24v to 12v

ASK THE EXPERTS COMPUTER,TRANSPORT SOFTWARE AND TECHNOLOGY FORUM
1

if i bought a 24v to 12v dropper could i run a 300w inverter though it as i want to take my laptop with me

thanks

2

lumbie:
if i bought a 24v to 12v dropper could i run a 300w inverter though it as i want to take my laptop with me

thanks

according to the guy in the CB/Truck stuff portacabin at exeter msa - No

he says you cant run an inverter through a dropper - this was when he sold me a 24v inverter :wink: we were talking about a dual voltage inverter that was on the shelf as well

3

That depends on how big the dropper is and how much you intend to plug into the inverter, but as a general rule it is safest to just get a 24V inverter and not bother with a dropper at all.

Roughly speaking, the inverter will draw an 1A at 12V for every 10W of load that you plug into it (as 1A at 12V = 12W, which allows for the fact that the inverter will not be 100% efficient). So say, for example, you intend to run it with a device that draws 100W at 240V it’ll be drawing about 10A at 12V, so to allow a safety margin you’ll want a 24-12 dropper that will do a continuous 12-15Amps on the output. Using the same logic if you want to be able to run the inverter at the full 300W you’ll need a huge dropper as it’ll need to be able to push out most of 40A continuously at 12V.

Paul

4

I have a 150w INVERTER and ran it through my 15a DROPPER with no probs what so ever.

5

I have an 800w inverter that runs off a 70amp dropper, this has been running for about 4 years now with no problems