Power inverter question

[dilla]

is it safe to use a power inverter like this to charge your batteries when on the road instead of using the manufacturers dc battery charger ?

http://sactolounge.com/Pictures/power%20inverter.jpg
Owner manual
http://support.radioshack.com/support_supplies/doc69/69657.pdf

[robertwgross]

You might want to clarify your question, since batteries are not normally charged directly from an inverter output.

Maybe you are asking if you can use the inverter to convert a car's 12VDC to 115VAC, then apply that to an ordinary Canon battery charger which charges the ordinary BP511 style of battery. If so, the answer is that it works fine.

Normally the 115VAC output on an inverter like this is a little bit rough, and it is not a pure sine wave. Sensitive appliances might not like this rough power at all. However, a battery charger is not a sensitive appliance, and I would not worry about it at all.

On the other hand, there are non-Canon battery chargers around that run directly off the 12VDC car system, and they are much more efficient than trying to run the inverter.

---Bob Gross---

[dilla]

Yeah i want to plug it into the car's dc cigarette lighter i dont know about all the sine waves and all that, i was just wondering if its safe to use that to plug in a battery charger since i have 1 camera and 2 different video cameras all different brands figured it would be cheaper to buy the power inverter instead of 3 seperate dc battery chargers i mainly need it for my digi cam cause that one goes through the batteries quicker but i like the multipurpose value of the power inverter.

[Jon]

I run my laptop off one - with a line filter in place, of course. So I'd have no qualms about plugging my AC charger into it.

[robertwgross]

You might want to check the specifications of the inverter output and then compare that to the various charger inputs as loads. As long as each load, or the sum of the loads, is less then the continuous inverter output capability, then you are safe.

As an example, one particular charger of mine has a load of 22 volt-amperes. That is roughly equal to 22 watts. So, as long as you plugged it into an inverter capable of 22 watts continuous, then no problem.

I have three inverters, 100 watts, 400 watts, and 800 watts, so I can plug in any sort of little charger like this without a problem.

Really expensive inverters can output a pure sine wave. In other words, the AC power is really pure, but a simple charger doesn't care about pure or not.

---Bob Gross---