+coffee

Joel