How to get 220 volts from a car. How to put a power outlet into a car. Choosing an inverter. I decided to figure it out, it turned out

Summer is a season of vacations, rides to the sea and the forest, a time of incredible stories and crazy adventures. Are you already looking forward to when your boss will let you go to rest in order to jump into your favorite pelvis and go to explore places where no man's foot has stepped?

Don't forget to get a power outlet in your car to charge all your gadgets even on the beach! Strange, but many do not know what is in the car it is very easy to add it, and today we will talk about it.

In the work on this material I was helped by an automotive master with golden hands, Bogdan D., let's say thanks to him, he put all the nuances on the shelves.

You need a car inverter, what is it?

In modern wheelbarrows, there are a lot of battery-powered electrical devices. They need 12V, and all the electronics inside your pelvis are designed specifically for it. But you need 220 or so, where can I get it?

Imagine you want to go out into nature with friends, load shrimp into a frying pan, throw it all over the fire and celebrate any day of summer with a good European beer. You take the most ordinary audio system from home and plug it into an outlet right in the car. Great plan!

To realize your plan, you need to buy a couple of kilos of seafood, a box of unfiltered and car inverter.

This is such a device that will help convert the current in the electrical system of the machine in the necessary way and will make it possible to connect through itself not only a home audio system, but even a TV or refrigerator.

Car inverter converts DC voltage in the wheelbarrow into AC- this is used in your home. This requires a built-in current generator. It creates a harmonious wave that converts your 12V to 220 or so.

A normal inverter also has protective mechanisms. They are needed so that the device does not catch fire when it gets too hot from high load. There are even models that provide active air-type cooling.

And what are the inverters externally? Most often these are small boxes that can be connected either to the cigarette lighter or directly to the car's electrical system.

They have several sockets for connecting the most common plugs from household appliances, and some even have a pair of USBs, and you can put any mobile gadgets in them.

All in all, if you're planning to go in search of adventure, you definitely need an inverter.

How an expensive inverter differs from a cheap one and vice versa

I'm sure you've already ran through online stores to look for a suitable inverter. When you realize that the price of these devices can differ tenfold, return to this article and study further.

Rest assured, it's not just the brand's name. No, in most cases, it is the functionality of the device that affects the cost - for example, its power.

The expert, whom I invited to support the information with experience, proposes to divide all inverters in this regard into three categories.

Up to 300W. These are the weakest models, which in most cases are connected precisely through the cigarette lighter. There are options when such can be attached directly to the car's electrical network, but this is pointless - too much hassle.

Most often, these are taken to power mobile devices and some laptops. But sometimes it's easier to just stick a car charger into the cigarette lighter.

300 - 1500W. Such car inverters are called standard or conventional. They are only powered directly from the machine's mains.

They can be used to connect a TV set, any laptop and even a microwave.

More than 1500W. These particularly powerful inverters are only connected directly to the mains, and are chosen mainly for difficult work in the wild (for example, construction sites).

You can easily connect a drill to this, and a grinder, if you really need it.

Look, when choosing an inverter, be guided so that it surpasses your devices in power by at least 20-30%. If you plug in something too powerful, it will burn out and risk burning the wiring in the car (at least in theory). And do not load 100% for a long time, you risk ruining it.

If the devices that you plan to connect to the inverter require stable 220V, choose the most powerful one - more than 1500W. 300W models are unlikely to produce more than 200W.

Each car inverter can work in 3 modes:

Launch mode- on it, the device quickly delivers maximum power in order to "start" something demanding. In this mode, it will not last long.
Normal mode- in such a case, the inverter maintains its normal power as much as needed.
Overload mode- especially powerful mode. In such a case, the inverter will work for up to 30 minutes, in this case it produces up to 1.5 more than the declared power.

An experienced engineer will confirm that at maximum power, any device will not last long.

So the inverter in 95% of cases should be used in normal mode, and for this you do not need to connect devices that are not suitable for its power.

How to choose a normal car inverter and not miss the mark

There are frankly cheap low-quality inverters that need to be bypassed. Otherwise, everyone will have their own right choice of such a device.

The inverter is selected for specific devices that will be connected to it, and here are 6 points to consider.

1) Check the power of the auto generator. There is a golden rule: the power of the inverter cannot be more than 50% of the power of the generator.

Only in this case, when your car is running, the inverter will not discharge the battery - at least with the devices connected to it. About one half of its capacity will go to the needs of car systems, so you have the second.

If you do not follow this rule, you risk ending up somewhere in the forest with a discharged battery. Doesn't sound too rosy, does it?

Look, a 750W converter operates at 13V - that's 58A. VAZovskaya 10 at idle will not give out such a current, so the inverter will eat the battery charge and let you down at the most inopportune moment.

The maximum generator of this car can produce 80A, but this can only be achieved at 5000 engine rpm.

2) Define devices for it. It is advisable to carefully study the devices that you will connect to the inverter: how much power they need at startup, in normal mode and at peak.

Also take into account that the voltage depends on the power of the inverter, and only the most powerful ones can produce 220V more or less stably.

Xiaomi Mi Car Inverter Mijia from the inside

3) Understand the model of its use. A cigarette lighter in a car usually produces no more than 100W, so when buying an inverter that will connect to it, pay attention to this.

If you need something more powerful, think about what and how will be connected there, where the outlet should be: inside the cabin or not - all this will greatly affect your choice.

Xiaomi Mijia SMARTMI

4) Pay attention to his brand. The normal inverter is equipped with short circuit and overheating protection, the Chinese of unknown origin is not.

It is best to look for a suitable model in large chain stores, there you will definitely not be given something frankly wild.

If you adore AliExpress, be sure to pay attention to Xiaomi inverters:

Xiaomi Mi Car Inverter Mijia (3 550 rubles) - an inverter for a cup holder
Xiaomi Mijia SMARTMI (3 350 rubles) - traditional inverter

Both inverters are 100W - they are connected to the cigarette lighter just for mobile gadgets.

Xiaomi Mi Car Inverter Mijia

5) Check the outlet type of the inverter. Look, for example, in the Xiaomi Mi Car Inverter Mijia, the cup holder is not our socket, so you need an adapter.

But Xiaomi Mijia SMARTMI has a universal input for any plugs, but a completely different form factor. Choose what you like best if you are considering Xiaomi.

6) Check out the add. inverter features. Expensive inverters offer a lot of auxiliary features: information screens, voltage changes and USB. If this is not necessary, do not overpay.

I like USB cigarette lighter inverters. On the one hand, you get a full-fledged outlet, on the other hand, you do not lose the interface for charging your iPhone.

An inverter is a complex device and must be used correctly

A significant part of mobile electronic devices have the ability to power or charge batteries from a car cigarette lighter. Everyone knows and car cables for charging cell phones, and power supplies for laptops and various accessories powered by the car network. But there is only one voltage in the car - 12 Volts DC, which means that not all devices are capable of being powered from the car network. For example, a TV set, an electric drill or even an ordinary home desktop computer will require normal power supply with a Euro-socket with a voltage of 220 Volts and a frequency of 50 Hz. Whenever you want to go out into nature and watch TV there, work at a computer and turn on an electric lamp, you will certainly start looking for a car TV, a laptop, and 12-volt lamps. And car accessories are much more expensive than ordinary ones. Take TVs for example: a 15-inch home TV receiver will cost you several times cheaper than a car TV with a smaller screen size and much worse sound. The task is clear - it is desirable to get 220 V AC from the car. But how to do it?

Recently, corresponding devices, inverters, began to appear on the market. In ordinary language, these are DC-to-AC converters with a voltage increase from 12 V to 220 V. Today we will consider such a device from Neodrive, a new company in the Russian market that offers customers a full range of electronic accessories for both computers and home use. ... So to speak, devices of the "Home Entertainment" class.

Inverter working principle

The principle of the inverter is based on the ability of a thyristor to close and open a circuit by randomly applying pulses to its control electrode. In theory, the inverter can deliver any output frequency: 50 Hz for Russia and Europe, 60 Hz for the United States, or even 400 Hz for special purpose industrial devices. It is more interesting for us to get the frequency of 50 Hz, at which modern household appliances work for the markets of Russia, Asia and Europe. Inverters have the ability to increase the voltage and regulate it with some accuracy. For example, inverters used in modding neon lights convert 12 volts direct current to several thousand volts alternating current. Typically, the efficiency of the inverter is 90-95%, so these devices have not very large heating losses.

The inverter at the output cannot produce a pure sine wave of voltage. Typically, an approximated sinusoid is obtained, made up of many steps. But this should not be feared, since almost all household appliances do not require ideal voltage quality.

Power consumption of typical household appliances

A car inverter is, if not an essential item, like a first aid kit or a spare tire, then it is very useful. It is quite possible that soon cars will be equipped with a 220 V outlet by default, but for now we have the opportunity to choose for ourselves which device we need to connect in field conditions. Based on how much power you need to supply, and you need to choose an inverter. After all, it is quite clear that you cannot connect a kilowatt heater to a device designed for 50 watts - it will simply burn out. But it also makes no sense to buy a device that is too powerful to save space in the car, and even more - perhaps a powerful inverter will be too inconvenient for you. So let's first define the power you need.

Typical power consumption of modern devices
Device	Power consumption, W
Voice Recorder / CD - Player / Walkman / Shaver
Energy saving lamp (100W equivalent)
Radio, cassette recorder
Portable DVD player with 7 "color screen	22
Camcorder charger	23
Mobile phone charger	25
Cordless drill charger	35
Video recorder	38-40
Desktop fan	30-40
Color TV 37 cm	50
Color TV 51 cm	72
Laptop	60-80
Halogen work lamp	100
Soldering iron	120
DVD-player + 6-channel acoustics	130
Hand mixer	180
Polishing machine	230
Water pump	250
Desktop personal computer	280
Grinder	300
Home vacuum cleaner	from 600
Fan heater	1400

As you can see from the table, even a few devices that can help you on vacation will not consume more than 100 watts in total. Typically, low-power devices are those that you can use all the time, even while driving in your car. For example, your passengers can work on a laptop, listen to a player or watch a portable DVD player without fear of running out of batteries. Naturally, you will need an electrical outlet in the cabin, that is, the inverter must be connected to the car cigarette lighter socket. But car wiring, especially in domestic cars, is not designed for long-term heavy loads, so in order not to damage the cigarette lighter socket, more powerful inverters are connected directly to the battery terminals.

Neodrive car inverters

Neodrive offers users a wide range of automotive inverters ranging from 75W and above. Inverters with power up to 100 W inclusive are connected to a car cigarette lighter so that it is convenient to use simple household appliances such as a laptop, TV, tape recorder or electric shaver.

More powerful inverters, which you can use for both heaters and hand tools, only connect to the battery terminals to avoid stressing the car wiring.

Accordingly, the implementations of these devices are different: a more serious and more powerful one looks like an industrial device and an inverter with a power of up to 100 W, simpler like a toy. All Neodrive car inverters have hardware protection against overloads and overheating, as well as protection against the discharge of the car battery. The inverter itself will inform you about the voltage drop on the battery (about 10.5 Volts) and when the voltage at the terminals drops to 10.1 Volts, the inverter will turn off the power so as not to discharge the battery and give you the opportunity to start the car.

Today in our test lab is languishing a 300-watt Neodrive inverter, which we will now review.

Neodrive 300w inverter

Neodrive's 300-watt car inverter at the time of writing was one of the most powerful DC-to-AC converters in the company's range (there are also 500-watt models). This device is supplied in a transparent blister (heavy polyethylene packaging).

The inverter comes with a user manual, connecting wires and a 40 Amp fuse.

Since this is a powerful 300-watt inverter, it is connected only to the battery terminals with powerful cables with alligator clips.

The inverter itself has an aluminum housing with dimensions of 170x120x52 mm and weighs almost 750 grams. On the front side there is one universal socket with grounding, into which both European and Russian plugs are connected. To the right of the outlet there is an indication of the device's operation and a switch. As we have already said, the inverter has protection against switching on for a short circuit, against deep discharge of the battery, against overheating and overload.

On the back are the terminals for connecting the battery power supply, an overload fuse and a fan. The inverter uses a type of fuse familiar to motorists.

There is one 40 amp fuse installed here. In more powerful inverters, there may be several of them, and in less powerful ones, the fuses are designed for a lower current.

We connect and draw conclusions

Connecting a 300 watt inverter will be as easy as getting to your car's battery. And this has its pros and cons. For example, in many foreign cars, the batteries are installed not under the hood, but under one of the seats or in the trunk. Access there may be difficult. It would be logical to complete inverters with two types of power cables: from the cigarette lighter (with maximum current limitation) and from the battery. In this case, for example, to turn on the TV in the car, you do not have to pull the wires from under the hood or trunk into the passenger compartment. But if necessary, it will be possible to connect the inverter to the battery and get full power.

It is very convenient that the inverter will not let you drain your car battery. Agree, it will not be pleasant to stay in nature when the engine does not start. The instructions say that some devices will have to be turned on several times in a row before they work normally. We connected a tape recorder and a TV - no problems arose. When the load is close to maximum, from time to time you have to start the engine for 10-15 minutes to recharge the battery.

When starting the engine, disconnect the inverter from the battery to avoid damage to the battery. It is also not recommended to turn it on under load. That is, first connect the inverter to the battery, and then connect the load to it.

In general, Neodrive inverters are devices that should be in your car along with a first aid kit and a spare wheel. On the road, on vacation or just in the garage, you can always get 220 V AC to recharge the batteries of phones and photo and video cameras, work with a power tool or watch TV.

We would like to thank NEODRIVE for providing the car inverter.

Mikhail Degtyarev (aka LIKE OFF)
15/11.2004

Modern living conditions require us to constantly move within the city, travel on business trips over long distances, travel to different countries of the world. Thanks to a personal car, any trip turns into an exciting tour, during which you can enjoy marvelous landscapes, learn new sights. During the planned trip, a person must remain in touch all the time, and also be able to use the necessary set of electrical appliances for their needs and requirements. Uninterrupted supply of current and excellent operation of any electrical equipment will be provided by a car inverter, which compares favorably with a standard cigarette lighter used everywhere.

What is an inverter and what is it for.

A car inverter is a special device that converts the output current from a car battery with a standard voltage of 12 volts into an acceptable current for modern electrical appliances and digital devices. The classic output power is considered to be 110/220 W. The effective operation and recharging of various power tools, pumps, video and audio equipment, laptops, tablets, phones, even microwaves and toasters, taken with you on the road, is ensured by a voltage of 220 units. Each car inverter has a built-in protection system that protects the device from overload, overheating and high power voltage. This allows the car enthusiast to use one inverter for many years to connect a wide variety of electronic equipment.

Car inverters are attached to the battery inside the car using special clamps or terminals that usually come with the device. Also, some low-power models have the ability to connect directly to the cigarette lighter socket, but such devices are only suitable for long-term recharging of a mobile phone and nothing more. In this article, we will focus on the classic 12-220 W inverters. In our store it is possible with both types of connections.

Some features of choosing a device.
The choice of a high-quality car inverter can take a car enthusiast some time, since the automotive market is replete with variety today and it is very difficult to figure out which model of the inverter will last for many years. First of all, when choosing a car inverter, you must pay attention to its technical data, reflected in the attached data sheet. The output current of the inverter most often forms a modified sine wave, which will eventually cause the failure of all electronic equipment connected to the inverter. The first criterion for the quality of an inverter is the pure sine of the converted current. The price of a device with a pure sine output will be an order of magnitude higher than the cost of classic car inverters, however, due to the high efficiency of current conversion, such a device will last much longer and keep all electrical appliances in working order.

When buying a car inverter, you should test it for maximum power output. So, for example, a device with characteristics of 12 V - 220 W at the highest load can produce a voltage of only 196 W. The power of the inverter should not exceed the power ratings of the car generator, but at the same time have a voltage that is twice as high as compared to the current consumption device used.
Before starting testing, the inverter must be turned off, because when the car engine is turned on, a strong voltage surge occurs from the on-board network, as a result of which the turned on inverter can simply burn out. During the test, the starting current is increased to determine the maximum voltage that can come from the device. This check is especially recommended for those who are going to connect electrical appliances of various power to a car inverter.

You should also take into account the fact that the higher the output voltage is designed for the car inverter, the more electricity it will “pump out” from the car systems. In this case, to maintain the operation of the inverter, it will be necessary to increase the engine speed (if it was previously turned on at idle speed), which will lead to increased fuel consumption. Some appliances may also use the electricity in the car battery, thereby discharging it faster. These aspects, perhaps, can be attributed to the disadvantages of almost all car inverters, since the very principle of their operation directly depends on the voltage that is produced by the car generator. The assortment in our online store includes models with a capacity from 150 to 700 watts.

What else should you pay attention to?
A high-quality inverter is equipped with protection against overloads, short circuits in the network, overheating, exceeding or decreasing the input voltage. A built-in warning signal about possible malfunctions or a decrease in battery power will allow the car owner to instantly eliminate the malfunction. If the autogenerator gives less current to the inverter, the car battery will quickly drain even when the engine is running.

Many inverter manufacturers focus on the external design of the device, while leaving the main function of the device - current conversion - unfinished. As a result, it turns out that by purchasing an inverter capable of processing a 12 V battery into 220 W, a person cannot simply charge a phone or boil a kettle, since the maximum power does not correspond to the specified one. When choosing an inverter, it is important to focus not on a presentable appearance, but on the internal filling, which will ensure the effective use of all the necessary devices.

The choice of a car inverter must be approached consciously and understand for what purposes it will need to be used. If you are thinking of a universal device for equipment of any power, models that are more expensive, but at the same time more powerful, will suit you. If your goal is to use an inverter as a source for recharging digital devices, the best purchase option for you is a 150-300 W car inverter.

For many decades, motorists and outdoor enthusiasts dreamed that they could take a TV and other household appliances with them. This dream came true thanks to modern PWM controllers, on which they began to make step-up voltage converters from 12 to 220 volts. The efficiency reaches 95%, which makes it possible to efficiently use the energy of even a small battery.

Thanks to the Chinese, online stores are inundated with 12 to 220 volt car inverters. But as you know, they like to overcharge and sell Chinese Watts.

You can read about the main characteristics in the previous article "". Here we will consider the features of automotive converters that are most popular.

1. Power
2. Supply voltage
3. Sine wave shape
4. Sources of current
5. Functional check

Power

The declared power of cheap voltage converters from 12 to 220 is often overestimated or is the maximum power. The seller can simply keep silent about this, and you will find out about it after it burns out. Most of you don't need 1000 or 5000 watts, 500W is enough.

The use of the inverter is not limited only to the car, it can be installed at home and in the country. We are primarily interested in the possibility of connecting LED lamps and LED lamps. Most readers do not want to buy specialized 12V bulbs and spotlights, because they will rarely have to be used. It is rational to purchase them only with frequent use.

Periodically I look at the change in the assortment in stores, I met an inexpensive car inverter 12 to 220 at 500 watts. The price is too low, they cover up with a sale, I am 100% sure that the store is dark.

I decided to figure it out, it turned out:

500W is the maximum short-term for 1 minute.
360W - peak for 15 minutes;
240W is real long term power rating.

Do not install appliances with a power of more than 300 -500W with your own hands; an auto electrician should do this. It is too likely that you will burn something in the car.

At maximum load, you can measure the voltage at the output, with a weak one, it sags, and instead of 220, get a value lower.

Never use the device at full capacity, leave a margin of 10-20%. Only expensive converters have a stock. Take this into account when buying and calculating the load.

Thanks to the development of Chinese industry, now many domestic brands are selling consumer goods. Some brands of Russia belong to the Chinese, they have already bought up half of the world. Consumer goods - this is a finished product taken at a Chinese factory and the name of its brand is put and sold in Russia. Therefore, the same models are sold under different names.

Without load (idling), the boost current converter has a fairly high power consumption. This indicator can be from 5W to 15W, the current, respectively, up to 1A. It can completely drop your source if you forget to turn it off.

Supply voltage

The input voltage of the auto-inverter is usually 10 to 15 volts. For trucks you need from 24 to 220. The thickness of the wires going from the battery to the inverter at 24V will be 2 times less, a small plus for heavy trucks. The car must have protection against surges in the car's electrical network.

Pay particular attention to the thickness of the wires going from the battery to the voltage converter. Thin thickness can cause overheating. I usually think that the cross section of the copper cable is equal to the number of Amperes. For example, if the cross section is 1.5mm 2, then the cable holds up to 15A. If the power of the car inverter is 500W, then its total consumption from the battery will be 20% more.

500W * 1.2 = 600W
600W / 12V = 50A

With a maximum load on the inverter of 500W, the current through the cable from the car battery will be 50 Amperes. The cross-section of the copper cable is required 5mm 2. If it is less than required, then the cable will heat up, the insulation will melt. The short circuit of the autoaccumulator is accompanied by a whole fireworks of sparks and sound special effects. It turns out like welding, the metal heats up and melts.

The on-board computer of some cars does not tolerate low supply voltage very well. This happened not very long ago with a relative on Renault Koleos, the power subsided and the on-board computer burned out, and the car became half-dead. The official dealer offered only the replacement of the entire block in full at a cost of 100,000 rubles. I had to contact an electronics engineer who soldered the microcircuit for 5000 rubles and everything worked again.

Sine wave shape

Pure sine and modified sine wave

Some readers are asking which sine wave at the output of a 12V 220V inverter is better, rectangular or pure sine wave? Due to the nature of the conversion, the easiest thing is to get an alternating current with rectangular pulses with a frequency of 50 Hz. Of course, this is not a natural sinusoid like in a home network. Modern PWM controllers can make the shape almost natural, but consisting of short pulses, the so-called pure sine wave. Not every electrical appliance will be able to work correctly on a square sine. Electric motors, refrigerators, microwave ovens refuse to work properly.

Indicators for additional control

A pure sine wave in an auto-inverter 12 220v is preferable, all electrical devices are designed for it, but these are much more expensive. The modified sine wave causes the circuits to run abnormally. The heating of radio-electronic parts increases, the chokes begin to make noise. Similar results can be obtained by dimming an LED lamp that does not support dimming. At 160V, the LED lamp starts flashing and popping violently.

Sources of current

The main battery of the vehicle is usually used as a power source. I often have to communicate with auto electricians and sometimes engage in diagnostics of on-board electronics of transport with special diagnostic devices.

I recommend using a separate 12v battery to power the current converter. Often they forget to disconnect the inverter itself or the load from it, and it completely drains the main battery of the car under the hood. It lands very strongly, then it is very difficult to start the engine when there is nothing to light it with.

nominal capacity 55 Ampere hours;
maximum current 500A, affects the output of current to the starter when starting the engine;
rated voltage 12V.
energy reserve of fully charged 12V * 55Ah = 660W

I know the power of your source, you can calculate the approximate running time. Just do not plant it too much below 11V, otherwise it will greatly reduce its service life. Store the battery only in a charged state.

To control the remaining capacity, a window is made on the case, in which the indicator in red and green shows the current state.

The battery does not need high starting current and stable operation at low temperatures to power the boost converter. This will help you save money and take more capacity. Excellent parameters are required only for operation in remote areas of the far north, when at low temperatures the capacity and current decrease.

Many of you know that according to the Law and Consumer Protection, some goods can be returned back within 14 days if you do not like the color, shape or current strength. They ask me if it is possible to buy a battery, use it for a week at the dacha and then return it back to the store with a refund. It will be possible to get the money back according to the law only if it is not possible to exchange it for a similar product.

Functional check

LED lighting

The service life of an auto-inverter 12 220V depends on the degree of protection against moisture and dust. There is a lot of dust, humid air and condensation in the car. If the case has ventilation holes, dirt can easily accumulate inside. An example is a system unit from a computer, which has to be cleaned every six months.

If it stopped working, then do the following:

read the instructions, the manufacturer could mess with the functionality;
wait for the inverter to cool down;
check for a short circuit, wires in electrical plugs usually fall off;
check the booster fuse, even if it is reusable;
ring the cigarette lighter fuse;
look at the indicators of the operating mode, they can suggest a malfunction.

After purchasing, I recommend that you immediately check it to work with a nominal load. To do this, connect an incandescent lamp of suitable power to it. For example, 2-5 incandescent bulbs per 100W. Let them work for 30 minutes, during this time the car inverter 12 220V should warm up to the operating temperature if the surrounding atmosphere is above 0 degrees.

Wattmeter Robiton PM-2

You can control the amount of watts consumed on the indicator of the voltage converter from 12V to 220V, it is available in expensive models. It's easier to buy a 220V household wattmeter and connect it. I am using Robiton PM-2, very high accuracy up to 0.1W, others count much worse. The cost of the Robiton PM-2 is equal to the cheapest Chinese wattmeter, and the accuracy is much higher.

Separate built-in modules of a voltmeter and an ammeter are also sold, but they cost a little more than 600 rubles. For this amount, you can buy 2 of the simplest multimeters such as B830, B831. Then connect them, as your imagination allows, by tying them to the inverter body with nano-tape.

The number of electrical and electronic devices that a person needs every day is constantly growing. Suffice it to recall a few of the most common: a razor, a smartphone, a laptop, a camera.

Some of them have built-in low-power batteries and can be charged from low voltage current. For them, the manufacturer, as a rule, provides a charger that works from a car cigarette lighter socket. However, there are those that can only work from a household network, since they consume a fairly large current when charging the battery. Such devices include, for example, most of the laptops.

In addition, many household appliances that may be needed on a long journey can only be operated from a household network with an alternating stabilized voltage of 220 volts and a frequency of 50 hertz.

An inverter connected to the on-board network, in fact, makes it possible to have a regular household outlet in the car.

The stringent requirements for the electrical grid are usually due to the presence of electrical components, such as pumps or compressors, which simply cannot handle poor quality electricity and fail quickly. Therefore, they require a device that not only converts 12 volts into 220, but also outputs a current corresponding to a number of parameters at the output.

What is an inverter and what is it used for?

A 12-volt direct current flows in the vehicle's on-board network. An inverter connected to the on-board network, in fact, makes it possible to have a regular household outlet in the car, into which household appliances and tools can be plugged in: computers, phone chargers, microwave ovens, refrigerators, etc.

Inverters should be selected depending on what devices will be used with them.

There are practically no restrictions on the use of technology, but you must always imagine how much a particular device consumes in order to use an inverter designed for such consumption with it, since, for example, you cannot turn on a refrigerator in a low-power inverter - it will simply blow out the fuses.

Classification of inverters by the power of the connected consumers and the type of connection to the on-board network

The correct selection of the inverter determines not only its long and trouble-free operation, but also the safety of the car network. Inverters should be selected depending on what devices will be used with them. For information on average and peak power consumption (peak power consumption is the maximum power that can be consumed by a device, usually equipped with an electric motor or other component that needs to be started), refer to the user manual, in the section “General Specifications”. In accordance with these parameters, the inverter should be selected.

If the user manual for the device says that the peak power is 500 watts with an average power of 300 watts, then you need to buy an inverter for 1 kW, with a margin. On the one hand, the device will be guaranteed to start and work, on the other hand, using the inverter, you will act within the framework of safety measures.

There are two main directions for the classification of inverters - according to the total power of the connected consumers (200 V, 1 kW, and so on), and according to the type of connection - to the cigarette lighter socket using special power wires equipped with clamps. These two parameters are directly related - inverters with an output power of up to 200 watts are connected to the cigarette lighter, more powerful ones - to the battery terminals. This division is due to the fact that the wires leading to the cigarette lighter socket are not designed for high consumption, and if you plug in a high-power inverter, they will start to warm up, and if the fuse does not work in time, they may melt.

How to properly install and use the inverter

There are no special requirements for the use of low-power inverters that are connected to the cigarette lighter socket. The temperature range in which they can work is from -15 to +50 degrees in normal humidity conditions. Do not leave a working device in direct sunlight. It is also not recommended to hide it in drawers and under the seats, since during operation the inverter heats up, and heat, in order to avoid turning off the device, should be freely removed from the body by the air circulating in the passenger compartment.

In principle, all the same requirements apply to more powerful inverters that are connected to the battery terminals. There are also specific important requirements: you cannot turn on the ignition of the car and start the engine if the inverter is connected to an unmounted battery to which the car's wiring terminals are connected.

In principle, the inverter is equipped with protection against most abnormal situations. For example, when the current at the input drops to a voltage of less than 11 volts, a signaling device on the inverter case lights up, and if the voltage drop becomes critical, an audible signal can also be given. Protection against overheating and short circuit is also provided.

What devices can be connected to the inverter and what are the restrictions

Most household appliances, especially electronic ones, are undemanding to the "quality" of the electric current in the network and do not have peak load modes. However, audio equipment, for example, works well on household power and may not work well if connected to an inverter.

The point here is one of the parameters of the current output from the inverter, which is called a sine wave. Without going into technical details, we can say that this sine wave is the reference one in the household electrical network. However, most of the inverters on the market are structurally unable to supply a current with a perfect sine wave. If this parameter is still comparable to a household network, the device will be very expensive. The current of most inverters has a modified sine wave, which means that, for example, extraneous noise, the so-called pickup, may appear in the sound of the speakers of an audio system.

Some types of pumps and a number of electrical components do not like a modified sinusoid. However, the shape of the sinusoid does not affect the operation of the vast majority of devices. As a rule, all limitations are described in the instruction manual of the inverter.

Thus, in order to find the right inverter, you need to do some simple calculations. It is necessary to calculate the total consumption of all devices that you are going to include in it. Moreover, if electrical appliances have a peak load parameter, you need to buy an inverter taking into account this particular parameter. In addition, a certain margin must be included in the calculation, since the documented peak load, for example, of the refrigerator at the moment the compressor starts, may differ from the declared one. In case of correct calculation of consumption, the device is guaranteed to "pull" everything that you include in it.

It remains only to say about the battery life without recharging. This is best done with an example. A 2 kW car inverter is capable of powering a suburban boiler room with an estimated estimated consumption of 800 watts for approximately 2 hours from a 60 Ah battery, assuming the battery is in good working order. After this time, it is necessary to have a replaceable additional battery on hand.