Hi Chris,

I have a 400Watt inverter in the westfakia, and it is a very handy
addition. I power the inverter from the second battery and route its
output through an A/B switch that lets me run the GFI'd receptacles
inside and outside of the bus from the inverter or shore power.

You can see the setup I am using here:
http://www.pottsfamily.ca/westfakia/

The new digital inverter I have now tells me the voltage out, the
battery voltage remaining and the number of watts of current being
supplied.

On 18-Aug-04, at 4:09 PM, Chris Paquette wrote:

> 1.) Is an inverter on all the time if connected to my second battery,
> or do they generally have an on/off switch? The concern here is that
> if it's on all the time, the inverter's cooling fan (if any) might
> come on intermittently during the night when I'm trying to sleep.

Depends on the model. They usually have an on-off switch. If you put
the unit in a cupboard it will be harder to hear it.

> 2.) Power consumption is dictated solely by what is connected to the
> inverter, and not the wattage of the inverter itself, correct? IOW, a
> Powermate 1200 won't drain my battery any faster than a Powermate 800
> if they each had the same items attached to them, correct?

Correct.

> 3.) Any problems/issues with permanently mounting an inverter to
> either side of the stove? Seems like that would be an ideal place to
> plug in the laptop, cell phone, etc.

I mounted my inverter in the back of the bus, and ran an extension cord
under the bus to power an outlet strip behind the drivers seat. My Dad
installed a 600W inverter behind the drivers seat on his Vanagon westy
and it works well for him and Mom.

> 4.) Finally, would the secondary battery (Optima deep-cycle marine)
> last long enough, assuming fully charged, to watch a long-ish (say, 3
> hour) DVD?

Yes. But that depends heavily on the draw of the display system. My
400W inverter is able to power a PS2 system and a 13" sylvania TV set
that is rated for a 57W draw. The kids can use the PS2 to play DVDs or
games while travelling. When parked a full charge has lasted 4 hours at
a car show. When the bus is running the dual relay keeps the inverter
powered up just fine. A larger or less efficient television will put a
heavier draw on the system.

If you use a laptop computer as your DVD player you can easily get by
on a 200W inverter, and you could probably watch 3 or 4 DVD''s.

>
> Thanks for any help,

My pleasure.

Happy trails,

Greg Potts
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

1973/74/79 Westfakia Conversion **Bob the Tomato**  LY3H
1977 Sunroof Automatic L63H/L90D
http://www.pottsfamily.ca/westfakia
http://www.busesofthecorn.com