Quote:
Originally Posted by MS Fowler
Thanks all. ... My only real objection to the generator was that it was another piece of gas-powered equipment that I need to store and maintain. The inverter is just a box that mounts under the hood--out of sight, out of mind. ...
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Ummm, there's a "small" problem doing that. Depending on the unit you decide to buy, you'll probably see some inlets/outlets with little, tiny, boxed fans mounted there. Cooling is fairly critical with these things. Unless, of course, you don't mind replacing them on a regular basis. Being solid-state, those components (as well as the filtering capacitors) are items that don't take heat very well. The units I use sit in the passenger-side of the vehicle and I make my connections to the battery through a set of jumper cables, threaded from under the hood, up and through the passenger side window.
It is amazing what you'll see for temperatures under the hood. Well over 160° or better...depending on the outside, ambient air. And humidity will shut you down if the heat hasn't got to it first. Until I "remoted" the inverter setup, it would take about 15 minutes with the hood up and the engine off before I could comfortably touch the inverter to remove it. That particular inverter lasted less than 4 parades. Total running/sitting-under-hood time? About 9 hours in all...pretty expensive inverter...
Keep it cool. Then you'll be able to keep your cool.
