tailgating question
Postmaster
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,968
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From: So Cal
Now that we know the result, yeah UCLA. You probably already tried it out but if you haven't...
Check the watt rating on the appliances you want to run. Most small portable TVs run under 100 watts. A Sat reciever??? Wild guess is 200 watts. So you should be able to get away with an inverter bigger than 400watts and smaller than 1000. One gotcha is that for 400 watts and above, they usually recommend a direct wire connection to the battery. Make it a fat wire say 12 gauge or better.
I will base my guestimations upon a 400 watt draw. Less watts means more time, more watts means less and too many watts means melted wires. I have not tried to run an inverter for long off my vehicle battery and am just doing basic caluclations/estimates. I do know my 3 amp draw electric cooler can suck down a battery over a long night. 3 amps is only 36 watts. So by extension 400 watts is way faster.
Rough guestimation is Watts=Amps x Volts. So if you know 2 you can figure the other. And Amphours is how many hours at what amps you can run til the battery dies, example. 70 AH means you could run 1 hour at 70 amps(within melting limits) or 70 hours at 1 amp etc. Also keep in mind most inverters are not near 100% efficiency.
The other gotcha is that watts add up quick on a battery. A 12 volt battery is good for about 30 to maybe 70 amps draw for extended periods, an hour or two. Check the amp hour rating(easier to use) or more usually the 90 minute reserve current(if they tell you at what draw). Cold cranking amps is for marketing and very short periods. You want to know the reserve amps which on most batteries is something like what I mentioned, 30 to 70 for some time. A 400 watt draw is about 33 amps sustained. That is a lot. That will cook most wires, thus my heavy guage recommendation. Also that will draw your battery down to pretty much dead by the end of a game.
But if the current draw of your appliances is much less, then you have a better chance of starting up at the end of the game. OOOOO, I just re-read your post. 32 inches, that may be a pretty hefty draw and your battery may not survive the game.
Good Luck and all my figures are gustimates since we don't know the appliance draw, the battery size or condition etc.
Jim Henderson
Check the watt rating on the appliances you want to run. Most small portable TVs run under 100 watts. A Sat reciever??? Wild guess is 200 watts. So you should be able to get away with an inverter bigger than 400watts and smaller than 1000. One gotcha is that for 400 watts and above, they usually recommend a direct wire connection to the battery. Make it a fat wire say 12 gauge or better.
I will base my guestimations upon a 400 watt draw. Less watts means more time, more watts means less and too many watts means melted wires. I have not tried to run an inverter for long off my vehicle battery and am just doing basic caluclations/estimates. I do know my 3 amp draw electric cooler can suck down a battery over a long night. 3 amps is only 36 watts. So by extension 400 watts is way faster.
Rough guestimation is Watts=Amps x Volts. So if you know 2 you can figure the other. And Amphours is how many hours at what amps you can run til the battery dies, example. 70 AH means you could run 1 hour at 70 amps(within melting limits) or 70 hours at 1 amp etc. Also keep in mind most inverters are not near 100% efficiency.
The other gotcha is that watts add up quick on a battery. A 12 volt battery is good for about 30 to maybe 70 amps draw for extended periods, an hour or two. Check the amp hour rating(easier to use) or more usually the 90 minute reserve current(if they tell you at what draw). Cold cranking amps is for marketing and very short periods. You want to know the reserve amps which on most batteries is something like what I mentioned, 30 to 70 for some time. A 400 watt draw is about 33 amps sustained. That is a lot. That will cook most wires, thus my heavy guage recommendation. Also that will draw your battery down to pretty much dead by the end of a game.
But if the current draw of your appliances is much less, then you have a better chance of starting up at the end of the game. OOOOO, I just re-read your post. 32 inches, that may be a pretty hefty draw and your battery may not survive the game.
Good Luck and all my figures are gustimates since we don't know the appliance draw, the battery size or condition etc.
Jim Henderson
Last edited by jim henderson; Dec 4, 2006 at 05:43 PM.
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Senior User
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 174
Likes: 0
From: SFV, CALIFORNIA
The tailgating went very well, thanks for asking! As far as the TV and SAT went a buddy of mine forgot to mention he had a generator so the was no issues even had enough power to run a blender and and a 8' inflatable bruin... Well it Looks like it going to be ohio and flordia... IMO Ohio has no one left to play (WONDER IF THE INDY COLTS ARE AVAILABLE THAT DAY) anyhow good luck and thanks for all the info!
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