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3000-6000 WATT INVERTER

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a1mudpuppy

a1mudpuppy

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I do some gigging over here on the Nature Coast and I was talking to a fellow today that said he was going to get a inverter to run his four 500 watt light with. Now I run a Honda 2000 watt gen. to run my lights but this sounds like it could work. Has any one else done this before? $300 for a 3000-6000 watt inverter sounds a lot better that a $1000 generator!!!!
 
Whats gonna supply the invertor?
The motor altenator? How many amp's does the altenator make? For how long?
an amp is an amp.........invertor changes volts, causes heat...=loss of power
Hes not picking up anything......your Honda is the way to go....
 
He is going to have 2 sets of batterys , one for the motor and the other set to run the inverter. He said something about a using some sort of box to keep the one set of batterys from running down the other set of batterys. I haven't see what amps it takes but hey bring you battery charger and plug it in.
 
I sell batt, inverters, and generators for the up/scale boats, here in Destin. I can promise you that the Generator would be a lot less weight and way more fuel effecient than trying to tote the amount of batt required to run your lamp, unless you just plan on having it on for a few minutes.
 
Stay with the generator, Mudpuppy.

Generator breaks? You can still get home ........

K.
 
So you telling me that he wouldn't be able to run four 500 watt lights for say 6 hours on that inverter?

OH I plan on staying with it . It runs fine and about 6 hrs on a tank of fuel
 
A1, You know us in Citrus County each year put on a Airboat Christmas Parade, and when a "new" person rigs their boat with lights, he uses inverters. After he learns the hard way (blowing fuses, killing an alternater, etc.) he realizes a small generator is the ONLY way to go. Been there done that got the gen.

Also, been watching your bidding on E-Bay, Good luck you lucky dog.
Bob
 
500 watts x 4 lites = 2000 watts

2000 watts / 12 volts = 167 amp draw on the batteries assuming the inverter has 100% effeciency. It would probably be closer to 175 - 200 amp draw.

So, you would need a set of batteries that could put out 200 amps for 6 hours.

jim
 
The inverters are really nice for the smaller stuff you are using while the engine is running. I was running a SAAB Turbo with a NAD house power amp run by a 400 watt inverter with 10" woofers, 5 1/4" mids and 1 1/4" tweets in the back. Another way to do something and worked really nice. Inverters don't like to work at 40 below however and need to warm up first, same thing when sitting in 140 above temps. fan comes on and cools them off enough before they work. I havent used the big stuff and I know the prices are coming down but I think a generator is the way to go, who wants to put a really big alternator on thier airboat and have it running to supply what a little Honda could do quieter and cheaper.
 
a1 - He might be using a Perko switch to isolate one battery that is juicing the inverter. Run the engine off the other and keep it charged. Then every one in a while, fire up the engine, switch the Perko meter to charge the battery that was used to run the inverter until it is charged back up and change the inverter up to the one that was first running the engine. You can keep them charged up with that method for longer. Used to run 4 to 6 q-beams off one battery. No where near what he was doing, but it worked ok for us.

I would agree with Swampjet. With the weight of these generators going down, it might be the way to go. It seems the more electronics on the boat, the more there is to burn up or short out things.

And electrical gear that smokes just makes me nervous in a boat.
 
I am not suggesting that you do it for all the reasons already stated.

The electronics he referred to is called a battery isolator. you can read about it here:

http://www.lildevilmotorsports.com/...tor-200-amp-max-alternator-output-p-1514.html

You would need a big alternator:

http://www.alternatorparts.com/Extreme Duty Dual Rectifier CS-144 type.htm

You would also need a sizeable bank of batteries to support the system and the price would probably end up higher than your system, not to mention having high dc amperage running around on your boat which is a potential safety issue.

jim
 
I've often wondered why you could not take one of those generators, seperate the gas motor from the generator unit, and mount it under the motor and run it off the crankshaft pulley. Since those generators are heavy, maybe a longer belt and lower mounting.

You'd need some sort of clutch to disengage the generator when not in use.

But is this possible? Is it PRACTICAL?

Those little Honda (the little red suitcase one) generators are just so handy though. I use mine to fire up a halogen light all the time at the shop. Heck, many times it's easier to just get the generator out than run an extension cord when I need to cut a sample off a slab in the wharehouse. It runs a 15 amp grinder and a light just fine.

matt.
 
I think the speed of the engine on that little generator is regulated to provide the proper 60 cycle AC current.

Modern airliners do have AC electrical systems run by engine driven AC alternators. They use what is called a constant speed drive whch provides the alternator with the same speed regardless of the jet engine shaft speed. This maintains the proper 400 cycle per second line frequency.

Constant speed drives are mega$$$.

jim
 
I'm not sure about that constant speed thing on the generator Jim. I know that when I run it, (in eco-throttle mode) the motor speeds up with more load on it. If there is some kind of constant speed pulley system in it - I DON'T KNOW... but I can hear the little motor speeding up and slowing down as it get's used.

Mudpuppy, At the milk bus, Steve had the same little honda generator. Looks like a fat briefcase. U2000 or something like that? (Can't remember the model number, and I don't have mine in front of me) But he did an ingenious thing. He cut the fuel line to the internal tank, and put a fitting on the outside case of the generator, down near the rotating cut-off switch. The fitting is from an outboard boat motor, and he runs the generator from a 6 gallon portable boat tank (with the pump-up rubber ball in the line) Works great & will run for what looks like about 2 days at a time between refuelings.

matt.
 
Maybe he was refering to Hondas 2000 watt invertor type generator. A friend of mine has one and it works great .
 
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