I saw a 300w inverter at Jaycar earlier for $70 which isn't too bad a sting, but they were run off their feet and I didn't have time to wait around to ask them a few Qs.

Might go back and snap it up.

for running lots of special electronics like these go for a pure sine wave inverter, will cost a fair chunk more but the ac output is of much better quality

for running lots of special electronics like these go for a pure sine wave inverter, will cost a fair chunk more but the ac output is of much better quality

I was in Ray's Outdoor yesterday, they have a 600w for $99... i nearly bought one... but wasnt sure about how much i could run off it... but if a 300w will run a drill, i might go for 600w, just for that added extra.. wonder if it will run off a standard 10amp ciggy socket...

depends on how many watts the drill is
then you need to double it for start up current, so 900w might be good

then 900w plus 20% for losses in teh inverter = 1080w

1080w / 12v = 90 amp, aint getting that from any socket
just get a cordless drill

Ahhh ok... well its gonna need its own dedicated power supply... yep i have a 14.4v cordless drill that i carry in the back of the GV, would just be nice to know i could use a drill with grunt and speed, or even a grinder, if i had too.... but no biggy... i like to prepare for the worst, or those unseen and surprising happenings when one is furthest from help, Murphys Law....

Just run your cordless drill off the car battery, works fine and heaps of poke

Without sine wave, your lap top will probably not run, many gensets I have seen cannot power a laptop.

How, besides its different voltage, how do you hook it up.

There is nothing wrong in using a stepped sine wave as the laptop power supply filters out any noise.
Most things you use with a plug pack use a switched regulator which is noisy anyway

Though I dont like converting voltage to covert to another voltage, ebay 12v laptop supply are cheap and mine at least works well, maybe you hard drive and charger will run from 12v anyway

There is nothing wrong in using a stepped sine wave as the laptop power supply filters out any noise.
Most things you use with a plug pack use a switched regulator which is noisy anyway

I am looking at doing a group buy on these if anyone is interested:
http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.as ... rm=KEYWORD
I will be able to get them for under $300.

I don't buy from Jaycar, I buy from the wholesaler and use a rep to buy things through (hence the better than normal trade prices). I have been doing business with them for 10 years and haven't had any issues! Sounds like you got a bit of a retard manager.

I brought a inverter from Jaycar and it was dead from the box - I took it back to the dealer a mate of mine - he sent it back and because there were some little scratches around the mounting holes (It was a wall mount one) they said it had been miss treated and the warranty was void.

I was $800 out of pocket and would never buy anything from them again - Tony

they will all say the current draw on em, add em up and get the next size bigger

its best to get something that you can return as well, I believe some things dont like some inverters

Though I dont like converting voltage to covert to another voltage, ebay 12v laptop supply are cheap and mine at least works well, maybe you hard drive and charger will run from 12v anyway