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| 800 watt inverter powers necessities & a jam session!The electrical supply at my house is not very reliable, and after many frustrating times having no electrical power, I began investigating inverters. I initially bought a few cheep 400w Vector inverters, but two of them gave up the ghost very quickly, and the third is on its way out too. After this bad experience, I did some more research before purchasing another inverter, and AIMS inverters were recommended to me by someone on the online RE forum
Fieldlines.com. Anyway, the price was right so I decided to order the 800w MSW Aims inverter. It arrived promptly and I have been very pleased with it these last few months.
I have my 800w Aims and the almost-dead Vector connected to a large 12v truck battery. Also connected to this battery are two 12v lights and a small AC to DC charger to keep the battery topped up. I have this setup right next to my garage, and I have some very thick jumper cables running from the truck battery to the garage, so that during extended (1hr+) outages, I can run the inverters and charge the truck battery from my car alternator, by leaving the car idling. I was warned that this was not a good idea, but I have found that the car never gets too hot, and uses so little gas when idling that after running for two hours, I can barely notice a change on the gas gauge.
Then, I have some emergency CFLs spread throughout my house that are connected to the vector (it's so bad it can't handle more than that). I have them wired with a relay to that they come on automatically when the grid supply fails. This gives me enough light to make my way to the backup system, where I have a transfer switch connected to the 800w Aims. To this switch I have connected four 80w fluorescent light fixtures, a 27" TV, 2 computers and their various paraphernalia, and three fans. While the 800w cannot power all of these at the same time (although I have never tried), it certainly allows me to have bright light in several rooms, and the TV and the computer all on at the same time. The 800w powers these effortlessly. I have also found that it can power our not-so-small fridge and still have power left for a few lights and a computer! I just purchased a new 400w AIMS to power the two computer towers, so that I can run an extra computer as well.
Now I would quite like to order either the 1250w or 2500w inverters to power the water pump since our water supply also goes when electricity is out. Now I am looking at building a 12v generator from a 5hp Briggs and Stratton engine and several car alternators. This is because the car alternator only goes up to 85 amps, and I will be almost over that once I connect the 400w aims too.
My most memorable (and kinda fun) experience with my Aims inverter was one afternoon when we were supposed to have band practice. Electricity went and it looked like we would not be able to practice. However, I decided to see if the 800w inverter could power my 400w Peavey professional amplifier. I had never bothered to try it because I was afraid that the surge on the amplifier would be too much for the inverter. However, it powered not only the amp but a keyboard and 16ch mixer as well with no problems what so ever. We were able to jam (loud) for several hours while the rest of the neighborhood was in darkness! I know it is kind of mean but heck it was fun being the only ones on the street with lights, but to add to that jamming away while everyone else could not to anything!!
Stephen Nxxxxxxxx
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