Want to put in an inverter. Need advice

Good afternoon! I am wanting to put an 110/120v inverter in our hawk shell. We have 2 large agm 110ah batteries powered by a 100w 30amp solar panel. That powers a couple 12v hookups along with lights a propex propane heater fan just fine. We’d like to hook up an inverter to the system. Potentially power a coffee maker, heated blanket small microwave etc. what do you all think I need for a size of an inverter? And what reliable brands are there? I see anywhere from 1000w-3000w pure sign. What size wire and if we need a fuse on the wire. Any help is appreciated! Thanks!

I use a AIMS 3000W pure sine inverter. 2G cables, 200A fuse. I can run an 1800W induction cooktop for about 30 minutes using my 200AH of Lithium batteries. Your two AGM would only be able to run it for 15 minutes. As you can see, running electric appliances requires a LOT of battery (or shore power).

As close to the batteries as you can. Not a good way to go for coffee. My 1250 watt inverter is not a pure sine wave and it runs my microwave just fine. You just want to run your appliances for a short time.

Btw, I'm pretty sure you aren't getting 30 amps out of a 100watt panel. I[SIZE=19.2px](A)[/SIZE] = P[SIZE=19.2px](W)[/SIZE] / V[SIZE=19.2px](V)[/SIZE]

Copy that. The plan is to run few small appliances for a short time. Thank you Vic. The large AGMs are 110 each totaling 220ah sorry I didn’t mention that. And ok I’ll look more into it. Yes I can see running those things can really drain it fast. And Craig what do you mean not a good way to go for coffee? As in it’s not worth it to electric brew coffee cause it’ll drain a lot of power? And why as close to the batteries as possible? Sorry for all the questions!

I’m not Craig, but I’ll take a stab at it.

If you’re not aware, to get the maximum life of your AGM batteries plan on discharging them no lower than 50% of their stated capacity. So at 220ah rated total you have 110ah available. Lithium batteries are a different story. The good thing about AGM batteries is they tend to have a lower self discharge rate, thus better storage life. If your solar array is regularly deployed that may not be much of an issue for you.

The closer to the batteries part is because the smaller the gauge of wire and/or the farther the terminal use is from the source, the more electric power that is lost to resistance in the wire.

I can only guess bad way for coffee is the amount of power. I’m fine with automatic coffee. My camp system won’t run a coffee maker but I’ll certainly bum from those who’s system will.

As for inverter size, most RV style microwaves I’m familiar with are 900-1000 watt. I have no idea what a blanket takes. Using the microwave as the anchor point, I’d look for a 1500 watt or up for no other reason than I’ve rarely gone wrong by getting stuff with some extra capacity. Somewhere on here are a couple discussions on inverters. What I remember from them is it’s not a 1 to 1 ratio of DC in to get AC out. True or not? I don’t know, hopefully those more knowledgeable on here will share.

Good luck with your decision.

Correct. Coffee makers take a lot of power over a lot of time to make coffee. Much better off to go with propane for this use.

Or if you can have a flame outside (!) a Kelly Kettle.

Close to the batteries to reduce line losses on the low (battery) voltage side.

Filter coffee with a large filter is as fast as a coffee maker and cleanup is far easier. For more than one cup, start a second cup while enjoying the first. Add a Wacaco nanopresso portable and make it an Americano. Starbucks eat your heart out.

Jack said:

Filter coffee with a large filter is as fast as a coffee maker and cleanup is far easier. For more than one cup, start a second cup while enjoying the first. Add a Wacaco nanopresso portable and make it an Americano. Starbucks eat your heart out.

Click to expand...

Also to note.. Electric coffee makes do not heat water to the desired temperature therefore making a sub-par cup of coffee.. pour over in my house for decades and camping coffee is the same, except somehow always tastes even better...