What is a Power Inverter?

A Power Inverter connects to a 12 Volt (or sometimes 24 Volt) car, truck or boat battery and inverts the power to provide mains electricity.

Some Power Inverters connect directly to the battery, while some work through a in-car cigarette lighter. They have a 3 pin UK power socket and are used a lot for camping, caravans and boating trips. Different inverters have different outputs (measured in Watts). You need an inverter with enough wattage output to power the device you want to use.

Power inverters should never be connected to mains power! Only to 12V or 24V batteries. The exception to this would be an inverter charger which has a relay built into it.

There are two main kind of inverters - modified sine wave and pure sine wave. The modified sine wave inverters have the advantage of being much cheaper. The pure sine wave inverters more closely mimic the kind of AC current that you get from the mains. Pure Sine Wave Power Inverters work better with inductive loads such as fluorescent lighting and high power quick charge battery chargers. They also produce "cleaner" power, less prone to introducing interference to delicate or sensitive appliances.

Most can, van and leisure batteries are 12 Volts and need a 12V Inverter. Most truck, boat and bus batteries are 24 Volt and need a 24V inverter.

Do not use a modified sine wave inverter with fluorescent lighting! Fluorescent lights are a problem because they use a capacitive load. Mains fluorescent lighting has a shunt capacitor designed to correct their power factor when the lighting is connected to the mains. When used with a modified sine wave inverter this shunt capacitor can easily overload the inverter. If you must use an inverter with fluorescent lighting you must use a pure sine wave inverter only.

Do not use a modified sine wave inverter with AC/DC power tool chargers (especially Makita fast chargers) these do not work well with modified sine wave inverters. We have tested multiple brand of inverters including our complete line and some chargers can either get damaged being used on modified wave or damage the inverter.

See Also: Pure Sine Wave Power Inverters and Battery to Power Inverter Connection Leads.