JKOwners Forum banner

Inverter

2K views 7 replies 6 participants last post by  JJS2 
#1 ·
Anyone ever use an DC to AC inverter through an SPOD?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
#2 ·
I have an SPod and bought an inverter to hook up a couple years ago. Never got around to installing the inverter, still in the box in my closet.

What is your question? I went with fairly low wattage, as the SPod is only good for 30-40 amps I believe. The amperage drawn by those inverters gets high quick as you increase the wattage. What wattage are you hoping to use? Anything over 300 watts or so and you would be better off wiring directly to the battery in my opinion.
 
#4 ·
Haha, nice. Yeah, inverters can draw some crazy amps.

My cousin and I took a road trip years ago and had a small fridge connected to an inverter in the back of our rental car. The inverter was wired directly to the battery and would run the fridge just fine, but the battery didn't have enough grunt on it's own to get the fridge pump started when the engine RPM was low. We'd be sitting at a light or in a parking lot and the low battery warning on the inverter would beep because the fridge was trying to start. We'd sit there revving the engine until the fridge started running. It was pretty funny.
 
#5 ·
You can use an SPOD to switch most inverters on/off no issues. Inverters over about 360 watts or so would need the power wires ran direct to battery, but assuming it has an on/off switch like most inverters do, and you don't mind doing a little disassembly, you could pop the face of the inverter off and wire the on/off switch into the SPOD while pulling power direct from the battery.

If you're only running a strand or two of Xmas mini lights, I'm sure you could get away with a low wattage (300 watt) inverter that could be powered directly into the SPOD if you really wanted to. If you really want to play it safe, stick with LED mini lights. Those don't draw much power at all. Just don't try and go all Clark Griswold on a low wattage inverter or you'll keep blowing fuses.
 
#8 · (Edited)
auxiliary lighting

I have used a Luminoodle for camp lighting: https://powerpractical.com/products/luminoodle-led-light-rope

These are powered by USB battery packs, so would require no CANBUS wiring - useable interior or exterior.

Some time after I bought my white-only lights, Power Practical came out with a selectable-color version.

With the colored version, one could buy two ropes - one to set to green, one red, for Christmastime. During other seasons, a sports fan could select his favorite team's colors. The colored sets cannot only select colors, but also have a dimmer.

I have used my own set, plus have given one each to my kids for car camping. No complaints from anyone.

My 5-foot white Luminoodle casts a fair amount of light. One probably could spend less by adapting some other Home Depot or Harbor Freight lights, also.


I also have a 12V cigar-lighter plug-in DC/AC converter, used for recharging a laptop. It has multiple outlets, so strings of lights could be used with that, too.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top