2000 Watt Continuous/4000 Watt Peak Power Inverter

will this inverter suffice with a stock alternator in the w123? did the alternators vary from year to year? what is a stock alternator rated at? Edit by me :must read previous responses....I saw that someone posted 55amps...Thanks

stupid question but if the unit is connected to the battery and no tools are running, is it still drawing on the battery? my power tool use is occasional, a few times here and there not a continuous production mode. Am I explaining myself correctly?

it would be great to drop an extension cord to the neighbor but that is also not in the equation either.

I run a 1000w unit in my truck, which has a measly 80-ish alternator and a 650CCA battery. I've had no problems with intermittent usage, everything is properly wired with 2ga copper and a circuit breaker. It has always run my angle grinder/ battery charger/ cell phone charger

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$60 OM617 Blank Exhaust Flanges
$110 OM606 Blank Exhaust Flanges
No merc at the moment

I went to the local Harbor Freight and picked up this inverter
2000 Watt Continuous/4000 Watt Peak Power Inverter

after coupons and such it was just over $100. I had a 20% off coupon for the entire transaction and the cashier also gave me 20% off the inverter as well. Great deal so far. I also have a huge 240 amp hour amg marine battery that I am going to use as the main use battery and use the car system or a house charger to charge the big battery as needed. I think with the amount of tool time usage I will put it through that it should be fine for the few hours I am at the site. I also bought some copper #2 awg welding cable lugs and I am going to fab my own wires to connect the battery to the inverter from welding cable that I have....heavy gauge

Be sure to follow up with pics, and make sure you have a circuit breaker and quick disconnects on the battery-they're cheap and eb*y and worth the peace of mind.

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$60 OM617 Blank Exhaust Flanges
$110 OM606 Blank Exhaust Flanges
No merc at the moment

Four years ago, a $15, four-piece 18-volt Hyundai tool set from a local thrift-store was my first experiment in running cordless tools off a car battery.
This came with two worn-out ni-cads and no charger. I opened and gutted one of the ni-cad cases. Then I drilled a hole through the bottom half and ran a 6-foot polarised lamp power-cord through it. I soldered one end of the cord to the battery-case terminals and left the polarised 110-volt plug on the other end of the cord.
I made up another 6-foot cord with alligator-clips at one end for connecting the car-battery, and added a polarised 110-volt socket at the other end to plug in the power-cord attached to the gutted battery case.

I know the safety gurus here would have a field day with my use of 110-volt plugs & sockets - but I have a very good reason. If needed, I can extend my range from the car with commonly-availible polarised extension-cords - which I already have.
Otherwise, 25-50 foot extension-cords, with special 12-volt connectors are not readily availible or would have to be custom-made at added cost

After all, It's for my own personal use and I'm perfectly aware that it's not to be connected to line current.
If I were marketing something like this to the general public, I would use 12-volt cigarette-lighter plugs & sockets.

As for the Ryobi adapter, I didn't have a worn-out Ryobi battery, and didn't want to waste one of my good ones. So one afternoon I went to a local home-improvement store and fished a Ryobi battery from the recycle-bin.
After I finished converting the gutted Ryobi battery-case to a car adapter, I did return the un-wanted ni-cad battery-guts to the store's recycle bin.
If your cordless tool already has a dud battery, or you're willing to sacrifice a good one, you can skip this step.

So far, I've used my Ryobi car-adapter with my 4-cylinder '96 Toyota Camry, which has a somewhat smaller battery and alternator than what's in my (upgraded) '84 300TD.
With the Toyota idling, the 18-volt Ryobi tools (3/8 reversible-drill & 5" circular-saw) are a bit weak running on 14-volts, but perfectly adequate if I don't push them too hard.
Certainly beats strugglng with a dying 18-volt Ryobi battery in the middle of a job!

Happy Motoring, Mark

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DrDKW

I ran this set up for several days straight during a power outage on my 300SD using a Harbor Freight 1500/3000 watt inverter. I clamped the cruise control actuator so the engine ran at approximately 1500 rpm. Below that rpm the voltage began dropping.

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Peach Parts W124.128 User Group.

80 280SL
85 300SD
87 300TD
92 300D 2.5 Turbo
92 300TE 4Matic

[QUOTE=pwogaman;3153536]I ran this set up for several days straight during a power outage on my 300SD using a Harbor Freight 1500/3000 watt inverter. I clamped the cruise control actuator so the engine ran at approximately 1500 rpm. Below that rpm the voltage began dropping.

What appliances or devices were you running? Any idea on amps or wattage being used? Thanks

same here, but I used the 2K/4K inverter. and I set mine down below the expansion tank, and fished the cords up from underneath so I could lower my hood.

I have a 90 amp alt on my SD though... so idle was not a problem. I've got a 150 Amp alt ready to go in my 87TD for the next power need...
and my 6.5TD GMC 2500 truck with it's dual batteries and stock 120Amp alt is ready to cover duty with the 3K inverter tucked neatly under the seat!

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John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
1987 300TD
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!

I bit the bullet and bought this item this evening. Ryobi, 2200-Watt Gasoline Powered Digital Inverter Generator, RYI2200 at The Home Depot - Tablet

I read up alot and watch lots of videos and just cold not justify the Honda units price points. I can buy an additional 3 year. warranty for $130 but it already comes with a 3 yr warranty. Got it for $494 with a discount Promo I had.

Filled it with oil and put in some ethanol free gas and it fired up straight away right out of the box. I would be load testing it tomorrow at my shop space . Pretty darn quiet machine.

900 Watts Peak/800 Running Watts, 2 HP (63cc) Gas Generator

I've had good service from a generator similar to this one. Cost around a hundred bucks. There's a large thread on this genny on ar15.com.

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617 swapped Toyota Pickup, 22-24 MPG, 50k miles on swap

I got one like this from Pep Boys several years ago, when it was on sale for about the same price as Harbor-Freight. The Pep-Boys version was blue, with a 1000W peak wattage. Was disappointed though when it couldn't handle the load starting my refrigerator. It works OK for some light power tools.
But see my previous post about my Ryobi car-battery adapter.
Since then, I've picked up a used Craftsman cordless drill and 5" circular-saw set, for $15 with a dud battery, which I also converted to a 12 volt car adapter.
It's 14-volts, so even better running off the car.
A great way to recycle used cordless tools that would otherwise be landfill!

Happy Motoring, Mark

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DrDKW

A lot of people are saying that the recommended 25 hour break in is pretty serious, and that the generator does a lot better when it has several hours on it. Mine has nowhere near that much time, and starts my 4" grinder just fine. I'm tempted to keep it in the truck come winter, for my block heater.

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617 swapped Toyota Pickup, 22-24 MPG, 50k miles on swap