Quote:
Originally posted by Jason@Feb 22nd 2004 @ 12:05 PM
Jack,
Nothing specific. Just wondering if it would be possible. I never quite understood why there were special outlets in cars that didn't match with household outlets. Then again, I'm sure there's some scientific reason.
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Well, probably othe nly real reason is that few people take their blenders and toasters with them on their way to work!
An inverter takes DC current and makes it AC current. Of course, it also steps the voltage up (usually) along the way - we couldn't do much appliance-wise with 12vac. B)
You DO find them as normal equipment on campers, motor homes, etc though - because it is expected you will use household applianced away from home.
They are usually not too efficent though - some can be as bad as about 35% efficient, the expensive ones may run up in the 70-80% area - though newer designs are getting much better. Efficiency here means how much power in to create power out. The higher the efficiency, the longer you can run given equipment on a given battery and teh less heat it will produce as waste.
So - there really isn't much call for putting AC power in normal cars - though it can be useful. I was looking for a car power unit for a laptop once - the blasted thing for some reason (maybe it was those big three lettters, IBM) was about $180! So - since I already had the inverter for the car, I just plugged it in like I was at home or work and it did fine. A "no cost" solution. Of course, teh inverter ran me about the same amount, but I could run lots more than my (now defunct) laptop on it!
You know what the REALLY odd thing is? Most of the stuff (like the laptop) that we WANT to use in the car runs on DC anyway! And usually at a bit less than 12v as well. It is a mindset thing that forces us to bring DC up to AC so that the thing we plug in can convert that AC back into DC again! The exception of course is anything with an AC motor in it (blender, mixer) or high power heating items like toasters, ovens, etc.
But you know, some how, I just never have had a really strong desire to use my tablesaw while out on the highway in my Prius.
Jack