Peak Power Inverter
2010
![1P 12V DC to 220V AC Power Inverter 1200W [2000W Peak]](http://www.radiogrit.com/images/e/360308418832_0.jpg)
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How long will an inverter last on a car battery?
I have a 400 watt 800 peak inverter. I also have a car battery with a full charge. I will be running a laptop, a dvd burner and a video camera. Any idea how long the battery will power the inverter? Is there any crazy way to tell? The equipment I am using will draw about 264 watts. (laptop is 110v at 1.5a, dvd 110v at .6 amp, and camera is 110v at .3 amps) Does the inverter generate 400w regardless of what i plug into it, or does it generate less watts if i plug less in. Will it last longer if I exclude the 1.5a laptop? The battery on the computer should last long enough with less performance, but the camera batt only last 45 min, and the dvd burner needs to run for about an hour and a half.
Do you think it will cut it? At minimum i need to run the dvd burner (.6 amp) for 1.5 hours and the camera (.3 amp) for 45 min. Thanks a lot.
Okay, here's how to tell. First, your equipment draws about 264 watts. A typical inverter is about 75% efficient, so it will need about 350 watts in to produce 264 watts out (264/.75).
Since the inverter's input is about 12V, it will need about 30A in to put 350 watts out. (350/12=29). If you know your battery's amp-hour rating, divided it by 30 to get the number of hours until the battery dies. Typical car batteries are 40-60 AH. So you would have one hour with plenty of charge left over to start the car.
I don't think your device will actually draw that much current though. Their ratings are the most they could ever draw (and in some cases, the most their power supply could draw powering any device). The laptop will only draw near that much if it's charging the battery.
My bet is your actual draw is more like 150 watts, for more like 15A draw and three hours without a problem. No modern devices draws its maximum input power unless it needs its maximum output power. They all have reasonably high efficiency. (Not too much more power in than power out.)
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