The MSW RV inverter will run most of your gear, but not everything. Anything with a power brick, such as a laptop computer, will work fine.
All of your battery chargers will work, as will your hair dryer and small power tools. The TV will work, but depending on the particular TV and particular inverter, there be some lines running through the picture.
I have operated two different microwaves with two different MSW inverters, but I have heard of problems with some combinations. With one exception, modern electric blankets with digital controls absolutely will be destroyed.
If you can still find a blanket with the old analog control, it will work. The one exception is the Soft Heat blanket from Perfect Fit. It uses an 18 volt power brick and will work with a MSW. It is a little more expensive than most, but is a very nice blanket.
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How Big of an Inverter Do You Need?
Inverters are available in almost any size, but unless you have a huge battery bank, anything over about 3000 watts will use too much battery power to be practical.
To decide what size you need, check the wattage requirements of what you want to power, and get an inverter that is a little bit larger. Forget about running the air conditioner, but almost anything else is reasonable.
Each RV inverter will have a continuous rating and a peak rating. Mostly, you want to look at the continuous rating, but microwaves, power tools, air compressors, and some other devices will require a higher peak rating.
The typical power power consumption of devices that you might want to be running are listed below. Simply add up the wattage of everything that you might want to be operating at the same time.
RV Inverter: Power Consumption Diagram
| Device | ||
|---|---|---|
| Microwave Oven | ||
| Queen electric blanket | ||
| Coffee pot | ||
| TV | ||
| DVD | ||
| Computer | ||
| Hair Dryer | ||
| Cell phone charger | ||
| Table 1 |
A more robust list of RV appliances and their power requirements.
What Are Your Power Requirements?
You also want to determine if you have enough battery power available. There isn’t much point in installing a 3,000 watt inverter if the 250 amps needed to supply it will run down your batteries in half an hour.
To estimate your anticipated power consumption, take the current (from column 3), multiply by the number of hours per day that you expect to use it. Add up that figure for each device, and compare the total to the Amp-Hour rating of your battery bank.
You will also want to check the efficiency of the RV inverter that you are selecting. Because the process of converting from 12 VDC to 120 VAC generates heat, the inverter will always draw more watts from the batteries than it putts out. Some brands have greater losses than others. Read the specifications carefully.
Be aware that a RV inverter uses some battery power whenever it is turned on, even if nothing is connected to it. You want to be able turn it off whenever it is not being used. Some large inverters have an optional remote on/off switch.
I bought my remote after the first time I had to go outside to turn it on in the middle of a cold night, while bare footed and in my underwear. If you will be installing your inverter in an outside battery compartment, or anyplace else that is not easy to reach, you will definitely want one with this feature.
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The bells and whistles on the different models vary considerably. Some may have digital displays to indicate the battery voltage and power output. Others display the same information with bar graphs. Some keep cool with fans that run continuously. Others save a little power by switching the fan on and off with a thermostat.
Most Recommended Brands for the Best RV Inverter
MAGNUM – 3 Year warranty and made in the U.S.A.
They manufacturer both TSW and MSW inverters along with combo units with chargers. Well regarded by RV technicians.
OUTBACK – 5 Year warranty. Also with a full line of RV inverter/charger products. Highly rated.
XANTREX – 2 Year warranty on most products. Full line of RV power products.
Historically great products though recently the company was sold so some have went with other options.
Its not to say that there are not other brands that may work well for your application, just that the brands above are time tested by other RV’ers to be the absolute toughest, best performing, and offer the best warranty in their class.
You should consider Amazon.com, Campingworld.com and Invertersrus.com to ensure you get what is right for you at the best price.
Summing Up RV Power Inverters
The scope of this article is to offer a better understanding of the different options and considerations when looking for a RV inverter.
Once you have narrowed your search for your RV inverter you may want to keep an eye out for my follow up article which will review the process for installing your RV inverter.
Be sure to read PART 2 of this RV Inverter series where I explore options for installing your RV inverter.
So, I am brand new to all of this but want to see if my thinking is correct. I just bought a 08 dodge sprinter that I will be converting over the next few months. I am not looking to put a microwave in it, only a fridge, tv, DVD player and some outlets. My idea is to run a two battery (deep cycle marine) bank in addition to the main engine battery, with a 1000w inverter off of it. I will be able to recharge off the engine daily, but with the engine off at night, will this be enough to power my needs? Really appreciate any feedback as, like I say, I am VERY new to all of this
Joel,thanks for sharing your knowledge! I am planning to purchase and renovate/update a mid 90″s Airstream Ecella 1000 for both personal and business uses. I will be visiting this page often as I modernise the trailer for off the grid comfort.
I am converting a 12 passenger bus to transport my elderly parents.
They want a power lift recliner which has a 1.5 amp rating on 120 volts AC
I am installing two of these chairs.
what size inverter should I install?
Inverter size is measured in watts and should be large enough for the maximum combined power draw of your devices. There should be a watts rating plate on each appliance you have, so just add up those that can be running at the same time. Devices with motors or compressors may be rated in Volt-amps (VA). For estimating purposes add 10% to the VA rating and use that for the watts. For example, if the rating sticker says 200 VA, add 10% (20 VA) for a total of 220 watts.
Your microwave is the big power hog of the devices you mentioned, so a practical approach is to make the inverter large enough to handle the microwave and make sure the other devices are turned off for the brief time you will need to use the microwave. That allows you to buy a smaller inverter than otherwise necessary.
Your batteries are going to be the limiting factor in both amps and time. As the amp draw goes up, battery voltage falls and at some point the voltage will drop below the inverter’s minimum requirement (typically 10.5 dcv) and the inverter will shut off. The batteries also have to have enough stored energy to be able to sustain that amp rate for however long you need to run the devices, so you need enough amp-hours to last until you can recharge the batteries. An amp-hour is simply one amp for one hour, so a power draw of 100 amps for 0.5 hours is 50 amp-hours (AH). You can see that the microwave will quickly deplete even a large battery, whereas the DVD player uses very little AH.
A pair of typical RV batteries (Group 24 marine type) has an amp hour capacity of 170 when new and fully charged. After some use, this number usually decreases somewhat. In general you cannot use the full capacity without shortening the battery life, so the rule of thumb is to figure on 50% of the rated capacity. You can use 60-70% in a pinch, but if you do that often you will be buying new batteries fairly soon.
In practice I don’t think you will be able to run your microwave with just two batteries, at least not for more than a minute or two. The other devices should run nicely.
I am in the process of purchasing an ACE 29.2 and would like to add an inverter for when I dry camp. Looking to power a Cpap for 7hrs., 32″TV 3hrs, Micro 30 mins. DVD 2hrs. Coach is equipped with 2 house batts. I don’t know the amp hr cap. Approx. what size inverter would be appropriate. How do you monitor the batteries condition volts remaining in batts. Thanks new to RVinng
Thank you so much!!!