Inverter for Hair Dryer

[babock]

Originally Posted by tomkatb

The point of the story was that more copper is less resistant and likely carry more amps. 12 volt wire has a horrible line loss.

Doesn't matter what voltage it is, for a given current and a given sized wire, you will get exactly the same voltage drop no matter what the starting voltage is.

[Mike223]

Maybe tell the DW to go to the bath house to dry her hair. If boondocking, why wash her hair???? Nobody to see it. Just saying...........
Mike

[rockfordroo]

Originally Posted by TheRoosterCA

X2! We were boon-docking in South Dakota this summer and the inverter performed very well, but using the Keurig every morning for five people took the biggest toll on the batteries. We installed 4 golf cart batteries, an Aims 2500W inverter/charger with a built in switch and all wired with 0/2 welding cable before our trip to South Dakota so we didn't have to run the geni every time we wanted to use an AC appliance. As soon as I turned the geni on, the inverter switched to charge mode and fast charged those batteries right up. If you're going to install an inverter, make sure it is a PURE SINE inverter or you electronics like lap top or TV may not work right and get damaged.

A Keurig (at least mine) is around 900 watts, so only about 60% the power of a 1500 watt hair dryer.

[aircommuter]

Originally Posted by rockfordroo

A Keurig (at least mine) is around 900 watts, so only about 60% the power of a 1500 watt hair dryer.

That's the model I need. What is the model number?

[TheRoosterCA]

Originally Posted by rockfordroo

A Keurig (at least mine) is around 900 watts, so only about 60% the power of a 1500 watt hair dryer.

I'm showing 1500 watts on start up and every time it needs to reheat. Keeping the water warm is much lower though. When you have 5 people filling up there travel mugs and having to reheat new water every time -- well you see where the wattage goes.

[babock]

All the keurigs we have are 1500W. Might use less when the water is sitting there and the coffee maker is just keeping it at temp.

[Chuck_S]

Even at 900 watts:

900 watts @12v = 75 amps for 4 minutes (heat and make one cup of coffee) is 300 amp-minutes or 5 amp hours. Multiply that by how many times it runs. Typical Group 24 battery on the trailer tongue will claim 80 amp hours but crap out about 55 -- or at 11 cups.

As for a hair dryer I've yet to meet the woman or anyone else with hair longer than an inch who only needs 4 minutes to dry hair.

Running anything electrical to heat is very ineffective and even more so via an inverter. We have a Melitta for those time without AC power.

-- Chuck

[pt35cruiser]

How about just using a 12v hair dryer. That's what DW did on our sailboat.


https://www.walmart.com/ip/Prime-Pro...BoCyGoQAvD_BwE


156 watts, about 13 amps

[babock]

Originally Posted by pt35cruiser

How about just using a 12v hair dryer. That's what DW did on our sailboat.


https://www.walmart.com/ip/Prime-Pro...BoCyGoQAvD_BwE


156 watts, about 13 amps

Maybe because it takes 10 times longer than a 1500W hair dryer.

Personally, neither my wife or I understand the need for a hair dryer out camping.

[rockfordroo]

Originally Posted by rockfordroo

A Keurig (at least mine) is around 900 watts, so only about 60% the power of a 1500 watt hair dryer.

Originally Posted by aircommuter

That's the model I need. What is the model number?

OOPs. Old one was 900W. Not made anymore. New one looks very similar to old one, but says 1475 watts. I wonder if 900W wasn't doing the job. (Mine just simply stopped working.)

[babock]

Originally Posted by rockfordroo

OOPs. Old one was 900W. Not made anymore. New one looks very similar to old one, but says 1475 watts. I wonder if 900W wasn't doing the job. (Mine just simply stopped working.)

If it was one of the single cup ones where you pour a cup of water in the top, that one got discontinued since it had a failure mode where it spit hot water at you. They actually had a recall on it.

Was it this one?
https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2014/ke...rewing-systems

[rockfordroo]

Originally Posted by babock

If it was one of the single cup ones where you pour a cup of water in the top, that one got discontinued since it had a failure mode where it spit hot water at you. They actually had a recall on it.

Yeah, it was a single cup job.

[Herk7769]

Originally Posted by Chuck_S

To reiterate my experience (and how this works ):

It isn't purely a problem with battery capacity and amp hours of which my setup has plenty, the critical issue is voltage drop at the battery under high load. After a few minutes the "12v" voltage got so low the inverter's internal circuitry shut it down. The battery voltage of your car drops as low as nine (9) volts when starting the engine. Momentary, of course.

This is the the result of how lead-acid batteries work, they're chemical reactions that occur on the surface of the lead plates. That area can be depleted rapidly with very high loads. The battery will spring back after a period of time.

This is the opposite effect when charging a dead battery and it shows 12.7vDC ("fully charged") after 10 minutes -- only the surface is charged.

-- Chuck

Chuck has summed it up perfectly. I wish I could be as succinct.

[Tom48]

Originally Posted by valleyduo

As was said, a hair dryer can burn a lot of battery power pretty quickly. You may be better off lugging out the genny since you'll likely need it after the hair dryer is used anyway. Would save the cost and hassle of installing the inverter. More information on your current set up will help us give better advice.

There are lower wattage hair dryers. We found a Babilyss 900 watt at Target online a couple years ago. We have a 2000 watt pure sine inverters and run 380 watts of solar but it Still buts a pretty good dent in our golf cart batteries. So she has to shampoo early in the day so batteries can recover in time for prime time TV viewing.

[christim1977]

Buy a 12 Volt hair dryer from Amazon or just about any truck stop. They have a lot of other 12 volt items like coffee pots, cooking utensils etc.
Heck of a lot cheaper than a generator.