ppads52
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Hi all, can anyone point me in the right direction, I carry a Gardiners backpack in the van, which inverter would you recommend to charge it whilst driving?
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Van Inverter help
- Thread starter ppads52
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Better off fully charging it at home, if you are so key using a BP and it isn't holding enough charge it's time for a new battery
Gadgetfox
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I would like to know this also. I rarely use mine but keep it on the van and would like to keep it topped up whilst driving. Hope we get some input...
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You can buy an adapter to use your cigarette lighter
ched999uk
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I can't imagine the Gardiners backpack charger takes more than 200 watts, so a 200watt inverter would be fine. Check the charger as that will probably have the power consumption on it.
Try and get a decent brand as some of the budget Chinese ones are a bit iffy.
Try and get a decent brand as some of the budget Chinese ones are a bit iffy.
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I bought this a couple of months back, and it works recharging a Gardiners backpack with the Gardiner charger.
I've recharged the backpack on several occasions with this. It says it is Pure Sine wave. I did notice there were a few other makes advertised as Pure Sine Wave, but the small print says they were modified sine wave.
I honestly can't remember what the inverter drew when charging. If I remember, I will run the backpack tomorrow and report back. This inverter happily ran my 620 watt 115mm angle grinder, but I did use it in conjunction with a soft start module.
I'm running it off my 105amp Lithium Lifepo4 battery.
I've recharged the backpack on several occasions with this. It says it is Pure Sine wave. I did notice there were a few other makes advertised as Pure Sine Wave, but the small print says they were modified sine wave.
I honestly can't remember what the inverter drew when charging. If I remember, I will run the backpack tomorrow and report back. This inverter happily ran my 620 watt 115mm angle grinder, but I did use it in conjunction with a soft start module.
I'm running it off my 105amp Lithium Lifepo4 battery.
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Our local mobile key cutting business run a LWB Ford custom with a 2000 watt inverter. He runs all his key cutting equipment and charges his laptop with it. He runs this inverter off his starter battery without issue. But then I don't believe any of his equipment I saw would use much 230v current.
An inverter uses current even when it's not being used. So it would be a good idea to include an on/off switch as part of the connection. I still have to do that, although I have the switch and cabling.
An inverter uses current even when it's not being used. So it would be a good idea to include an on/off switch as part of the connection. I still have to do that, although I have the switch and cabling.
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I have probably put 60 litres of water through the backpack this last couple of days. I've put it on the inverter this morning to charge, and it's started drawing 2.6 amps from the battery, which then dropped to 1.4 amps. It could well do further.
After a couple of hours away, the Gardiner battery charger showed the battery fully charged but was still drawing 0.7 amps according to the BMS, which will be mainly power needed to run the inverter.
I appreciate that the battery won't be discharged by much, but the charger's output is only 1.2 amps.
The figures I looked at was that an inverter delivering 1500 watt at 230v would draw 88 amps from the leisure battery bank.
After a couple of hours away, the Gardiner battery charger showed the battery fully charged but was still drawing 0.7 amps according to the BMS, which will be mainly power needed to run the inverter.
I appreciate that the battery won't be discharged by much, but the charger's output is only 1.2 amps.
The figures I looked at was that an inverter delivering 1500 watt at 230v would draw 88 amps from the leisure battery bank.
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ched999uk
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Looks like the backpack charger is only pulling about 30 watts or so. Any inverter would do, I would get a 100watt ish as that could be useful for other stuff and should be fine in a cigarette lighter socket.
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The inverter I purchased also has a plug to go into a cigarette lighter socket. It just means that you can't use the full potential of the inverter.
The other issue is that most cigarette lighter sockets are only live when the ignition is on. We do have a cigarette lighter and a second power socket on our Citroën Xsara. The cigarette lighter is ignition controlled, where the second socket is not ignition controlled. But I don't think it's constantly live, as the whole car's electrical system shuts down (goes to sleep) after 20 minutes or so.
The cigarette lighter in my van cabin is ignition controlled, as is the socket in the back. As this inverter will be permanently connected up to my auxiliary battery (I'm using the supplied battery terminal clamps atm), I can charge my phone or the gutter vacuum camera and monitor without the ignition on. It's not that important, but many camper vans connect their radio to their leisure battery so they don't have to have the ignition on to listen to the radio, etc.
