Power inverter ???

I received a power inverter. my idea is to charge my fish finder battery on camping trips and on the road my question is are they safe to use and can I power other things I'm new to inverters.

should be fine.  I've not had a problem with mine.

Heed any warnings that come with the device, especially about overloading.  It'll probably be internally protected against that, but it's still possible to pop the cigarette lighter fuse in your car (many come with battery terminal clamps for running higher loads).

Also, watch out for killing your car's battery. On the road charging will be the way to go when possible.

Oh, the only inherently problematic thing would be plugging in a device that requires a pure sine wave to function properly. Inverters at this level will be outputting stepped waveforms typically.

Off the top of my head, I can't think of anything that needs a pure sine wave that you might want on a fishing trip.

If you're going to sit and park a while be careful you don't drain your car battery. Maybe get a tester for your car battery.

+1 on the car running. I once charged a laptop using an inverter while waiting for my wife do a grocery run and it killed my battery fast.

Best way is get a second battery installed and isolate it with a solenoid so it is not connected to the cars main battery when the ignition is off. Use that for the inverter. Like they do in motor homes. Use a deep cycle so it can be drained while parked and once you start the car it reconnects to the cars system via the solenoid and charges. If you partially drain a car battery repeatedly it kills it way faster then you would believe. Car batteries are meant to give a fast pull then recharge right away. If your not electronically inclined most RV shops and some stereo shops might be able to hook up an extra battery and isolation system with the inverter.

Ps: you can jump your own car off the second battery if you leave your lights on DAMHIK!

Best way is get a second battery installed and isolate it with a solenoid so it is not connected to the cars main battery when the ignition is off. Use that for the inverter. Like they do in motor homes. Use a deep cycle so it can be drained while parked and once you start the car it reconnects to the cars system via the solenoid and charges. If you partially drain a car battery repeatedly it kills it way faster then you would believe. Car batteries are meant to give a fast pull then recharge right away. If your not electronically inclined most RV shops and some stereo shops might be able to hook up an extra battery and isolation system with the inverter.

Ps: you can jump your own car off the second battery if you leave your lights on DAMHIK!

Yup.  Your alternator might not be up for the task.  It probably wasn't designed to charge a deep cycle battery.  Don't be surprised if it fails after a few hundreds or thousands of miles. 

Pay attention to what you are hooking up to that inverter so you don't overload it.  That's pretty much the first thing I did with my first inverter.  It didn't work out very well - I blew the fuse on the cigarette lighter and couldn't blow up the air mattress, which did not impress my date on the camping trip and things did not go according to my grand plan.

I bought an inverter to charge my fish finder battery when I'm on the road, but it doesn't work when I plug it into a cigarette lighter plug in my vehicle.  I'm wondering if the wires which run to the cigarette lighter plug are too thin to handle the amperage which the inverter requires.  I had that problem with my ARB 12 volt freezer when I plugged it into a cigarette lighter plug, and solved the problem by buying a heavy ARB cable which goes directly from my car battery to the freezer.  I'm going to buy a special ARB plug so I can plug the inverter into the ARB cable, and will see if that works.

I bought an inverter to charge my fish finder battery when I'm on the road, but it doesn't work when I plug it into a cigarette lighter plug in my vehicle.  I'm wondering if the wires which run to the cigarette lighter plug are too thin to handle the amperage which the inverter requires.  I had that problem with my ARB 12 volt freezer when I plugged it into a cigarette lighter plug, and solved the problem by buying a heavy ARB cable which goes directly from my car battery to the freezer.  I'm going to buy a special ARB plug so I can plug the inverter into the ARB cable, and will see if that works.

A cigarette lighter pulls a lot of juice to heat up that burner red hot. If they put a cigarette lighter plug on it I would think it would work. Maybe there is some other problem.

I think that's a lot of overkill for charging a fish finder battery.  Most are about 7 amp batteries.  I took power off my cigarette lighter and put spades on the end to connect to my fish finder battery.  The outlet is fused with 10amp fuse, so I know my car's charging system won't be over drawn.  Pulling 7 amps max off a car's 100amp (approx) starter battery won't hurt or drain it enough to worry about. 

 

  Most todays car alternator's are typically 35-45 amps if that.  Truck alternators are a different beast. My truck has 160A alternator.  What its size, it'll be more than enough to charge a 7AH battery.  (Just don't let the battery get hot)

  Most todays car alternator's are typically 35-45 amps if that.  Truck alternators are a different beast. My truck has 160A alternator.  What its size, it'll be more than enough to charge a 7AH battery.  (Just don't let the battery get hot)

I was referring to mojo's idea about having a second deep cycle battery to run things when I said about the alternator not being suffient.  It's ample to charge a cell phone or standard 7ah SLA battery etc.  If you wantedthe deep cycle on a solenoid I suppose you could go with a wheelchair battery which is 35ah and would probably be sufficient unless you were running a television for a weekend for the kids while you are out fishing or something.

Thanks guys I guess there's alot to learn. But so far I think I'm safe while driving I have. Anew Toyota 4runner so I'm pretty sure it's a 120 amp alt

  Most todays car alternator's are typically 35-45 amps if that.  Truck alternators are a different beast. My truck has 160A alternator.  What its size, it'll be more than enough to charge a 7AH battery.  (Just don't let the battery get hot)

I was referring to mojo's idea about having a second deep cycle battery to run things when I said about the alternator not being suffient.  It's ample to charge a cell phone or standard 7ah SLA battery etc.  If you wantedthe deep cycle on a solenoid I suppose you could go with a wheelchair battery which is 35ah and would probably be sufficient unless you were running a television for a weekend for the kids while you are out fishing or something.

And I’ll tell ya... give a man a power outlet in the middle of nowhere and he’ll find more power draining stuff to plug in and use camping. Another DAMHIK